Monday, May 9, 2005
Do the Saudis have their oil supply rigged to render it unusable for a generation should the worst happen to their regime? A new book by Gerald Posner says so. If true, the implications are interesting to say the least, and could present at least one reason to worry about Islamists with a medieval suicidal worldview taking power, among other considerations. Far too much power in the hands of a country...a region...with no history of bloodless transfers of power.
According to a new book exclusively obtained by the Huffington Post, Saudi Arabia has crafted a plan to protect itself from a possible invasion or internal attack. It includes the use of a series of explosives, including radioactive “dirty bombs,” that would cripple Saudi Arabian oil production and distribution systems for decades...
Reactions from Daniel Pipes and Brian Haig.
Actually, the Saudis have an excellent history of "bloodless transfer of power." One king, Faisal, was assassinated in 1975 by a cousin who was nowhere near the threads of ascendancy. Power transfered easily and immediately to Khaled.
Faisal himself came to power when his elder brother Saud was peacefully deposed.
Granted, 70 years isn't a long period over which to track changes, but since that's the only history the contemporary Saudi state has, it's all we have to go on. That history is nothing but "bloodless" transfers of power.
Your point is taken - they have been relatively stable for some time, although things are getting a little nerve-wracking of late, no? And the Middle East has to be the only region in the world where you can actually describe a transfer that starts with an assassination as "bloodless."
Ummm... I think Johnson's ascending to the Presidency in 1963 would be considered "bloodless." The assassination of JFK, of course, was not.
I think the term applies in all instances that are not the result of a coup, which has been the history of much of the Middle East, particularly Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. You can add Yemen and Sudan, Libya, and Algeria. The Gulf States, though, have been remarkably stable, with peaceful changes of government.