We can only wait - and speculate. As deep as the resentment *seems* to be in KSA, there seems to be a very controlling apparatus there.
But with recent events, and momentum....anything might happen. What started in Tunisia, has legs.
And today's gas prices will seem very cheap if unrest hit Saudi Arabia. Just the uncertainty will sent Brent Crude and TWI prices up higher.
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Yes, It Could Happen Here
Why Saudi Arabia is ripe for revolution.
BY MADAWI AL-RASHEED | FEBRUARY 28, 2011
In the age of Arab revolutions, will Saudis dare to honor Facebook calls for anti-government demonstrations on March 11? Will they protest at one of Jeddah's main roundabouts? Or will they start in Qatif, the eastern region where a substantial Shiite majority has had more experience in real protest? Will Riyadh remain cocooned in its cloak of pomp and power, hidden from public gaze in its mighty sand castles?
Saudi Arabia is ripe for change. Despite its image as a fabulously wealthy realm with a quiescent, apolitical population, it has similar economic, demographic, social, and political conditions as those prevailing in its neighboring Arab countries. There is no reason to believe Saudis are immune to the protest fever sweeping the region.
Saudi Arabia is indeed wealthy, but most of its young population cannot find jobs in either the public or private sector. The expansion of its $430 billion economy has benefited a substantial section of the entrepreneurial elite -- particularly those well connected with the ruling family -- but has failed to produce jobs for thousands of college graduates every year. This same elite has resisted employing expensive Saudis and contributed to the rise in local unemployment by hiring foreign labor. Rising oil prices since 2003 and the expansion of state investment in education, infrastructure, and welfare, meanwhile, have produced an explosive economy of desires.
Entire: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/02/28/yes_it_could_happen_here
But with recent events, and momentum....anything might happen. What started in Tunisia, has legs.
And today's gas prices will seem very cheap if unrest hit Saudi Arabia. Just the uncertainty will sent Brent Crude and TWI prices up higher.
---
Yes, It Could Happen Here
Why Saudi Arabia is ripe for revolution.
BY MADAWI AL-RASHEED | FEBRUARY 28, 2011
In the age of Arab revolutions, will Saudis dare to honor Facebook calls for anti-government demonstrations on March 11? Will they protest at one of Jeddah's main roundabouts? Or will they start in Qatif, the eastern region where a substantial Shiite majority has had more experience in real protest? Will Riyadh remain cocooned in its cloak of pomp and power, hidden from public gaze in its mighty sand castles?
Saudi Arabia is ripe for change. Despite its image as a fabulously wealthy realm with a quiescent, apolitical population, it has similar economic, demographic, social, and political conditions as those prevailing in its neighboring Arab countries. There is no reason to believe Saudis are immune to the protest fever sweeping the region.
Saudi Arabia is indeed wealthy, but most of its young population cannot find jobs in either the public or private sector. The expansion of its $430 billion economy has benefited a substantial section of the entrepreneurial elite -- particularly those well connected with the ruling family -- but has failed to produce jobs for thousands of college graduates every year. This same elite has resisted employing expensive Saudis and contributed to the rise in local unemployment by hiring foreign labor. Rising oil prices since 2003 and the expansion of state investment in education, infrastructure, and welfare, meanwhile, have produced an explosive economy of desires.
Entire: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/02/28/yes_it_could_happen_here
