...d little to do ith the dynamics of that specific region.The House of SaudAs the Ottoman Empire dissolved after orld ar I, Ibn Saud of the House of Saud orked quickly to consolidate his familys poer over the Arabian Peninsula. Ibn as a despot of old type ho thought nothing but beating servants and ordering public amputations and beheadings. He as aided materially by the British ho ere interested in destroying the Ottomans. Ibn Saud gave birth to a modern and poerful dynasty by having numerous children ith his many ives. Today there are, depending on the source, some 3000-4000 or 7,000 princes in the House of Saud ith eight or ten ne ones born each eek. omen and girls do not count so there are no princesses. Saudi omen are among the most harassed on earth.Ibn Saud belonged to Sunni part of the ahhab sect representing an extreme interpretation of the Quran and Hadith. ahhabism soon became the state religion and became just as oppressive as the Taliban. Since II especially, ahhab Mullahs began preaching against estern thought and influence, hich as exported to Afghanistan and Pakistan. The House of Saud is no ruled by King Fahd, but, because of his poor health, Fahd is no only a titular leader. His brother, Cron Prince Abdullah, actually runs Saudi Arabia. Both are over 70. The Saud dynasty is supported by oil revenues, hich have increased although the ages of the orking class decreased at almost 50. It is said that Each Prince is aarded some 500,000 annually for expenses. The Saud family receives some to-three billion dollars annually, even as the state budget runs annual deficits. This is aside from diversions of state funds that they have been accused of. At the same time, aside from the military, the Saud Dynasty has done little to modernize Saudi Arabia. Saudi omen remain terribly oppressed. This data shos us that the House of Saud has had a very great political and economical poer and that it is ell established at the rule of the country. Practically, most of the people that live today in Saudi Arabia ere born under Saud rule and they can hardly imagine another ruler. This tells a lot about the chances of the system being overtaken. Still, there ere some revolts and e shall see their causes and their results.On the other hand, these features have led some commentators to predict that the end of the dynasty is near. During the last decade the income per capita has severely decreased hile the national debt got bigger and bigger. Despite much official requests about democracy and human rights, there can be seen the permissive attitude of the est toards the House. As regional dictators like Saddam Hussein or Muammar Qadhafi are punished for arbitrary imprisonment, mistreatment of minorities and elimination of any opposition, the House of Saud is seen as a pillar of regional stability. The reasons are clear enough religion and oil.Saudi Arabia also holds 25 per cent of the orlds knon oil reserves and plays a moderating role in OPEC by manipulating supply to keep prices don. This is hy the House makes the object of only occasional arnings in the est. Hoever, after the September 11 attacks and the anticipated rise of Russia as a strong orld oil producer, this might change. Syed Saleem Shahzad, editorialist at Asia Times, points out that the contradictions in the policies used by the House of Saud are eakening the regime. He reminds to the readers that in 1979 a group of religious fanatics occupied the Grand Mosque of Mecca. They questioned the legitimacy of the Saudi government, claiming that it as not Islamic enough. The government reclaimed the mosque, and the groups leader and most of his folloers ere executed. Hoever, even though the protestors ere killed, the government adopted the very ideology for hich they gave their lives. After the Mecca incident, the Saudi authorities began to impose strict rules. omen ere banned from appearing on television, music as not alloed in the media, stores and malls ere closed during the five daily prayer sessions, and the religious police ere granted greater poers to monitor peoples lives. Similarly, four years ago, in Buraydah, a city of about 150,000 people fundamentalists raised the flag of Islam on minarets in protest against the House of Saud for 48 hours before the Saudi National Guard as able to subdue them. Shahzad argues that these incidents proved that the extremists ere in fact dictating terms. I ouldnt go that far. Considering that there are only a fe of this kind of events in a such big period of time, Id say that this proves only that the fundamentalists ere still active and that they didnt agree ith the policies of the regime.A Moment of Choice Golf ar of 1990-1991The both ends strategy of the leaders from Riyadh has had some important consequences. Osama bin Ladens exile is one of them. Bin Laden broke ith the Saudi monarchy over the first ar against Iraq, in 1990-1991 and no eagerly seeks its overthro. In 1990, bin Laden proposed to the Saudi defense minister to let him mobilize veterans of the 1979-1989 Afghan jihad against the Soviet Union, in order to defend Saudi Arabia against Iraq. Probably the rulers feared that by letting bin Laden to gather troops they ould lose control over the country and so the Saudi government rejected the offer, preferring an US-led coalition assembled by President George Bush. The US sent 500,000 troops to Saudi Arabia. This happened only after US secretary of defense Dick Cheney no vice president, promised King Fahd that the troops ould be removed after the ar. Still, more than 5000 are still present in the country. Ever since, bin Laden has resented the presence of infidel troops on the Holy Land here the Prophet Muhammad founded Islam in the 7th century. The first of 1990-1991 put the rulers from Riyadh in a situation in hich they had to choose out of to evils, and they thought US is the better one. This as the only option in hich they could hope to continue to stay in poer. Thus, it as proved once again that defending religious convictions as not a priority to them.The country has a population of 22 million, hich includes more than 5 million non-nationals, brought in as laborers. The government in the past granted such orkers nationality, but it has stopped the practice, although the orkers are fertile ground for disruptive influence on the thinking and attitudes of the indigenous population. The orkers are also susceptible to the doctrines of the external political movements, such as the Palestine Liberation Organization PLO. henever there is a crisis hich involves conflict beteen a Islamic party and a Democratic or non-Islamic one, the policy of the rulers is against the public opinion. The latest developments require a higher degree of carefulness from the part of the authorities as the tension is groing.Religious Opposition The UlemaSince the eighteenth century, the rulers of the Arabian Peninsula have shared poer ith their religious contemporaries, and this is still the case ...
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