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Saudi Arabia in Crisis

(Wall Street Journal/FrontpageMagazine) Stephen Schwartz - Saudi power in the peninsula is also based on a deception. The House of Saud has always maintained a close alliance with the Western, Christian powers to assure its political dominance at home, while the Wahhabi clerics preach jihad against the world. But now the arrangement is collapsing, for reasons both external and internal. According to dissident Saudis I meet with every week, average Saudi citizens do not hate the West. They are also not obsessed with Israel and the Palestinians. They are ordinary people, many now in possession of the Internet and satellite dishes, who want to live in a normal country that would resemble Malaysia more than any other Islamic society. To the extent they are frustrated with the Western role in Saudi Arabia, their protests spring from disillusion with U.S. and British support for the Saudi monarchy.
2003-08-15 00:00:00
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