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2005-02-05 Arabia

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Posted by Fred 2005-02-05 00:00:00|| || Front Page|| [3 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 I think she's right -- and more importantly, I think we have a stake in the Saudis not imploding.

Not an excuse for status quo, which is clearly untenable anyway. But let's make this a controlled detonation, not a runaway nuclear event. Makes the cleanup easier and keeps the costs down.

Posted by too true 2005-02-05 7:06:00 AM|| 2005-02-05 7:06:00 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 controlled detonation I like that term. I think the middle east holds a lot of surprises over the next few years. One is the controlled dismantling of the saudi regime. The good news is they get to keep Mecca.

Posted by phil_b 2005-02-05 7:22:42 AM|| 2005-02-05 7:22:42 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 too true: While the sight of the adult male members of the House of Sa'ud decorating the lamp-posts in Riyadh would be gratifying in so many ways, you're right--a "controlled detonation" is better. I suspect we've been seeing one in progress for the past three and a half years.

Posted by Mike 2005-02-05 7:28:12 AM|| 2005-02-05 7:28:12 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 Once again, I think this is a mask of everybody's true intentions. If the US wants SA to have a slow evolution from dual monarchy and theocracy to democracy, the *last* thing it's going to do is let it take place in a natural, Darwinian manner. Instead, the US will intertwine its efforts into every single nuance of the process, to insure that it is as dull as a planning & zoning meeting, not some disaster like the fall of the last Czar, or the Shah of Iran. The optimum result will be the retention of the smart & powerful faction of the Saud family keeping much power and wealth, but through democratic means, and the purging of the stupid & weak parts of their family along with those Wahabbis who pretend to power, which is most of them; and an evolution of the national religion to middle and upper class Sufist Islam.

Posted by Anonymoose 2005-02-05 9:05:38 AM|| 2005-02-05 9:05:38 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 Part of a 'controlled denotation' would be the creation of the Republic of Eastern Arabia, a 40 km wide strip of land ...

Posted by Steve White 2005-02-05 11:55:36 AM|| 2005-02-05 11:55:36 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 Republic of Eastern Arabia.....
ahhhh, our 51st state and 2nd part of the ANWR "resource-security" park

Posted by Frank G 2005-02-05 12:04:11 PM|| 2005-02-05 12:04:11 PM|| Front Page Top

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