Word: kingdoms
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...traditional basis for the strong relationship: the Saudis provide oil and the U.S. provides security. Some U.S. military men feel the Saudis "owe us" - a reference to Operation Desert Storm saving Saudi skin back in 1991. But the Saudis are fearful that a carte blanche could entangle the Kingdom in American wars against Iraq or even Iran, making popular opposition to the U.S. military presence a hot political issue - which, despite bin Laden's rhetoric, it has failed to become. "Why do we owe you?" asks a Saudi official. "We are a partner who needs to be consulted...
...Abdullah's relations with the U.S. are complicated, that's nothing compared to his domestic conundrum. The Kingdom's Islamic establishment had free rein during Fahd's years - an attempt to curry favor after zealots seized the Grand Mosque in Mecca in 1979 and hard-liners criticized the hosting of U.S. troops for the Gulf War. As a result, the Islamic establishment has grown in size and strength to the point that Saudi leaders are terrified of confronting it head on. The religious sheiks give the al Saud Dynasty a vital cloak of protection against political opponents. So does...
Despite his relatively progressive instincts, it remains to be seen whether Abdullah will succeed in pushing his reform agenda past Islamic opposition. His efforts to bring the Kingdom into the World Trade Organization, for example, could help create jobs - unemployment is 15%. But the obstacles to membership include the country's slow progress in enacting commercial and insurance laws over the objections of Islamic traditionalists, who regard them as an affront to Shari'a, the rules of life handed down...
Royal rifts cast an unflattering light on the Kingdom's failure, in its 70 years of stability and prosperity, to evolve institutions capable of running a modern society. Each week Abdullah - unusually for a senior prince - spends an hour or two holding a Majlis, a traditional Bedouin form of consultation. Hundreds of grizzled tribesmen compete to press petitions into Abdullah's hand, requesting help in a land dispute, a medical emergency or a blood feud. "Look at how they shout at him," remarked Abdullah's son Prince Mithab during a recent Majlis. "Where else do you see people talking...
...Crown Prince is not so uncertain - not in public, anyway. It is just after evening prayers when Abdullah sits back in an easy chair for a three-hour discussion of the challenges the Kingdom faces. As he chain-smokes his way through a pack of Vantage cigarettes, he makes it clear that the Islamic establishment's political influence on the House of Saud is never far from his mind. He points out with approval that Saudi Arabia's religious leaders have begun to tone down their rhetoric, which is often strewn with anti-American and anti-Semitic rants. There...