Calls For Reform In Saudi Arabia Are Now Being Made

In Saudi Arabia, Reformers Intensify Calls For Change -- Christian Science Monitor

King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz is due to return tomorrow after three months away to a country where reformers inspired by Egypt are calling for greater transparency and equality.

When his royal jet lands here in the Saudi capital on Wednesday, ending a three-month absence, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz will find a nation seemingly moored in the eye of the epic storm howling around it.

But it is also clear that the octogenarian king, who went to New York in late November for back surgery and then to Morocco to convalesce, is returning to a realm touched in significant ways by the youth rebellions roiling the Middle East.

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My Comment: To placate opponents, bribes and gifts are now being made. But even with these efforts, unease and uncertainty is the rule and not the exception.

In addition .... what everyone is really afraid of .... is that unrest in Saudi Arabia will not only spike oil prices to unheard levels ($200/barrel and up), but it would also kill any hopes of a decent economic recovery in the West or elsewhere.