I happened to catch a bit of the movie, Lawrence of Arabia, over the weekend. There is a scene in which the Arabs have managed to take and occupy Damascus ahead of their British allies. Lawrence knows that if the technically-challenged Arabs seek the expertise of the British to keep the infrastructure of the working, their chance for true independence will be lost and Arabia will be accreted to the British Empire. But the Arabs are caught up in tribal squabbling and finger-pointing and no one wants to lose face by doing real work. In their eyes only menials do such things. I thought, "Things really haven't changed that much over a couple of generations." About half the population of SA are guest workers brought in to do jobs the Saudis find to be beneath their dignity. There is mounting evidence that Al Qaeda was paid off and may continue to get payments to not stir things up in SA and to stir things up elsewhere. Basically the Saudis are still a tribal clan interested in preserving its position of power with a checkbook if necessary.