Oil, dictatorship, terrorism and war.

Will Saudi-Arabia collapse?

Drone attacks expose the kingdom’s vulnerability and isolation.

Whoever was responsible for the drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities, they have made the kingdom very nervous and indeed, exposed their growing weaknesses. There is no doubt that the Saudis will struggle to maintain control over their somewhat fragile state, which is held together by a mixture of coercion and money, both of which could easily snap when put under enough pressure.

Saudi-Arabia has always been a fabricated kingdom, created by British imperialism and designed to be large, fragmented and weak. It’s ‘legitimacy’ was never derived from popular support, but from its functions as a puppet state, overseeing the world’s largest oil supplies and quashing any form of political dissent in the region, making sure that local people would never gain control over their own political destinies.

In the late 1960s and 70s, the Saudis fought tooth and nail against the popular appeal of Egyptian leader Nasser, who had successfully defied his country’s economic stranglehold by the West when he nationalized the Suez Canal in 1956, becoming a hero across the region. His ascendancy sparked upheavals throughout the Middle East, which all demanded greater…