Next Up In The Middle East Mess? Saudi Arabia’s Succession Fight. -- Karen Elliott House, Washington Post

Next Up In The Middle East Mess? Saudi Arabia’s Succession Fight. -- Karen Elliott House, Washington Post

From afar, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia appears immune from the turmoil and uncertainty engulfing nations such as Syria, Egypt and Libya. But rather than being an oasis of stability in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia is nearing its own crisis point.

The elderly sons of Saudi Arabia’s founder, King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud, who have ruled sequentially since his death in 1953, are approaching the end of the line. And as that happens, the future of this kingdom on which the world depends for oil has never been more precarious.

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