“The Saudis, obviously, the ruling family is extremely worried about any revolution, if it’s in Egypt, Yemen or Bahrain because they know that the people of Saudi Arabia will go after them sooner or later,” said the founder and director of IGA, Ali al-Ahmad, from Washington.
He explained that the Saudi family members are in their eighties or late seventies and they are still incapacitated in terms of their ability to deliver policy and to conduct policy inside and outside the country.
“This is really creating a unique vacuum of power in Saudi Arabia,” Ahmad said.
The analyst also noted that Saudi people can learn from other revolutions in the region, like Egypt, Bahrain and Yemen.
“If they learn, if they see the Egyptians, the Bahrainis and Yemenis and other Arabs revolting and changing their regimes, they will topple the regime of the Saudi monarchy,” he said.
The IGA director concluded that the revolution in Saudi Arabia will “take time but it will happen eventually because the situation and the ingredients in Saudi Arabia are bountiful and available for regime change.”
Saudi Arabia’s Nayef bin Abdul Aziz was named crown prince in October last year following the death of Prince Sultan, one of his brothers.
Prince Nayef would take over the rule of the kingdom in the event of the death of King Abdullah, who is nearly 90.
The poor health among the aging royal family in the Persian Gulf state deepens the power vacuum amid a wave of protests over the persisting brutal crackdown on the Saudi people.
Saudi Arabia’s east has been the scene of anti-government protests since February 2011.
AGB/IS
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