May I be a bit provocative?
It would be a great thing to see Al-Qaeda taking over Saudi Arabia or Pakistan.
Why?
- They have to run things, not break them. terrorism does not sound so good anymore.
- They are in control, so they have something to lose. Terrorists, especially the kind willing to get killed, have nothing to lose. If they have something to lose, we have leverage.
- They have to run a
whole country. Any kind of ideology makes it hard to do that. Quickly, realists take over. See Iran 198x; see the USA 2004.
- They run a country. We know how to deter countries and their leaders. Invade them and change the leadership. In the past year, that competence of the US army has not been put in doubt...
- They have nuclear bombs. Deterrence works. See above point.
- They own the oil. So what? They need to sell it. Market rules apply. Western companies have NOT been involved in Saudi oil production for a while anyway.
And the huge plus: their population see that religous theocracy is not very good at running a country (the current regimes are NOT selling themselves as Islamists, despite the application of a strong version of Islam). Islamism is finally deconsidered in the eyes of the population. Again, see Iran.
