The Saudi royal family has been, by turns, both a sponsor and a target of Sunni extremists, who object to the corruption and decadence among the family’s myriad princes. The princes are gambling that they will not be overthrown as long as they continue to support religious schools and charities linked to the extremists. The Administration’s new strategy is heavily dependent on this bargain.

The latest from Sy is particularly disturbing in a lot of ways. It's painfully obvious the shrubery still has no understanding of the religious, national or tribal divides in the mid east, and doesn't understand the games being played by ANY of the players there.

This is sort of like watching a train wreck in super slo-mo, but you're not sure if you're going to get hit by shrapnel, and don't know if those tanker cars are empty, or full of something else that could make the whole thing much, much worse.

The New Yorker : The Redirection - Seymour Hersh