SAUDI ARABIA - Pax Americana Is Changing - Part 15B.

The Riyadh government is not satisfied with, and will remain frustrated by, the US role in Iraq, in Islamic affairs, in the Arab-Israeli peace process, or in Saudi-international relations. The more frustrating question is whether or not it is in Saudi Arabia's interest for Republican President George W. Bush to win a second term in the Nov. 2 elections. This is because the Democrats' candidate to the US presidency, John Kerry, has surrounded himself with advisers who are less keen than the Bush team on many matters that are important to Riyadh, including oil.

The problem is that the royal regime in Saudi Arabia is so structured that it cannot afford losing its alliance with the US. Nor can it afford going along with a Pax Americana that keeps changing every four to eight years. The structure of the Saudi regime is unique in the world and in history, because it embraces two conflicting time zones (as explained in Part 15C to be published in May).

There is an extremely delicate balance between those decision makers who function by the Western time zone and those who cannot part with their Wahhabi time zone. The latter are not even willing to know why they are stuck with an old ideology that can only force them to take the offensive against whoever wants to change them (see Part 15D to be published in June).