Wednesday March 9, 2011
Oil rules: Saudi democracy runs on vapors
The Middle East runs on rumors and they can be dangerous and difficult to stop.
So an Egyptian news agency's report of Saudi tanks being sent to aid a fellow Sunni monarch in Bahrain were quickly denied by Saudi officials.
Then came a claim the Saudis detained a Shi'ite cleric who's calling for a constitutional monarchy.
But oil prices spiked -- and Saudi stock took its biggest fall in two years -- on talk of political unrest in one of the world's key oil producers.
Its king, meanwhile, found $37 billion to spread among a citizenry riveted on the sight of revolution among its neighbours.
Reporter Laura Lynch is in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.
Categories: Middle East, News Promo, The View from Here
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