Saudi Arabia Defies Mideast Upheaval

As popular movements for democracy toppled leaders in Egypt and Tunisia and began threatening neighboring Bahrain and Yemen, Saudi Arabia’s Al Saud royal family strengthened control over the Arab world’s biggest economy. Once restrictive of the Muslim clerics, King Abdullah offered money and new censorship powers for their loyalty as he doled out 500 billion riyals ($130 billion) nationally in housing grants and other sweeteners.

The Al Saud have “positioned themselves as the guardians of the status quo,” Christopher Davidson, author of “Power and Politics in the Persian Gulf Monarchies,” said in response to e-mailed questions. “We are seeing a resistance to genuine reform by using a mixture of carrots and sticks.”

Four months of political unrest have shaken the Middle East as citizens demand civil rights, higher living standards and the ouster of autocratic regimes. Yet Saudi Arabia, the self- proclaimed economic powerhouse and leader of the Gulf states, is showing itself as unhindered by the events, sending in troops to end protests in Bahrain and quelling smaller demonstrations in its own Eastern Province.

In Riyadh yesterday, Finance Minister Ibrahim al-Assaf told 1,200 conference delegates, including officials from JPMorgan Chase & Co., Moody’s Investors Service and BNP Paribas SA, that the Saudi economy was on track for stronger growth. Continued…