>I have a theory.
>
>Years ago, I had the (mis)fortune of spending some time in Cuba. I noticed that every economic and financial woe was presented as the fault of the US embargo of the island - which, by the way, is a joke. You can by American goods there cheaper than you can here. They get it all from elsewhere.
>
>The parallel is that the entire Middle East seems to be focused on the "evil" of Israel. Everything, somehow, is the fault of Israel and Zionism.
>
>Millions, possibly billions, of dollars flow freely into the coffers of Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the like to combat Israel.
>
>My theory is that Israel actually works as a steam valve for Arabic countries to refocus the jihadists away from their governments; in fact, I bet it would be the Saudi's and Jordanians worst nightmare if Israel actually went down.
>
>If that happened, the nutcases would then target regional secular governments.
>
>Make sense?


Manifestly.

I think the Saudi royal family probably worries constantly about being overthrown by fundamentalists, even with Israel around. To me it almost seems inevitable.