A ‘perfect storm’ of interconnected crises could see the autocratic Saudi state disintegrate within ten years, argues Nafeez Ahmed. Last September, a senior Saudi royal called for a “change” in leadership to fend off the kingdom’s collapse. In a letter circulated among Saudi princes, its author, a grandson of the late King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud, blamed King Salman for endangering the monarchy’s survival. Informed observers think such a prospect “fanciful”, but the letter’s analysis of Saudi Arabia’s predicament is startlingly accurate. The House of Saud is on the brink of a perfect storm of interconnected crises that could be the monarchy’s undoing within the next decade. Saudi Arabia’s primary source of revenues, of course, is oil. For the last few years, the kingdom has pumped at record levels, keeping global oil prices low, and undermining OPEC rivals – who cannot afford to stay in business at such squeezed profit […]