Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi attends a meeting at the U.S. Center during the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) at Le Bourget, near Paris, France, December 8, 2015. “All political lives, unless they are cut off in midstream at a happy juncture, end in failure, because that is the nature of politics and of human affairs,” wrote British politician Enoch Powell. Saudi Arabia’s veteran Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi may wonder if he is destined to become the scapegoat for the current collapse in oil prices which is inflicting so much damage on the kingdom’s finances and economy. Ahmed Zaki Yamani, Naimi’s predecessor-but-one, was dismissed by King Fahd in 1986 following a prolonged slump in prices. Naimi could be forgiven for wondering if history will repeat itself. Saudi Arabia has had just four oil ministers in the last 55 years: Abdullah Tariki (1960-1962), Yamani (1962-1986), Hisham Nazer (1986-1995) […]