Muammar Muhammad al-Gaddafi might have been better off to use the billions of dollars he has hidden around Libya to bribe his opposition than to wage war on his countrymen. He does use the money for bribes of a sort to keep his army from turning against him and to pay for mercenaries from other nations to join his armed forces.

How rulers in the Middle East and north Africa use their huge wealth is, of course, their decisions. The Saudi royal family he begun to spread $36 billion among the country’s people to support higher standards of living, home building, and debt forgiveness. It is possible that some of the cash will make it into the hands of  opposition members who prefer the good life over the life of revolutionaries. The $36 billion bribe of sorts will test the ability of what is likely to be a shrinking group of insurgents to take down the Saudi regime. Money talks and probably speaks even louder among the poor who need it desperately. It is an open question if the cash will actually make it to these people in a system that is prone to corruption. The royal family has every reason to make certain that those it was intended for actually receive it.

There are critical differences between the Saudi royal family and Gaddafi. It has been pointed out repeatedly that he may face an international tribunal because of his killing of Libyan citizens. So far the Saudi princes do not need to be concerned about similar prosecution. They may surrender that position if they quell uprisings with guns and tanks.

Saudi Arabia’s rulers might even decide to take their money and move to countries with less arid climates.

The battles over who will run nations in which a vote for government means nothing is likely to spread. The movement may not make it far if the Saudis can build a firewall. If they cannot, unrest may happen as far away as China. Although the repressive central government there has decades of experience dealing with dissidents. China decided long ago that censorship of the Internet and monitoring of wireless traffic are a good means to keep unrest from spreading.

The Saudis have probably picked a better course than Gaddafi as a means to stay in power. Money solves a multitude of problems that guns and war planes do not.

Douglas A. McIntyre

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