Juggernaut Arabia

Over this past year of Arab Spring revolt, Saudi Arabia has increasingly replaced the United States as the key status-quo power in the Middle East -- a role that seems likely to expand even more in coming years as the Saudis boost their military and economic spending. Saudis describe the kingdom's growing role as a reaction, in part, to the diminished clout of the United States. They still regard the U.S.-Saudi relationship as valuable, but it's no longer seen as a guarantor of their security. For that, the Saudis have decided they must rely more on themselves -- and, down the road, on a wider set of friends that includes their military partner, Pakistan, and their largest oil customer, China.

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