Arabian nightmares

A complicating factor in Saudi Arabia is that the minority Shia are concentrated in the oil-rich Eastern provinces from which the nation draws the vast bulk of its wealth.

There have been a series of brutal crackdowns in those provinces, including the killing of protesters and the arrest of a prominent Shia cleric.

In more recent days reports from Saudi Arabia indicate that acts of dissent and protests have spread from these regions to Sunni areas of some major cities, including the capital Riyadh.

If accurate, this is a deeply worrying development for Saudi Arabia and the world.

The Saudi Royal family is closely aligned with the Wahhabi Sunni faith, which many regard as radical and hostile to the interests of developed countries including the United States, Europe and Australia.

In the past such religious hostility has been balanced by the role of the Saudi Royal family in helping to stabilise the global economy by increasing crude oil production at critical times, such as during the invasion of Iraq.

Saudi Arabia has increased production in recent months to an estimated 11 million barrels per day to support nations imposing oil import embargoes on Iran over its nuclear program.

Any internal upheaval within Saudi Arabia with the potential to disrupt its crude oil production, even temporarily, would send shock waves through the global economy as prices would inevitably sky rocket.

Instability within Saudi Arabia also has significant regional implications.

Saudi forces were dispatched to Bahrain in March 2011 to prevent the overthrow of the Royal family in that country, which rules a population of majority Shia.

Saudi resources were also used to prevent Yemen descending into chaos when protests and violent attacks led to the overthrow of long-time dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Syria's rebels must also be watching nervously, as Saudi Arabia, along with Qatar, has been a key supporter in terms of military hardware and finances.