A new Saudi Arabia is in a hurry in era of cheap oil

Saudi Arabia, one of the most tradition-bound societies on the planet, where family structure and tribal patriarchy differ little from a century ago, is suddenly in a hurry. It has done more in the past week than in most years. “The Saudis had a reputation of being kind of cautious, secretive,” says Eckart Woertz, a senior researcher at Barcelona Centre for International Affairs. “Right now there are some concerns about rash decisions”.