Yemen and Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has a role to play in the ongoing battles in the Middle East, but I've never really pictured the country as a vulnerable, failed or failing state.  That seems to be part of Al Qaeda's goals or thinking, though, at least according to a comment from a Yemeni professor that might raise some eyebrows:

With oil revenues down, Mr. Saleh [the leader of Yemen] has had to turn to outside allies to help finance the war in the north. Saudi Arabia provided $2 billion last year to make up for the budget shortfall — an amount that dwarfs the $150 million in security assistance that the United States will ask Congress to approve for the 2010 fiscal year.

“The Saudis understand,” said Ahmed M. al-Kibisi, a political scientist at Sana University, “that they are the real prize for Al Qaeda, and Yemen is the platform.”

The quote comes from this article on Yemen's leader and his family in the New York Times.  The professor may be analyzing the economic situation more than the political, or he may be overstating his case.  It sounds like he's saying that one of Al Qaeda's aims in all this is to take down the Saudi government.