Screenwriters looking at the Middle East must be sitting at their typewriters with itchy fingers. Events in Saudi Arabia provide the characters, drama and plot twists of a true blockbuster. The young prince, the dramatic resignation and return of the Lebanese Prime Minister, the hostile neighbors, the rounding up of ministers and royals accused of corruption, and the former enemy—Israel—cast as an unlikely ally. The story line, like so many developments in today’s world, would have been dismissed as too far-fetched just a few years ago.

But this is not fiction, this is a new and emerging regional reality. And while the moviemakers may be intrigued, it is much more important that the policy makers, diplomats and media sit up and pay attention.

Read the full article at Newsweek.