BIG TROUBLE IN THE KINGDOM – AT 11:31 A.M. ET:   One gets the feeling that there is an increasing sense of desperation in Saudi Arabia.  Oil prices are plunging.  The kingdom's main non-Arab ally, the United States, is weakening.  Its enemy, Iran, is ascending.  Nations start to do crazy things.  From NBC:

The Middle East was braced for sectarian violence Saturday after Saudi Arabia said it had executed 47 prisoners, including a prominent Shia cleric responsible for anti-government protests.

There were warnings of a backlash against the ruling Al Saud family after Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr was named on list of prisoners carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency.

Al-Nimr was a central figure in protests that erupted in 2011 as part of the Arab Spring, and his execution may spark new unrest among the oil powerhouse's Shia minority.

Scores marched through Nimr's home district of Qatif shouting "down with the Al Saud" and, in the neighboring country of Bahrain, police fired tear gas at several dozen people who gathered to protest the news, The Associated Press reported.

Lebanon's Supreme Islamic Shi'ite Council called the execution a "grave mistake", and the Hezbollah group termed it an assassination. Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, an establishment cleric in largely Shia rival Iran, said repercussions against the Sunni Saudi rulers would "wipe them from the pages of history".

Saudi Arabia carried out at least 157 executions in 2015, with beheadings reaching their highest level in the kingdom in two decades, according to several advocacy groups that monitor the death penalty worldwide.

COMMENT:  This could be real trouble, at a time when we don't need it.  If there's a military clash between the Saudis and the Iranians, it could lead to still one more major upheaval in the Mideast.  How long would it be before the Saudis, who have cash in the bank, acquire nuclear weapons?

January 2, 2016