Besides the usual gang of idiots.

The hard-line mullahs of Iran, however, are awash in cash. "Up through last year, they had come up with something like $20 billion extra they did not have to spend [on the regular budget]," says Azadeh Kian-Thiebaut, author of several studies of modern Iran. "They are rich," she says. And prices have jumped dramatically since then. At the same time, Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his close allies have marginalized, brutalized and eliminated whatever was left of the democratic and reformist spirit that flourished in the country during the late 1990s.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has seen the price of a barrel of oil quintuple since 1999, and he's used the income to shore up his own power as he prods the country toward ever more severe autocracy. "Putin has had the money to raise pensions a bit, pay salaries and keep taxes down," says Vladimir Pribylovsky, a political analyst at Moscow's Panorama think tank. By helping ordinary workers in this way, Putin cut the legs out from under his main political opponents, the Communists. Meanwhile, the high price of a barrel also puts him in a strong position when criticized from abroad for rolling back democratic freedoms. "At $50 a barrel," says Pribylovsky, "Putin can do whatever he wants with Bush and Europe." Everybody is knocking at his door, wanting a piece of the action—and a sure supply of petroleum.

But the biggest winner of all is Saudi Arabia. Many in the United States see the kingdom as a problematic ally, with a shaky, geriatric monarchy and a deep tradition of patronizing radical fundamentalism. It was the birthplace of 15 of the 19 hijackers on September 11. Since last year, terrorist groups trying to overthrow the regime have staged several suicide bombings and murdered foreign workers. Yet the desert kingdom accounts for a quarter of the entire world's proven reserves, and it's usually the only country that can inject an extra 2 million or 3 million barrels a day into the market by turning on the tap. The Saudis' own projected windfall is estimated upwards of $50 billion over the next year.

From MSNBC/Newsweek

By Christopher Dickey and Tom Masland