It was the result of regulatory inaction and infighting.

For more than a generation politics-as-usual had produced an incessant series of wars and civil strife.

And if that target is not reached, the consortium unravels, or there is infighting over mega-programmes?

As they do so, the jihadists will be mindful that their world has passed them by.

In an industry in which companies rarely criticize each other publicly, the Gulf disaster has touched off some unusual infighting.