King Fahd Dead
Dean
Saudi Arabia's King Fahd has died.
He's effectively been out of it for ten years due to a stroke; his half-brother Crown Prince Abdullah has ruled in his older brother's name since then. Now Abdullah will become King.
Fahd is credited with having both moved the kingdom closer to the United States AND with putting religious hard-liners in prominent positions of power. Abdullah has been known for reformist efforts--it'll be interesting to see if, now that he's king, he works harder for reform, slows down reform, or works toward the status quo.
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Exactly as Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, John Adams, and James Madison would have explained to you.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
One may have revolution or evolution in the making of a modern state. A wise man craves the latter, but a true man stands ready to take part in the former.
My prediction: status quo, with frustratingly slow movement toward reform.
More than 600 Cantor Fitzgerald employees were murdered on 9/11. Cantor Fitzgerald was one of the groups accusing Prince Turki &Prince Sultan of paying for murder.
Turki al-Faisal was appointed ambassador to Britain in 2002. A Saudi official denied the appointment was intended to give him diplomatic immunity to protect him from lawsuits.
The 9/11 families' case was dropped, not due to a lack of evidence, but due to the fact that their new jobs left Sultan and Turki immune from prosecution. As the judge said, "whatever their actions, they were performed in their official (government) capacities."
I'm willing to bet that the Saudi "movement toward reform" will be very slow.
Sultan has been Min. of Defense since the 1962. Now that's really a new job!
Turki Al-Faisal has been in the government since the 70s. He left one high-ranked position (which would hold diplomatic status in itself)and a year later was given a new one, also with diplomatic status.
Yep... a real shell game going on there.
I think the pace of reform is going to be quicker than it has been. Abdullah is now both head of state and head of government. He's the king, not a regent. He can promote actions at his pace, not having to pay nearly as much attention to other members of the family, as they're all pledging allegiance to him today.
And Abdullah is a real reformer. By becoming Crown Prince, Sultan arguably loses power because he cannot be seen contradicting the king. Sultan was lethargic on reform, to say the least.
Perhaps Mary can abstain from her attempts at legerdemain for a couple of months and actually wait to see what comes from the new king....
True. I was looking at a press photo of Prince Sultan in a recent news article, and he looked about 27. The miracle of airbrush. Thanks for the fact check.
The information about Turki Al-Faisal, however, and the Saudi denials, are straight from Reuters.
The New York Times said of Turki:
It would be hard to find a more telling symbol of the contradictory nature of Saudi-American relations than Prince Turki al-Faisal, the Saudis' new ambassador to the United States. As head of Saudi intelligence from 1977 until Aug. 31, 2001, he personally managed Riyadh's relations with Osama bin Laden and Mullah Muhammad Omar of the Taliban. Anyone else who had dealings with even a small fraction of the notorious characters the prince has worked with over the years would never make it past the immigration counter at Dulles Airport, let alone to the most exclusive offices in Washington.
John, you know much more about Saudi politics than I do. What sort of reforms do you think Abdullah will initiate? What do you think he will accomplish? A few years from now, it will be interesting to go back and see if your predictions are accurate.
I'll go out on a limb in predicting what reforms Abdullah will be able to achieve. I think we'll see some breakthroughs in women's rights. Maybe not driving (he got burned badly last time he tried to push that), but more in legal support for women. I think he'll drive education reforms.
He is popular and doesn't have the baggage of his predecesor as a profligate youth. In fact, he behaves piously and is perceived as pious. He has the loyalty of the tribes--no small matter--as well as that of the merchant classes. Like Nixon and China, he'll not have to fight as many rearguard actions while moving forward.
I'm looking forward to a somewhat faster pace of reform, but not a mad gallop toward it. He realizes that he is not an absolute monarch, but must bring many interested parties along with him--something the Shah of Iran forgot.
BTW, the jump in oil prices (since relaxed) is being credited to Iran's talk about resuming nuclear operations according to the MSM.
Bold predictions. It sounds like Abdullah might just be the man to lead the KSA into the seventh century. If the tribes allow it.
You remember that century, don't you? Women allowed to open bank accounts in France--1963. All Swiss women allowed to vote--1964?
Just curious...
I was a corporate PR guy in downtown Chicago much of a lifetime ago. I too took that seriously, which surely was what I was paid to do. And I liked living on the 39th floor of Marina City, which my job paid for.
So if there's anything to reincarnation, in your next life, I hope State gives you a break and posts you to easygoing, morose, unthreatened, unthreatening Finland. Think of it. Suomi Crossroads will make an interesting and informative blogsite, from which nobody will take exception to more or less anything you come up with.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
We can't be, because I actually agree with something that John says - dissing Arab News.
Arab News writer Gwynn Dyer and most Independent writers are "morally obtuse and historically ignorant" prats. It's about time that someone said it.