Saudi Crown Prince Dies
The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia has died at the age of 80 to 85 depending on what source you follow.
Prince Sultan bin Abdel Aziz was successor to the current monarch King Abdullah who is himself in his late 80′s and in poor health.
Sultan was part of a faction of the ruling family which had fought reforms promoted by Abdullah (minor as they may be by our standards). The expected successor as Crown Prince is 77 year old Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz, the current Interior minister.
He is, if anything, even more reactionary, stating that 9/11 was a Zionist plot and that women should have no role in society.
It appears it will be several kings before we move to the next generation, and even then much reform is doubtful. Even the ‘young generation’ is in their 70′s, the current frontrunner for eventual succession from this group may be Prince Khalid bin Faisal Al Saud who is seen as somewhat moderate in the mold of King Abdullah.
10 Responses to “Saudi Crown Prince Dies”
Patrick, I’m not “waiting” for any reforms. Saudi Arabia is not the United States and they will reform on their own. All we can do, and, all we should do, is suggest. Nothing more.
And stop selling them weapons…
The Saudis make the Theocratic Iranian regime look like open minded liberals.
Not sure I’d go that far QF, Iran is quite extreme.
I’m curious do you base your view on SA vs Iran on specific incidents or the fact Iran is not pro US ?
PE
What is the standing of Jews in Iran and SA? Woman are better of in any country compared to SA.
Well as to Jews, the President of Iran has called for their extermination, not exactly friendly, nor are they good to women.
I am not at all arguing that SA is in any way kind to women or Jews, merely that Iran is just as bad.
There are 25 to 35 thousand Jews living in Iran, some small Christian communities which in both cases is far more than there are in SA, not to mention that Women are actually considered real people in Iran and not dependents of males.
Women are also allowed to drive in Iran which is a major improvement over SA.
Then there is the fact that 15 of the 19 highjackers on 9/11 were Saudis.
Until last year Freedom House was rating Iran as slightly freer than SA, considering that one is best buds with the US and the other is Satan Incarnate, I can only imagine how f**ked up SA must be.
PS Stoning and public beating are still par for the course in SA.
@PE
Iran has a Jewish population over 10,000. It ranks as 26th largest Jewish population in the world. Saudis Arabia doesn’t even welcome Jews or Christians…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_population#Largest_Jewish_populations_by_country
Perhaps things have changed, but when I worked and resided in Saudi Arabia for five years in the late 70s and early 80s, no Jewish expats were even allowed to work there; no Jewish-affiliated products e.g. (Coca Cola) or services were permitted in Saudi Arabia; those who had traveled to Israel and had their passport stamped with an Israeli entry visa were not allowed to enter Saudi Arabia so they had to get duplicate passports or have the Israelis stamp separate, detachable sheets on their passport; etc, etc.
I don’t know if Iran has similar laws, perhaps someone can enlighten us.
Added:
Rudi says:
“Saudis Arabia doesn’t even welcome Jews or Christians…”
Again, perhaps things may have changed, but—for example—expats could not openly practice their Christian reliogion, or events, such as Christmas. I believe, in Iran, they can…
Saudi Arabia is our ally. They welcomed me just fine. I got excellent hotel rooms. I don’t care what they think about Jews because they think the same thing about the Iranian Shia. They have their reasons and it don’t affect me. I have no problem with selling them weapons. The people I worked with in the region considered Israel the last place they wanted to go because they didn’t want to put up with their rrogant security people. So we routed our aircraft through Arab countries for the shear easy of travel. Besides it’s much better to spend a couple of nights in Luxor, Istanbul, Riyan or even Addis. At least you could buy gold below market in Addis.