King Abdullah is dead.

BBC news is reporting the King of Saudi Arabia has snuffed it.

Great news, I have no shame in rejoicing in the death of a barbaric murderous leader. I'm sure his shameless peers (the royals of every nation to ever shake the bastards blood stained hand) will mourn this monsters passing.

In the wider scheme of things the situation in Saud probably wont change much for thus, but reports say oil prices are going to surge...

Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, a wily king who embraced limited reform, dies

Headline in Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/abdullah-of-saudi-arabia-a-wily-king-who-embraced-limited-reform-dies/2015/01/22/2ed987f0-a28d-11e4-9f89-561284a573f8_story.html

A day after this
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/21/middleeast/saudi-beheading-video/

He may have made some reforms but they were token amd do not outweigh the brutality of his regime. No surprise a newspaper like the WP is generally forgiving.

Eilzel wrote:He may have made some reforms but they were token amd do not outweigh the brutality of his regime. No surprise a newspaper like the WP is generally forgiving.

Agree. Forgiving? Saudi is an ali of USA, rarely see anything bad said about them.

Eilzel wrote:BBC news is reporting the King of Saudi Arabia has snuffed it.

Great news, I have no shame in rejoicing in the death of a barbaric murderous leader. I'm sure his shameless peers (the royals of every nation to ever shake the bastards blood stained hand) will mourn this monsters passing.

In the wider scheme of things the situation in Saud probably wont change much for thus, but reports say oil prices are going to surge...

Hi Eilzel

This is where the trouble will next spread to Saudi itself, which is just another IS state, just a slightly watered down version, with more infrastructure and money.


Anyone have an ideas on who is going succeed him and what they are like?

No idea, tbh I hope IS do use this if only because Saud would then crush the movement abd open up major calls for reform of its own state.

I'll take a contrarian view and say that this could easily open up a shitstorm. Abdullah, for whatever he was to us, was almost a radical within the context of his country and culture. And I've seen too much of what happens when a power vacuum opens up in the Middle East not to worry about this.

Eilzel wrote:No idea, tbh I hope IS do use this if only because Saud would then crush the movement abd open up major calls for reform of its own state.

Not so sure of that Eilzel, Both follow the Wahhabist doctrine of Islam. In fact Boko Haram, Al Qeada, the Taliban etc are all followers of this doctrine, with the rise of these groups down to Saudi exporting its doctrine to the cost of billions, There is little to tell them apart, with some minor differences. They are a wealthy nation with infrastructure and there criminal laws, though extreme are less extreme than the other groups I mentioned in regards to punishments. If you were to go back in time before the formation of Saudi and you will see they were doing the same as IS today
The one thing we have to stop doing in the west is dealing with Saudi, as she is the head that branches out to all these other groups through Wahhabism
So not sure I want to hope on anyone in Saudi reigning. Unless they are going to radically change the country for the better Eilzel




In the beginning, they conquered a few local communities and imposed their rule over them. (The conquered inhabitants were given a limited choice: conversion to Wahhabism or death.) By 1790, the Alliance controlled most of the Arabian Peninsula and repeatedly raided Medina, Syria and Iraq.

Their strategy -- like that of ISIS today -- was to bring the peoples whom they conquered into submission. They aimed to instill fear. In 1801, the Allies attacked the Holy City of Karbala in Iraq. They massacred thousands of Shiites, including women and children. Many Shiite shrines were destroyed, including the shrine of Imam Hussein, the murdered grandson of Prophet Muhammad.

A British official, Lieutenant Francis Warden, observing the situation at the time, wrote: "They pillaged the whole of it [Karbala], and plundered the Tomb of Hussein... slaying in the course of the day, with circumstances of peculiar cruelty, above five thousand of the inhabitants ..."

Osman Ibn Bishr Najdi, the historian of the first Saudi state, wrote that Ibn Saud committed a massacre in Karbala in 1801. He proudly documented that massacre saying, "we took Karbala and slaughtered and took its people (as slaves), then praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, and we do not apologize for that and say: 'And to the unbelievers: the same treatment.'"



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alastair-crooke/isis-wahhabism-saudi-arabia_b_5717157.html

Ben_Reilly wrote:I'll take a contrarian view and say that this could easily open up a shitstorm. Abdullah, for whatever he was to us, was almost a radical within the context of his country and culture. And I've seen too much of what happens when a power vacuum opens up in the Middle East not to worry about this.

Hi Ben

Nail on the head and again IS have much support within Saudi itself.
IS are clearly looking to expand into Saudi if not no doubt take mecca and I doubt many will kick up a fuss over a regime change in Saudi itself, when they follow the same doctrine Wahhabism.


http://www.newsweek.com/islamic-state-aims-occupy-mecca-300205

Brasidas wrote:

Ben_Reilly wrote:I'll take a contrarian view and say that this could easily open up a shitstorm. Abdullah, for whatever he was to us, was almost a radical within the context of his country and culture. And I've seen too much of what happens when a power vacuum opens up in the Middle East not to worry about this.

Hi Ben

Nail on the head and again IS have much support within Saudi itself.
IS are clearly looking to expand into Saudi if not no doubt take mecca and I doubt many will kick up a fuss over a regime change in Saudi itself, when they follow the same doctrine Wahhabism.


http://www.newsweek.com/islamic-state-aims-occupy-mecca-300205

Knowing those assholes, they probably see Mecca as their birthright

I guess if nothing else, this event will show how together the House of Saud has its shit ...

Which just reminds me that if Obama were to up and croak, we'd just put Biden in the White House and things wouldn't change too much. Royalty is such a pain in the ass!

Fair point on the uncertainty didge. But my belief genuinely is the House of Saud is powerful enough that it could take on IS in its own yard if it had to.

Bloody hell 22 Mothers in Law!

Abdullah is to be succeed by his 79-year-old half-brother, Prince Salman.