[SJackson]

Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

..................

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

:: The crown prince, Abdullah’s half-brother, Prince Salman ::

Quick note to Prince Salman, start calling yourself “caliph” Salman and the rest of the 7th-century-superstitious lemmings will fall in line.

[AdmSmith]

A powder keg:

The continued strength of the religious right can be seen in the recent flogging of a blogger and the public beheading of a woman for murder. This is not the Saudi Arabia that coalition partners wish to support in the fight against the so-called Islamic State; and it draws attention to the fact that the beliefs and practices of the Islamic State arise from a very similar educational and cultural background to those of Saudi Arabia. It may worry the new King that many Saudis oppose the Islamic State merely because they are told to do so, while wondering why it is cast as being so bad. It is no coincidence that there are reported to be about 3,000 Saudis fighting with the Islamic State, and if the group makes a push towards the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina, as any self-respecting Caliph might do, it may find a good number of sympathizers ready to offer at least tacit support. It is not a good time therefore for Salman to continue the gentle reforms pursued by his predecessor. He may even roll back some changes in order to ensure he has as much credibility with the religious right as he can muster.

Furthermore, Saudi Arabia, a country of less than 30 million people, with close to 50% of its population under 25, is now the lead Arab nation.

http://soufangroup.com/tsg-intelbrief-the-death-of-a-king/

[Jim Noble]

"Saudi" Arabia is the enemy, always has been. Pakistan, too. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan constituted a major category error. The House of Saud will fall. Absolutely, positively, 100% certainty. The possible governments of the central Arabian peninsula are what they always have been:

1) UK-American occupation government

2) Persians

3) Secular Arabs

4) Al Qaeda

5) ISIS

The possible governments of the Punjab, Sindh, Kashmir, East Baluchistan, and Southeast Afghanistan are what they always have been:

1) Joint US-Indian occupation government

2) Persians

3) Chinese

4) Al Qaeda

5)ISIS

[PapaBear3625]

The impression I’ve gotten is that the Saudi king is really just “chairman of the board” of the family enterprise which is the House of Saud. So the new king being senile may not be as big an issue as one might assume.

[Elsie]

The King Is Dead

Gas in my area only jumped up 25¢