Monday, January 05, 2015

Modern day "Game of Thrones"...Keep an eye on Saudi Arabia...

via Jerusalem Online.
According the the Egyptian Television network "El-Nha'r, the Saudi king will announce in the next few minutes that he is giving up his crown.
King Abdullah (90) has been hospitalized for several days in the hospital in the Saudi capital city Riyadh. According to reports, specialists from the United States arrived at the hospital in Saudi Arabia to address his needs. King Abdullah, or by his full name - Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, is the sixth King of Saudi Arabia.
According to the publication, In March of last year, Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz was named deputy Crown Prince and is therefore second-in-line to the throne.
The second in line will continue current policies.

That isn't what should have your attention.  Its the game behind the scenes. If there is a power struggle and if the current "regime" loses to an upstart then everything is on the table.  Relations with the US and Israel, the Syria Conflict, the conflict in Iraq with ISIS, the US pullout from Afghanistan and even world oil prices could all hinge on palace intrigue.

Keep an eye on Saudi Arabia.  It could affect your world.

7 comments :

  1. The US has at least 40,000 troops in the gulf area, including KSA, actually more now with the war on ISIS, and US investments are increasing at these bases. So nothing will be allowed to change, at least without an effort to stop it. Meanwhile, as long as KSA toes the US policy line, the US will continue to suck up to Saudi Arabia which beheaded 83 people last year and sends women drivers to anti-terrorist court.

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    1. Geopolitics>morals

      Always has been the case.
      If you cant suck it up, and whine somewhere in corner with the rest of your impotent leftists.
      All the while US will continue cooperating with various regimes and China will continue neo-colonizing Africa and South America.

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    2. at this day and age, it is suprising to find people still believed in left or right, rep or dem , that artificial divide created by TPB in america to fool people into thinking theres illusion of choice..

      and whitewashing US geopolitic ambitions by saying it 'continue cooperating' and using different wording with china's ambition in africa is kinda lame, everyone jostling for influence these days..

      unless you believed in the so called American Exceptionalism doctrine...

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    3. There's a very strong age-divide on that. Does anyone under 45-50 take anything said on TV for granted anymore? Does anyone under 30 even watch news on TV anymore?

      The seniors though? They lap that crap up. When they go, so will CNN, FOX, ABC, NBC, etc.

      Delete
  2. This is a great piece from Indian Punchline about middle east 2015

    The predictable Middle East, and not-so-predictable
    Whenever I receive mail from my good friend Graham Fuller, I read it eagerly because he always has something very insightful to say – not only because of his ex-CIA background but, more importantly, on account of his scholarly mind combined with his profound knowledge of Middle Eastern and Islamic affairs. The latest mail that reached me an hour ago was no exception – Graham’s ‘Five Middle East Predictions’ for 2015.

    When it comes to the stupidities of American policies toward Russia or the seamless adoration one would have for Russian music and literature, or the undying passion that lasts a lifetime for the ‘city of heart’s desires’ (Istanbul) and, of course, the sense of futility in fighting the Taliban, or the slow-motion tragedy of Pakistan itself – when it comes to all of these, I largely see eye to eye with Graham. On the Middle East, perhaps, I tend to see things differently at times, especially on Turkey, but then, he is phenomenally knowledgeable about Islam and the region and spent an adult life working on the Middle East, whereas, I was a mere bird of passage.

    Graham’s five 2015 Middle East predictions are: i) Islamic State will decline in power and influence; ii) Iran’s regional role will grow; iii) Turkey’s Recep Erdogan will lose the Midas touch; (iv) Russia will play a major role in the Middle East; and, v) Taliban’s victory march toward Kabul will gain momentum.

    To my mind, he is spot on. However, please note that Graham has not a kind word to say for the ‘Arab Spring’. Is Arab Spring a thing of the past? I hope Graham is wrong about the stasis he predicts for the region. Read his predictions here.

    http://grahamefuller.com/340/

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    Replies
    1. Emile Nakhleh gives us an excellent update on what he calls "political Islam" here. A key graph:
      "However, as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan dragged on, and as drone strikes caused more civilian casualties in Yemen, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, many Muslims became more skeptical of Washington’s commitment to sincere engagement with the Muslim world." --1.6 billion people

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  3. This news about the King got very little play in regular or business news today, we need some better sources, as far as I can tell, only DEBKA is also saying that the King is abdicating......and we know how reliable they are. ;)

    Something on the topic of oil:

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2015/01/05/saudi-arabias-750-billion-bet-drives-brent-oil-below-54/

    ReplyDelete

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