Saudi King Fahd dead
CNN:
Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd — whose reign was marked by unprecedented prosperity, but whose close ties with the United States stirred the passions of Islamic militants — has died, Saudi Arabia’s information minister announced Monday.His exact age remains uncertain — believed to be between 82 and 84.
A source told CNN’s Nic Robertson that Fahd died Sunday evening. His burial is scheduled for Tuesday at 3 p.m. (8 a.m. EDT) in Riyadh.
The former Crown Prince Abdullah, Fahd’s half brother, has been named the new Saudi king and Defense Minister Prince Sultan has replaced Abdullah as crown prince.
As I have mentioned before, this could get very interesting, in the Chinese Proverb sense.
There is a cloak-and-dagger civil war going on in Saudi Arabia between the more or less pro-West faction led by Prince Abdullah and the more fundamentalist faction led by Prince Nayef, the interior minister. There is a chance that this struggle will emerge from the shadows. If it does, things will get very messy and if Saudi Oil supplies are disrupted, messy won’t do the situation justice.
I don’t expect this to happen, although I wouldn’t be surprised is the hidden war does heat up some. Look for more terror attacks in Saudi in the near future.
We might also want to consider the possibility that “Saudi Arabia” will soon be Saudi no more…
Most people don’t seem to know that it’s only been Saudi Arabia for the relatively short period of time that the House of Saud has held the thrown. If there really is an uprising and the Kingdom is overthrown, Arabia will probably still linger, but a new prefix will appear.
Or, you know, to quote the Simpsons, we could take over make the whole area our 51st state and call it “Saudi Israelia.”