Is Saudi Arabia's King And Ruler Clinically Dead .... And For Six Days?

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz. Press TV

Saudi Arabia's King 'Has Been Clinically Dead For Six Days And Is Being Kept Alive By A Ventilator' Say Local Media -- Daily Mail

* King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud 'on life support for almost a week'
* No comment from the Saudi Royal Court to confirm or deny media reports

The king of Saudi Arabia has been 'clinically dead' for almost a week and is on life support machines, according to local media.

King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud has been critically ill since last Wednesday, according to a Saudi journalist working in London, and has not been seen in public since.

The reporter, working for daily news service Asharq Alawsat, told Press TV that doctors used a defibrillator to revive him several times.

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My Comment: Iranian media are the ones who are playing up this story .... but if the Saudi King was dead, we would have known about it first in unexplainable oil price fluctuations .... and then within 24 hours from someone in the Saudi government. His death would be just too big to hide.

Saudi Arabia Arrests 18 In Spy Investigation

Saudi Arabia Says Arrests 18 In Spying Investigation -- Reuters

(Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has arrested 18 people, including an Iranian, a Lebanese citizen and 16 Saudis, for spying, it said on Tuesday, in a move that could raise tensions between Riyadh and arch-rival Tehran.

Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki said on state television the suspects were "involved with a spy network working for a foreign country".

Turki later told Reuters he could not say who the 18 were suspected of spying for, pending further investigation.

Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Iran have tussled for influence across the Middle East, including in Lebanon, and Riyadh has accused Tehran of stoking unrest in neighboring Bahrain, a charge it has denied.

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More News On Saudi Arabia Busting A Spy Network

Saudi arrests 18 spies including Iranian: ministry -- AFP
Saudi Arabia arrests 18 for spying -- BBC
Saudi Arabia arrests 18 alleged spies -- UPI
Saudi Arabia arrests 18 suspected spies -- Al Jazeera
Saudi Arabia: 18 suspected spies arrested -- Global Post

Saudi Twaiq Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP)

Saudi produced "Twaiq" Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) being displayed at the International Defence Exhibition and Conference 2013 (IDEX 2013) in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Why Is Saudi Arabia Cutting Back On It's Oil Production?

Why Has Saudi Arabia Cut Its Oil Output? -- Jared Anderson, Aol Energy

The world's most influential oil producer, Saudi Arabia, reduced its oil production towards the end of 2012, causing many to conclude the Kingdom sought to reinforce global oil prices, but the Internal Energy Agency has a different take.

Saudi Arabia had been pumping oil at 30-year highs for most of 2012, but cut back supplies by just below 300,000 barrels per day in December to 9.36 million b/d, the IEA said in its most recent Monthly Oil Market Report.

Many analysts and news agencies noted the cutback, proclaiming it was driven by price considerations, with the Saudis looking to ensure they received adequate revenue from oil exports to finance the government's budget, a move Riyadh is widely believed to have made in the past.

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My Comment: In the past .... whenever Saudi Arabia decided to cut its oil output .... it was to make a point on an international issue and/or position itself to negotiate something from the West/U.S. that was for it's benefit. But in this case .... it looks like it is the domestic market that is influencing production.

Saudi Arabia Will Cease To Be An Oil Exporter By 2030

Saudi Oil Well Dries Up -- Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, The Telegraph

If Citigroup is right, Saudi Arabia will cease to be an oil exporter by 2030, far sooner than previously thought.

A 150-page report by Heidy Rehman on the Saudi petrochemical industry should be sober reading for those who think that shale oil and gas have solved our global energy crunch.

I don't wish to knock shale. It is a Godsend and should be encouraged with utmost vigour and dispatch in Britain. But it is for now plugging holes in global supply rather than covering the future shortfall as the industrial revolutions of Asia mature.

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My Comment: I have been hearing this story for the past 30 years. One day we will probably run out of oil .... but it will not be today .... or in 2030.

Saudi Arabia Is On A Military Spending Spree

Saudi Arabia's Military Shopping Spree -- Joshua Keating, Foreign Policy

Thom Shanker reports on a new Congressional Research Service reports which finds that U.S. arms sales reached a record high of $66.3 billion last year, more than three quarters of the total global arms market. About half of that comes from sales to Saudi Arabia:

A worldwide economic decline had suppressed arms sales over recent years. But increasing tensions with Iran drove a set of Persian Gulf nations — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman — to purchase American weapons at record levels. These Gulf states do not share a border with Iran, and their arms purchases focused on expensive warplanes and complex missile defense systems.[...]

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My Comment: After the fall of their ally Mubarak in Egypt, Iranian threats, the ongoing Syrian civil war, and the possibility of an "Arab Spring" in Saudi Arabia itself .... couple this with no confidence in the U.S. .... if I was the Saudi King I would probably be doing the same thing.

Panavia Tornado Fighter Jet of Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) @ Anatolian Eagle 2012

Panavia Tornado Fighter Jet of Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) during the Anatolian Eagle 2012.

Saudi Arabia Appoints A 'Hawk' As It's Intelligence Chief

Prince Bandar bin Sultan with G.W. Bush. Wikipedia

Saudi Prince Bandar: a Flamboyant, Hawkish Spy Chief -- New York Times/Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's "peasant prince" with the twinkling eye, hawkish views and fondness for the Dallas Cowboys football team is back, now heading the kingdom's intelligence agency.

On Thursday night Prince Bandar bin Sultan was appointed Saudi Arabia's new spy chief at a moment when the world's top oil exporter is engaged in a bitter rivalry with Shi'ite Muslim power Iran played out in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Bahrain.

The sociable Bandar, 63, who vanished from public view when he was recalled from Washington by King Abdullah in 2005 after notching up 22 years as the kingdom's ambassador there, will immediately be thrust into a game-changing Middle East crisis.

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My Comment: The Saudis are signalling that they are going to now play hardball against their own dissidents, Iran, Syria, and anyone else who gets in their way.

Royal Saudi Special Operation Forces

Royal Saudi Special Operation Forces.

Saudi Interior ministry's special operation operators performing in front of the Interior minister & Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdel Aziz days before the Hajj.

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Unrest Breaks Out In Saudi Arabia

Masked men clash with police forces in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province. (Still image taken from a video posted on YouTube)

Saudi Arabia: Police 'Open Fire' On Protesters -- The Telegraph

Saudi forces reportedly laid siege to a Shia village in the east of the kingdom yesterday following the eruption of clashes, raising fears that the world’s biggest oil producer may not be immune to the unrest sweeping the Middle East.

Exiled Saudi dissidents said police had sealed off the village of Awwamiya after using live fire to disperse Shia protesters on Monday night. They claimed 20 people had been wounded in the worst violence in Saudi Arabia’s ast, home to much of the Sunni kingdom’s Shia minority, for years.

Observers say Sunni-Shia tension is rising in the kingdom and could be exploited by Iran, Saudi Arabia’s greatest rival in the region.

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More News On The Unrest In Saudi Arabia

Saudi police open fire on civilians as protests gain momentum -- The Independent
Saudi Arabia Vows 'Iron Fist' Following Attack in Oil Province -- SFGate/Bloomberg
Clashes in Saudi Arabia leave 14 wounded -- Financial Times
Clashes in Saudi Arabia Shi'ite town leave at least 14 wounded -- Haaretz
Saudi Arabia blames foreign power for unrest in east -- Ynet News
Saudi Arabia says a ‘foreign country’ is fomenting unrest in Eastern Province -- Al Arabiya News
14 injured in riots in largely Shiite province of Saudi Arabia -- USA Today
Saudi Arabia Riot Quelled, Riyadh Hints at Iranian Instigation -- IBTimes

PAK-SAUDI JOINT EXERCISE AL-SAMSAAM-IV-2011

Inspector General Training and evaluation, Lieutenant General, Muzamil Hussain witnessed Joint Exercise (AL-SAMSAAM-IV-2011) between Pakistan Army and Royal Saudi Land Forces near Jhel...

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Saudi King Gives Women Right To Vote In Local Elections

Photo: Saudi King Abdullah, Reuters/Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia Gives Women Right To Vote -- The Guardian

Saudi women will have the right to stand for office and vote in future local elections, says King Abdullah.

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has said women will have the right to stand and vote in future local elections and join the advisory Shura Council as full members.

"Because we refuse to marginalise women in society in all roles that comply with sharia, we have decided, after deliberation with our senior ulama [clerics] and others … to involve women in the Shura Council as members, starting from the next term," he said in a speech.

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More News On Saudi Women Now Having The Right To Vote

Saudi king gives women right to vote -- AFP
Saudi king: Women given right to vote for first time in 2015 nationwide local elections -- Washington Post
Saudi King Says Women Will Be Members in Next Shoura Council -- Bloomberg
Saudi king gives women right to vote -- Sydney Morning Herald
Saudi king says women will have political role -- Reuters
Women in Saudi Arabia to vote and run in elections -- BBC
Saudi king announces new political role for women -- CNN

My Comment: I guess having the right to drive a car is next on the agenda.

The Emerging Saudi Arabia Foreign Policy In The Middle East

Mideast Upheavals Open Doors For Saudi Strategies -- New York Times/AP

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia is getting bolder in its strategy for dealing with the Middle East's uprisings. No longer waiting for Washington's cue, the kingdom is aggressively trying to influence the regional turmoil and boost its two goals — protect fellow royal houses and isolate its rival, Iran.



The more decisive policies by King Abdullah were on full display this week as he took the lead among Arab nations by yanking his ambassador from Syria and demanding an "end to the killing machine" of President Bashar Assad's regime in a startlingly strong condemnation of Damascus' bloody suppression of protesters.



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My Comment: The Saudis have no choice. With the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq and the decline of U.S. influence elsewhere in the Middle East, the Saudis are now stepping into this void.Will they be successful .... only time will tell.

Saudis On Massive Military Spending Spree

The King of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud.

Saudis Seeking Arms Amid Growing Fears: Analysts -- Defense News/AFP

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia's hunger for weapons, initially aimed at staving off the threat of Iran, has grown with the upcoming U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and instability in Yemen and Bahrain, analysts say.

"Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries in general realize that they must rely on themselves to defend themselves during this critical period marked by the beginning of a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq," said Anwar Eshki, director of the Middle East Institute for Strategic Studies.

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My Comment: With U.S. forces leaving Iraq, and tensions with Iran continuing, the Saudi`s have clearly made the decision to go on a massive military spending spree. Expect this trend to continue as long as unrest in the Middle East continues.

How The Dissent Movement In Saudi Arabia Uses Social Media To Survive

Social Media Helps Keep the Door Open to Sustained Dissent Inside Saudi Arabia -- New York Times

AL KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia — When Manal al-Sharif posted a video of herself breaking the law by driving her own black S.U.V. around this hot, flat city and called for a collective protest on Friday, the government responded harshly: she was jailed for nine days.

But unlike in the past, government censure did not quash debate. Instead, the Internet buzzed to life in Ms. Sharif’s defense, building on the surge of social media here after the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. Twitter and Facebook overflowed with comments denouncing both Saudi Arabia’s ruling princes and the clerics who called for her to be flogged as Neanderthals completely detached from the realities of life for women here.

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My Comment: The Saudi Government may wish to shutdown social networks .... but it is not going to happen. Social media is now like television, radio, and cell phones .... if you want to live in the 21rst century these are indispensable tools for a country to survive. Shut it down .... you shut down the country. As for the protest movement, the best action for the Saudi government to pursue is to confront and accommodate some of the needs that many of Saudi Arabia's young want to see implemented. Failure to do so .... will result in dissent on the computer screen being translated into dissent on the street .... a development that no one in the Saudi government should wish for.

Saudi Arabia Tries to Buy Time With Their Dissidents

In Saudi Arabia, Royal Funds Buy Peace For Now -- New York Times

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — As one nation after another has battled uprisings across the Arab world, the one major country spared is also its richest — Saudi Arabia, where a fresh infusion of money has so far bought order.

The kingdom is spending $130 billion to pump up salaries, build housing and finance religious organizations, among other outlays, effectively neutralizing most opposition. King Abdullah began wielding his checkbook right after leaders in Tunisia and Egypt fell, seeking to placate the public and reward a loyal religious establishment. The king’s reserves, swollen by more than $214 billion in oil revenue last year, have insulated the royal family from widespread demands for change even while some discontent simmers.

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My Comment: Saudi Arabia is using both carrots and the stick to enforce the status quo. Will the Saudi monarchy succeed in satisfying their critics .... as long as people are being paid off and those who dissent are effectively "punished" .... with the exception of Shiite dissent in a few eastern provinces I expect no major changes in the Kingdom.

Can Saudi Arabia Limit The Arab Spring?

Saudis perched on the Faisaliah Tower in Riyadh. The kingdom is aggressively emphasizing the relative stability of monarchies. Ed Ou for The New York Times

Saudi Arabia Scrambles to Limit Region’s Upheaval -- New York Times

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia is flexing its financial and diplomatic might across the Middle East in a wide-ranging bid to contain the tide of change, shield other monarchies from popular discontent and avert the overthrow of any more leaders struggling to calm turbulent nations.

From Egypt, where the Saudis dispensed $4 billion in aid last week to shore up the ruling military council, to Yemen, where it is trying to ease out the president, to the kingdoms of Jordan and Morocco, which it has invited to join a union of Persian Gulf monarchies, Saudi Arabia is scrambling to forestall more radical change and block Iran’s influence.

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My Comment: "Bread and Circuses" will buy some level of stability and calm .... but it is only a short term measure that will have limited impact on what many young people now want in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia Is Stepping Up Support For Their Allies In The Middle East

Saudi Arabia Scrambles to Limit Region’s Upheaval -- The Telegraph

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia is flexing its financial and diplomatic might across the Middle East in a wide-ranging bid to contain the tide of change, shield fellow monarchs from popular discontent and avert the overthrow of any more leaders struggling to calm turbulent republics.

From Egypt, where the Saudis dispensed $4 billion in aid last week to shore up the ruling military council, to Yemen, where it is trying to ease out the president, to the kingdoms of Jordan and Morocco, which it has invited to join a union of Gulf monarchies, Saudi Arabia is scrambling to forestall more radical change and block Iran’s influence.

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My Comment: The Saudi's do not trust the Americans anymore to quell the unrest that is sweeping through the region. They are now stepping up, and using their financial and military resources to quell rebellions within friendly states and to limit Iran's influence in neighboring countries.

Royal Saudi Air Forceto Participate in Anatolian Eagle Exercise 2011

The Royal Saudi Air Force is going to participate in Anatolian Eagle Exercise 2011. Exercise is going to start next month at the Konya air base 250km south of Ankara. The aircraft trained over the plains of Anatolia, near the borders with Syria, Iran, and Iraq.

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Saudi Arabia to Purchase Night and Thermal Vision Equipment

Saudi Arabia is looking to purchase different night and thermal vision equipment and logistical support at an estimated cost of $330 million from the United States of America.

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