Saudi King Abdullah has died

[All Along The Watchtower]

Wow, didn't know he was ill.

[All Along The Watchtower]

He was ill since he took power.

Ah, somehow I didn't realize that. I mean, I'm not totally surprised, but considering how incapacitated Fahd was toward the end of his reign....

[All Along The Watchtower]

I was a little earlier reading an article in the Washington Post that pointed out that Salman is himself not in the best of health:

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I am not by any means a fan of the House of Saud and the state they helm. Indeed I'd say it's one of my least favourite regimes if not right at the top (behind the terrorist Italian colonial entity, of course) for a number of reasons; their fanatical Wahhabist sect of Islam which they've spread around the world to catastrophic effect, destablising literally dozens of countries, including most of those I feel attached to; the repressive and regressive rules that sect imposes; their racist treatment of Africans and meddling in our affairs. I could go on and on.

But the fact is that Abdullah was a leader who made positive changes, while from all appearances facing serious resistance from fundamentalist clerics in even the most inoffensive changes. I'm not going to praise him as some progressive reformist, but considering the catastrophic effect Saudi-backed Wahhabism has had on our world, they were positive steps all the same.

I'd honestly admit to believing that I'd have a decided sense of schadenfreude if Saudi Arabia were to fall to pieces, but for the very same Wahhabism that so menaces us. When one of the "better" outcomes in such a scenario is the total implosion of the country and the formation of an Iranian-backed Gulf Shia state (as opposed to the emergence of a more conservative regime that would make the present one seem as liberal as the Shah's by comparison, which would be a very real possibility in such a scenario), one is sort of obligated to wish them well.

Thoughtful, well-considered post, Simfan. Thanks!