Sultan Qaboos is dead

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

This is pretty big news.

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2020/01/11/Sultan-of-Oman-dies-Oman-state-media.html

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Massive FF. Rest in peace

I'd rather say a "model modern enlightened despot".

Very inconvenient timing.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Curious to see whose name he wrote down in that letter he left before he died.  Hopefully it will be someone just like him. 

It's alredy been sorted out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitham_bin_Tariq_Al_Said

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I'm going to interrupt the lovefest on a Middle Eastern absolute monarch and say RIP, HP.

Thank you. He was an autocratic despot that suppressed the Omani people twice, once in the 70s and again during the Arab Spring. Are all you people gushing over Qaboos going to say the same about Gaddafi?

I'm not usually one who buys into the "strongman being necessary for the development of his country" trope, and I think it's untrue in most cases, examples being Park Chung-hee and Lee Kuan Yew. However, in my opinion Qaboos is an exception. He could've chosen to be like his father and done nothing to better the country, but instead he proved himself to be far better than he had any right to be. The internal improvements he made to Oman are obvious and well-known, but he also distinguished himself internationally by maintaining a position of neutrality and serving as a mediator in many instances. He refused to get Oman involved in proxy wars, and played a crucial role as an intermediary during the Iran Nuclear Deal negotiations. Also, unlike the other Gulf states of Bahrain, Qatar, and the UAE, Oman isn't a filthy rich petrostate, built off the backs of abused migrant workers, that uses its cash to fund terrorism. The Middle East would be a much better place if there were more rulers like Qaboos in charge.

A Democratic Oman would have done the same, without spending the people’s money on royal yahts And having one of the highest defense spending % in the world, nor would they have suppressed the movement of Oman further into a better era.

Your claim that migrants aren’t doing the brunt of the backbreaking work in Oman are also false.

I'm actually willing to defend the defense spending (pun unintended), given Oman's very important strategic location, as well as the fact its' in rather dangerous neighbourhood.

I don't think we can truly predict how would a democratic Oman act, but I agree about the danger of perpetuating the notion that strongmen are somehow a necessary or desirable precondition for development. And Qaboos was indeed a ruthless despot, and had no qualms against using his peoples' money for personal pleasures.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

It's worth mentioning there were longtime rumours the Sultan was deep in the closet, which, if true, would be especially relevant, given Oman's laws penalizing homosexuals.

At any rate, sure, Oman developed a lot during his reign, and he largely kept it neutral in what is a dangerous neighbourhood. And yes, there were some small, slow political reforms, but Oman remained overall an oppressive regime.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

It's worth mentioning there were longtime rumours the Sultan was deep in the closet, which, if true, would be especially relevant, given Oman's laws penalizing homosexuals.

One of the factors that led to the coup he launched against his father was his father destroying his Gilbert and Sullivan LPs. Stereotype upon stereotype (given 'Arab monarch') but such is the World quite often.

I am the monarch of the sea,
The ruler of the Royal Omani Navee.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

It's worth mentioning there were longtime rumours the Sultan was deep in the closet, which, if true, would be especially relevant, given Oman's laws penalizing homosexuals.

One of the factors that led to the coup he launched against his father was his father destroying his Gilbert and Sullivan LPs.

Honestly, that's a mood. Qaboos would make a great, and probably very sympathetic, fictional character; unfortunately, in his capacity as a real person...

Ahmad Bin Yahya from the next-door country (well, next-to-next technically, since it was before the Yemeni unification) would've made a great fictional character, somewhere along the lines of Roger from American Dad. A total psychopath, bordering on insanity, and yet entertaining enough to be likeable. As per always helpful wiki:

Although he wrote poetry from his youth, he was known for his explosive temper. Stories circulated that when he was a student at law, he confronted fellow students at knife-point to swear to support him one day as Imam.

Although his father had banned aircraft after a fatal accident, Ahmad was fascinated by them and on taking the throne bought two DC-3s and another in 1951. All the planes, however, were at the personal disposal of the Imam. The Swedish crew were terrified of his inconsistent orders.

The museum which was once his palace (now no longer open to the public) supposedly contains his "bizarre collection of hundreds of identical bottles of eau de cologne, Old Spice and Christian Dior, an electronic bed, a child's KLM handbag, projectors, films, guns, ammunition and swords ... passports, personalized Swiss watches and blood-stained clothes."

His mood swings and unpredictable behavior had several sources. Chief among them was his addiction to a mix of drugs, chiefly morphine, which he took for his chronic rheumatism.

Yes, that all would be great, if it was only fiction.