[Oxymandias]

@Oxymoron

And apparently he isn't doing so? He's just imprisoning those who disagree with him, not everyone around him. That's standard practice for a king. You'd have to be a fucking naive idiot to keep a bunch of people who strongly disagree with you in a political system where assassinations are the norm. This is necessary for his rule to function.

Let's say America was a monarchy and Donald Trump was king. Do you think it would be stupid for Donald to imprison liberals and other opponents to his rule? Of course not! It's necessary for such a government to function. Donald isn't just protecting his country, he's protecting his own very well-being and would blame him for doing so? Of course not, everyone wants to be safe and sound, even monarchs.

This is just the beginning, successful or unsuccessful rule comes after the dirty work.

[Beren]

Saudi Arabia really makes the news recently.

BBC: Saudi prince killed in helicopter crash near Yemen border
Bloomberg: Saudi Arabia Says Missile Strike Could Be ‘Act of War’ by Iran
Reuters: Saudi-led forces close air, sea and land access to Yemen

[Decky]

No different than Prince Philip assassinating Diana, this is normal for nations with a royal family. Business as usual.

[skinster]

On a related note, the Saudis are massive retards who bombed their own embassy in Yemen's capital today.

I wonder if this is a good spot to put this article.

[Godstud]

It couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys...

[ness31]

I was reading up on the copter crash and came across another Saudi Prince that was supposed to have died yesterday, Prince Aziz son of King Fahd. But I can’t get an appropriate source..

[Patrickov]

@Oxymoron

And apparently he isn't doing so? He's just imprisoning those who disagree with him, not everyone around him. That's standard practice for a king. You'd have to be a fucking naive idiot to keep a bunch of people who strongly disagree with you in a political system where assassinations are the norm. This is necessary for his rule to function.

Let's say America was a monarchy and Donald Trump was king. Do you think it would be stupid for Donald to imprison liberals and other opponents to his rule? Of course not! It's necessary for such a government to function. Donald isn't just protecting his country, he's protecting his own very well-being and would blame him for doing so? Of course not, everyone wants to be safe and sound, even monarchs.

This is just the beginning, successful or unsuccessful rule comes after the dirty work.

This is the very reason that I don't quite respect the sovereignty of such kind of races / counties (or in a narrower sense, regimes).

[Patrickov]

I was reading up on the copter crash and came across another Saudi Prince that was supposed to have died yesterday, Prince Aziz son of King Fahd. But I can’t get an appropriate source..

Keep in mind that there are so many Saudi Princes that such a group isn't too privileged even if the prince is a son of a deceased king. That's probably why Salman ultimately trusts the throne to none other than his own son.

[Bulaba Khan Jones]

^ Indeed. Last I checked, there are literally hundreds to one or two thousand "princes" and high-ranking members of the Saudi royalty. There are so many they are essentially expendable whenever the Saudis do these house-cleaning activities.

[ness31]

Expendable princes. What a novel idea.

[Patrickov]

Expendable princes. What a novel idea.

Only possible in places where royals breed like rodents.

[Bulaba Khan Jones]

Indeed. According to Reuters (and other sources I just checked), there are in fact literally thousands (several sources say at least 3000) of princes: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-wiki- ... SA20110228

[ness31]

Well, I’m not full bottle on Saudi Arabia. Is the whole country made up of nobility or something?

[Bulaba Khan Jones]

They have a number of wives and consorts out of tradition, but it also seems to have a beneficial effect on maintaining the regime. All of them are eminently replaceable, and if some of them step out of line, they can easily be put under house arrest (which happens to quite a few of the royals, even some of the extremely high-ranking ones, for relatively minor issues) or even imprisoned and executed.

[Vanasalus]

My humble translation from a Turkish source about the events happening in Saudi Arabia:

Developments on the weekend in Saudi Arabia that began with the arrest of some brunet, bearded, long-named and tunic-wearing princes by a brunet, bearded, long-named, and tunic-wearing prince followed by the suspicious death of another brunet, bearded, long-named, and tunic-wearing prince continue to keep the mystery for the world public .

Following to a four-hour long session of the United Nations Security Council gathered this afternoon to assess developments in Saudi Arabia, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said "We have a full agreement that there are too many princes in Saudi Arabia. If I said we understood anything else, it would be a lie"

Indicating that they are trying to keep up with the developments in Saudi Arabia from the beginning of the weekend, "There are so many names floating around that resembles a lot to "Mansur Al Maktum". They are all princes. One of the Al Maktums has trapped other Al Maktums in a hotel. One Al Maktum is dead in a helicopter crash. Some Al Maktums support the operation, some oppose it. We don't know which Al Maktum supports which one, who are dead, who are jailed, because they are all Al Maktums, they are all brunets, they all wear white tunics and there have huge beards. God damn it!" said Secretary General Guterres.

Guterres added that the UN Security Council will meet once again tomorrow to try to understand the crisis,
"Today we can not go on any longer because we all have a terrible headache. So let's see if we can manage to understand something in tomorrow's sitting. If we can't, and there is no shame in it, then I will tell the world that we have no fucking understanding of what the hell is going on among Al Maktums. Is it a coup d'etat, or a civil war, fuck it, I don't care, just the winning Al Maktum should step forward and tell us the final outcome.

http://zaytung.com/haberdetay.asp?newsid=331934


"Zaytung" is the Turkish version of "The Onion" or "Private Eye".

The funniest thing about the text is that it should be the most informative and correct assessment of the situation that I have read so far.

[ness31]

I guess it’s a coincidence that all the women in Iran wear indistinguishable garb and that the same happens with the men in SA. Total. Coincidence.

[anasawad]

Saudi Arabia wants to complete the Saudi 2030 plans.
Saudi Arabia need lots of funding for its plans.
Saudi Arabia is facing financial problems with oil prices being low and its reserves being drained by the two wars its in.
Saudi Arabia privatization of much of its oil shares may not provide it with sufficient funds to complete desired projects and plans.
And finally;
Saudi Arabia starts arresting and killing off the richest of its royalties who just happen to not be close to the throne.

hmmmmm. Must be a coincidence.

[ness31]

Don’t forget, Saudi Arabia give Sophia citizenship. Again, Total. Coincidence.

[Patrickov]

My humble translation from a Turkish source about the events happening in Saudi Arabia




http://zaytung.com/haberdetay.asp?newsid=331934


"Zaytung" is the Turkish version of "The Onion" or "Private Eye".

The funniest thing about the text is that it should be the most informative and correct assessment of the situation that I have read so far.

Surely sound like a Trump or Duterte to me. I worry, though, that his comments would enrage some and thus endanger his position.

[anasawad]

@ness31
You do realize that gulf state ruling royalties have done so before to kill off other branches of the royal family to take their wealth and share in the family wealth, using it to navigate harsh economic circumstances or simply just have extra money.
This has been the story of the gulf monarchies for more than a century now.
And this time is no different. A new heir to the throne with many plans and projects in mind, yet no sufficient funding to do it. He's going to privatize most of the government shares in Aramco, and most estimates says its not enough to complete the Saudi 2030 plans. (it needs over 2 trillion dollar in funding)
So, they're cutting off subsidies from many sectors. Privatizing much of the government businesses. And now it seems eliminating unnecessary royalties who consume 10s and 100s of millions of dollars from state funds and have tons of properties and assets them selves. Also some of them are billionaires who also happened to be rivals.


ADD:
Not to mention the fact that Saudi Arabia is planning to build a new mega city in the northwest of the country, and eliminating rival members of the royal family is necessary for the the throne to hold full control over it and have the full benefit of it.

Its hard to tell who's next, however I hold the opinion that the Hashimites of Hijaz will be having many problems soon and will probably have many of their leaders along with their allies in the royal family being killed off or jailed in the upcoming period, as it happens that this new city is planned to be on lands which they own much of it.