Religion and Geopolitics Review: Saturday, January 31

by David Pence and A. Joseph Lynch

                         THE KING IS DEAD -- WHO SUCCEEDS THE KING?

The Achilles heel of all monarchies is succession. Before he died, King Abdullah who ruled Saudi Arabia since 1995 appointed his next two successors. His 79 year old brother Salman is now king. His 69 year old half-brother Muqrin is crown prince; and Salman appointed his 55 year old nephew Mohammed bin Nayef deputy crown prince. Nayef is considered by many foreign observers, and apparently by the deceased king, as the ablest of the next generation. He was the architect of the expulsion from Saudi Arabia of Al Qaeda. King Salman, however, has also appointed his favorite son Prince Mohammed as defense minister.


                                                  U.S. PRESIDENTS AND SAUDI KINGS

The first meeting of an American President and a Saudi King was between the father of the current king and FDR on the President's return from the Yalta Conference (in Russian Crimea) in 1944. President Obama will meet with the new King and others in Saudi Arabia as he returns from an important face-to-face with Indian President Mohdi. Meeting personally with King Salman is important as well, since there are many conflicting reports about his aging and mental acuity.

 SAUDIS ARE FRIENDS OF OUR LEADERS, BUT ARE THEY ALLIES OF OUR NATION?

King Abdullah was shrouded in a cloth and laid in a unmarked grave. His burial was testimony to the radical equality of all men before God at the time of death. Yet from the grave his authority to enforce the familial succession he has outlined may not hold. His death and the US Senate debate on authorization of force against ISIS may afford an honest and complete look at the deeply contradictory relationship of the US with the Saudi gentocracy. Russ Doutaht captured the contradiction at the heart of our Mideast policy. Fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. A true re-evaluation will let us look more honestly at the 28 redacted pages about Saudis in the 9/11 Report. It will let us see what is in plain sight: that the greatest source of funds for worldwide Jihad comes from Saudi Wahhabists.  This re-evaluation is essential to check the clamor for war against Iran. We must ask if, in a Shiite Iran vs Sunni Saudi Arabia conflict, should the US back the most Salafist of all Sunnis? Let's hope a full Senate debate includes that question.