What to expect from the new Saudi king

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Saudi Arabia's new king has inherited the throne amid colossal challenges, say Saudi analysts. These include managing the country's relationship with the US, threats posed by the expanding Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a power vacuum in Yemen and the decline in oil prices and its impact on the Saudi population.

On Tuesday, US President Barack Obama will cut short his three-day state visit to India to spend a few hours in Riyadh to pay his respects to the royal family.

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"If there is one theme that King Salman has seemed to be stressing above all else in his first speech as king, it was continuity," Fahad Nazer, a former political analyst at the Saudi Arabian embassy in the US, told Al Jazeera.

"In the short term, I don't anticipate any major policy changes. But with oil prices having dropped by almost 60 percent since June and turmoil unfolding in Yemen to the south, and continuing violence and threats from the so-called Islamic State [ISIL] in the north, it would not be unreasonable for the new king and his advisers to reassess their policies regarding some of the crises across the region, especially Syria."

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/01/expect-saudi-king-150127051939530.html

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1. Meet the new king.

"If there is one theme that King Salman has seemed to be stressing above all else in his first speech as king, it was continuity," Fahad Nazer, a former political analyst at the Saudi Arabian embassy in the US, told Al Jazeera.

Sometimes, no matter how much we want continuity, fate steps in.

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2. There is a hint in there that it may have dawned on them that demolishing Syria was a bad idea,

no matter how much we hate Assad. That's the main reason I posted it.

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3. I get in trouble when I say this, but here goes.

I am not sure who demolished Syria. I am, however, relatively sure it was supposed to look like SA did it.

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4. There are a whole bunch of parties involved, but the Saudis put up a lot of the money.

A lot of Saudi money went into ISIS and it's progenitors in Iraq too.

Turkey has had a beef with Assad for some years now, and has been very helpful to the Syrian rebels of various types.

[The_Commonist]

5. What to REALLY expect from the new Saudi king:

We should expect drool to drip down his chin, as his aides feed him strained vegetables from a spoon, and lukewarm tea from a sippy-cup.

The man has had at least one stroke, that we know of, and apparently suffers from Alzheimer's. I don't think we should expect much from him.

Meanwhile, the new Crown Prince, Muqrin bin Abdulaziz, who is 69 years old and is the former director general of Saudi intelligence and second deputy prime minister, waits in the wings.