Carta OpinionGlobal, 22.11.2017 Riad Fouad Saade, empresario libanes y cónsul honorario de Chile en Beirut
Have we reached the end of the reign of the House of Saud?
For several years I have been warning during my conferences at the Diplomatic Academy in Santiago, about the fall of the Saud Dynasty. Boosted by the British at the head of a newly created country in the Arabian Peninsula, the Sultan of Nejd, who became King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud of the Wahhabi Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ruled – and after him his children – through a system that was only sustained by oil returns beautifully managed by the major oil companies.
In absence of the Khalifat (Commander of the Believers, successor of the Prophet), “terminated” in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal, the oil rich Saudi dynasty auto proclaimed itself “Servants of the two Holy Shrines of Islam”: Mekka and Medina, becoming the leaders of the Sunni party of Islam.
Their archaic ruling system and their tribal way of life, held as long as oil money was pouring and as long as the consensus among the thousands of Princes could be reached to nominate the future King. We are experiencing today a dramatic move out of the traditional system, a move that could put an end to the Saud ruling Arabia.
The comprehensive analysis in The Saudi System And Why Its Change May Fail of Moon of Alabama is worth reading and will enlighten the weaknesses of present changes at the top of the Saud dynasty and about its expected consequences.
A collapse of the present regime could end by dividing the Arabian Peninsula back to tribal regions. Rumors tell that Hashemite King Abdullah II of Jordan would have accepted to reign again on the Kingdom of Hijaz, long time the land his family since the death of the Prophet, and from where his great grandfather, Sharif Hussein was ousted by Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud…
Not for a change, coming months look to be quite exciting in the Middle East
