Monday, October 23, 2006

I have not posted elaborately on the new decision by King `Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to form a special committee for bay`ah (acclamation) of future kings and crown princes. It is clear, and opinions among Saudi dissidents agree, that the King is asserting his authority vis-a-vis the Sadayri brothers. But the new committee does not take hold until after the rule of the current king and the crown prince. In other words, it is based on the assumption that `Abdullah will outlive Prince Sultan. If Sultan, on the other hand, outlives `Abdullah, then all bets are off. He can easily issue a new royal decree to supersede the previous one.