The Future (Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef The present King Abdullah
It has been no secret with the Saudi inner circle that King Abdullah has been very fond of and promoted Prince bin Nayef even over his own sons. In many ways they are cut from the same cloth. They both are progressive thinkers who would like to see more openness and freedom in the Saudi society particular with women and in religion. They both know that the only hope for the long term survival of the Royal Family is to change. That change is not to deny their religion and beliefs but to be more tolerant of others understanding that you can never impose your views on others with violence, only with love.
If the hard liners, who have slowed King Abdullah moves to open up the country, win they will ultimately spell the dome of the Royal Family. Those who understand how the Royal Family makes decision know that it is slow and deliberate. The main key family members have dinner regularly with the King and they talk about issues facing the Kingdom. These are not rough and tumble discussion but putting issues on the table and many of the decision for action goes to the Prince of the ministry responsibility for that area. They don’t try to force themselves into another Princes territory knowing it could come back on them later in something they want to do. (Much more on this then can be put in this blog)
The King made another move this week to bring Price Mohammed into the critical role of taking over the Syrian involvement. Prince bin Nayef was quickly moved into the Interior Ministry head after his father died. The King by passed the long standing moves to put the next oldest brother into the key positions as he moved the players around with precision and kept the family in check and within months had prince bin Nayef in control of Interior.
Prior to that he had intrusted Prince bin Nayef with the salvation of Saudi by giving him the responsibility of eliminating the terrorist from Saudi once it was determined many years ago that Saudi was more of a target then the U.S. (I have written on this before.)
Now he has moved again to give to Prince Nayef the task of handling the almost impossible task of navigating the many dangers for Saudi in the conflict in Syria. The King and the Prince have many things in common one being they both care about people and their livelihood, they both are progressive and understand the realities of fast changing world. They also understand that a religion has never ruled the world by force and one never will, and any who have tried have brought destruction on themselves and faded into history.
We can expect Saudi’s dealing with the Syrian conflict to change but a lot of that will not be seen by the public but will be done in the Prince bin Nayef style which is quietly, with precision and effectiveness.
The hope for Saudi Arabia, and the world, is that King Abdullah lives long enough to have prepared the way for Prince bin Nayef to break tradition and be the next King. If that happens there is hope for Saudi Arabia in the long term as he would guide the country to openness that would head off the radicals who want to bring the Royal family down. Lets pray that this does happen.
Until next time Be Safe;
Phil
