Democracy Now! 23 January 2015 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia has died at the age of 90. Abdullah was one of the worlds most powerful men and a key U.S. ally in the region, controlling a fifth of the known global petroleum reserves. In a statement, President Obama praised Abdullah as a force for stability and security in the Middle East and beyond. Many analysts accused Abdullah of turning the uprising in Syria into a proxy war with Iran. In 2010, WikiLeaks published U.S. diplomatic cables which identified Saudi Arabia as the worlds largest source of funds for Islamist militant groups. Abdullah also sent tanks to help squash pro-democracy uprisings in neighboring Bahrain. Saudi Arabia recently came under criticism for its treatment of imprisoned blogger Raif Badawi, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes to be carried out at a rate of 50 per week for charges including insulting Islam. Abdullahs half-brother, Crown Prince Salman, has now assumed the throne. We are joined by Toby Jones, director of Middle Eastern studies at Rutgers University and the author of Desert Kingdom: How Oil and Water Forged Modern Saudi Arabia.
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 03:00:28 +0000
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