We Offer Condolences to Saudi Arabia and Wish its People Blessings under King Salman

Just hours after the death of King Abdullah, Saudi Arabia's newly enthroned King Salman rapidly named a future successor to the crown in his oil-rich kingdom, a significant appointment that puts the kingdom's future squarely in the hands of a new generation - the grandsons of Saudi Arabia's founder. King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud's actions came as the sunni kingdom mourned King Abdullah, who officially ascended to the throne in 2005, but had been de-facto ruler since the mid-1990s. King Salman, 79, in recent years undertook many official activities for his incapacitated half-brother, who died early Friday at the age of 90 after nearly two decades in power. He was buried Friday, shrouded in a beige burial cloth and placed without a coffin in an unmarked grave, following the rules of Saudi Wahhabism that forbid undue displays of grief and in the tradition of his Bedouin ancestors, desert nomads who buried their dead in the shifting sands and moved on. The austerity also complied with the Islamic tradition that all people - even kings - are equal in death before God. One billboard in the capital with Abdullah's image said: "To God we belong and to God we shall return." ~~~~~ A royal decree affirmed Crown Prince Muqrin, 69, as Salman's immediate successor. Since Muqrin is the last of the brothers who are sons of founder King Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, Salman named the first grandson, Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, 55, as deputy crown prince, making him second-in-line to the throne. Mohammed is the first grandson of Saudi Arabia's founder to be named as a future heir. He is Salman's nephew, the son of Salman's full brother, Prince Nayef, who was a powerful, favored member of the royal family before his death in 2012. Like his father, Mohammed is head of the powerful Interior Ministry that oversees the country's police. Mohammed was the target of a failed assassination attempt by al-Qaida militants in 2009. King Salman promised in a televised speech to the nation to continue the policies of his predecessors. The decision to name Mohammed as deputy crown prince helps alleviate uncertainty over which of Abdul-Aziz's hundreds of grandsons would ascend to the throne. It also highlights the Al Saud family's ability to bond together around the touchy issue of succession in order to preserve their dynasty. King Salman also named his son, Prince Mohammed, as Defense Minister. The prince, in his 30s, was head of his father's royal court when Salman was crown prince and is among his most-favored sons. ~~~~~ So, are things looking rosy for King Salman and Saudi Arabia? Not quite. In his first speech, King Salman made aa passing reference to the chaos gripping the Middle East, with extremist ISIS now holding a third of both Iraq and Syria. "The Arab and the Islamic nations are in dire need of solidarity and cohesion," the king said. Salman is well placed to lead the nation that is the leader of the battle against what is, after all, Middle East homegrown terrorism. He has been Defense Minister since 2011 and was head of the military as Saudi Arabia joined the United States and other Arab countries in carrying out airstrikes in Syria in 2014 against ISIS, the Sunni militant group that the kingdom sees as a threat to its own stability. Salman faces many challenges. Half of Saudi Arabia's population of 20 million is under 25 and seeking jobs. They are active on social media, they expect more rapid modernization than has thus far occurred, and they are increasingly testing boundaries of speech on the Internet, where criticism of the royal family is rife. In a nod in their direction, the 79-year-old Salman, in a departure from past kings, used his Twitter account to send a message to his followers : "I ask God to ensure my success to serve our dear people and realize their hopes, and to preserve our nation and society's security and stability, and to protect it from all evil," the message read. ~~~~~ But, Salman's problems reach beyond Twittering. Young Saudis who use social media are challenging many assumptions. Everyone is online, from young jihadists to Saudi women protesting restrictions on driving in the kingdom. The Arab Spring, although never appearing in the kingdom, exposed younger people to the possibility of challenging long-entrenched Arab regimes. Activists are pushing the limits of freedom in the extremely conservative kingdom, which is already under scrutiny from rights groups over its decision to publicly flog Raif Badawi, who was sentenced last year to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes over 20 weeks for criticizing Saudi Arabia's clerics and mocking the country's morality police on his blog. The first round of lashes was administered but the next two have been postponed. Another Saudi man was recently arrested for filming a woman's public beheading and posting it online. And, there are many limits to Saudi women's freedom. They can't travel or marry without a male guardian's permission. Saudi women are increasingly challenging those rules, particularly the prohibition on driving. Acts of defiance are not likely to abate under Salman. We will see how Salman deals with these social issues. ~~~~~ Saudi Arabia also faces plunging global oil prices, and oil is the linchpin of its economy. The kingdom relies on oil revenues to fund most of its large budget, which covers lavish payouts to royal family members, as well as subsidized fuel and large numbers of public-sector jobs to ordinary Saudis. It has billions of dollars in cash reserves, but lower oil prices give it less spending flexibility, both at home and abroad. With current oil prices below $50 a barrel, Salman must decide how to balance the budget. Saudi Arabia needs oil at $89 a barrel to break even, according to experts. The kingdom has the output capacity that would allow it to cut supplies and drive prices up, but thus far, it hasn't done so, preferring to maintain market share and pressure higher-cost producers rather than trim its own production. That policy, which has dealt a blow to Iran and its backer, Russia, is unlikely to change in the near future, analysts say. ~~~~~ And there is the whole panoply of jihadist terrorist challenges -- Yemen's unstable government divided between northern shiite Houthis supported by Iran and southern sunni Saudi allies who are confronted by al-Qaida -- the shiite power, Iran, that is surrounding Saudi Arabia on its Iraq, Bahrain and Yemen borders, as well as in Palestine with the help of Qatar, and in Syria and Lebanon. The kingdom is now building great walls along its Iraq and Yemen borders. Saudi Arabia has only two stable allies in the region -- Egypt, now that the kingdom has supported President el-Sissi and the army in suppressing the Moslem Brotherhood, and Israel. The United States has been put a little to one side because of President Obama's support for Morsi and the Brotherhood in Egypt and his rapprochement with Iran, Saudi Arabia's sworn enemy. Israel sides with the kingdpm on these issues and Salman will have to wait until the 2016 US presidential election to see if the old alliance can be restored. ~~~~~ Dear readers, there are few leaders in the world who carry the burdrn borne by Saudi King Salman. And one thing to watch for in the coming months is who he ignores. Arab loyalties are tribal - the family, their tribe's leader, the king, their allies. They value above all else loyalty. Once deceived, they are polite but aloof. Egypt and Saudi Arabia's sunni brothers, and Israel, understand this. America must learn the lesson and repair the damage caused by Barack Obama in order for the US-SA alliance to function once again. That is perhaps the only way that the Middle East has a chance of succeeding. We all wish King Salman good health, long life and blessings for his people and the Middle East.