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I think he'd played a little too much Metal Gear Solid
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Jan 22, 2015 21:35
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Some Peshmerga combat footage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u7DEFZQe6c
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Jan 22, 2015 22:40
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South Yemen coming back into existence would be pretty surreal. Also I hear the Saudis are now working on building a fence along the Yemen border in addition to the one they are building along the Iraq border. 
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Jan 22, 2015 23:41
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New Division posted:South Yemen coming back into existence would be pretty surreal. It's like the opposite of the US-Mexico border fence: it's not to keep them in, but to keep others out.
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Jan 22, 2015 23:57
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Claims the King Abdullah has died (again), seems to be taken a bit more seriously this time around.
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Jan 23, 2015 00:01
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Seems like it could be legit. His successor is 79.
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Jan 23, 2015 00:04
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I'm sure the Saudis are furiously working on some sort of device to keep Abdullah's decaying body alive indefinitely if he's not already dead.
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Jan 23, 2015 00:06
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It's only been about 10 years since the last one died.
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Jan 23, 2015 00:07
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The most recent media claims I'm seeing in English language press (don't speak a lick of Arabic) are saying that a journalist/"member of the royal family" (like that means anything) is denying the rumors on twitter
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Jan 23, 2015 00:08
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The current successor is not in good health if I recall correctly.
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Jan 23, 2015 00:09
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How is succession determined in KSA anyway?
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Jan 23, 2015 00:14
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A guy from a Gulf Institute named Ali Al Ahmed is claiming that Abdullah is certainly dead but that the Saudis aren't going to officially announce it until tommorrow. Could still be BS but there's definitely a lot of smoke here. https://twitter.com/AliAlAhmed_en
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Jan 23, 2015 00:14
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Jagchosis posted:How is succession determined in KSA anyway? Agnatic seniority, but technically the King can elevate any prince from the House of Saud that he wants.
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Jan 23, 2015 00:16
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New Division posted:I'm sure the Saudis are furiously working on some sort of device to keep Abdullah's decaying body alive indefinitely if he's not already dead. The region is already kind of what one could expect from a Games Workshop game, it wouldn't be that much of a stretch. New Division posted:The current successor is not in good health if I recall correctly. Yeah I heard he is suffering from dementia.
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Jan 23, 2015 00:17
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So legally the king is all powerful there, but in practice does anyone know how much of the decision making Abdullah's been doing over the years?
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Jan 23, 2015 00:19
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I think recently he's been in such poor health that most of the governance is being handled by others. Good lord, looking at the potential successors.... whole lotta old fossils there.
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Jan 23, 2015 00:22
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Confirmation from the Saudis. Not expecting too much change all things considered.
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Jan 23, 2015 00:26
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Yeah, it's official, hitting the newswire now.
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Jan 23, 2015 00:27
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The King is dead. Long (lol) live the King
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Jan 23, 2015 00:28
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snyprmag posted:So legally the king is all powerful there, but in practice does anyone know how much of the decision making Abdullah's been doing over the years? It's a complicated and opaque power structure but the crown prince (or new king) is a good place to start..
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Jan 23, 2015 00:30
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Looks like Salman will succeed Abdullah. That's the 79 year old that is suspected to be suffering from dementia.
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Jan 23, 2015 00:34
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CNBC posted:U.S. crude prices rose about 1.5 percent immediately after the news broke. Why doesn't this surprise me at all. New Division posted:Looks like Salman will succeed Abdullah. That's the 79 year old that is suspected to be suffering from dementia. What kind of dementia we talking about here? If it's alzhimers then man I hope the dude has some really good aides running things behind the scenes or Saudi Arabia is in for some (not so) fun times. MechanicalTomPetty fucked around with this message at 00:38 on Jan 23, 2015 |
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Jan 23, 2015 00:35
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farraday posted:Not expecting too much change all things considered. Yeah, sounds like it. If he's been infirm for a while now and his successors aren't much better off, whoever's actually running things will probably keep it going along as normal.
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Jan 23, 2015 00:39
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MechanicalTomPetty posted:What kind of dementia we talking about here? The Saudi Royal family denies any poor health, but a lot of insiders and health experts believe he is suffering from either dementia and/or Alzeihmers based on medical appointments he has had abroad. It's certainly considered to be true on the Saudi Arabia street, for whatever that's worth. With that said, the opaque governing structure that is the House of Saud will probably not make any major changes to their policies. They'll continue to muddle along. New Division fucked around with this message at 00:42 on Jan 23, 2015 |
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Jan 23, 2015 00:40
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MechanicalTomPetty posted:Why doesn't this surprise me at all. Best understanding is that the Saudi government is more the Politburo than Louis the XIV. The king's sanity should not be a major issue. I am looking forward to the words of tribute from world leader's though, should be a hoot.
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Jan 23, 2015 00:42
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farraday posted:Best understanding is that the Saudi government is more the Politburo than Louis the XIV. The king's sanity should not be a major issue. "He was extremely generous and active in improving public health" http://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/03/world/meast/saudi-arabia-obesity/
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Jan 23, 2015 00:48
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Watching world leaders suck up to the House of Saud over the next few days is going to be pretty gross. 
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Jan 23, 2015 00:51
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Sorting out succession with original Saud having like 50 sons and each of them probably 50 more sounds like a whole lot of not fun.
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Jan 23, 2015 01:05
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ReidRansom posted:Sorting out succession with original Saud having like 50 sons and each of them probably 50 more sounds like a whole lot of not fun. There's still at least half a dozen people to get through before it becomes a problem. Unfortunately the youngest is nearly 70. I'd expect this guy is going to be wielding a lot of power in the next few years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muqrin_bin_Abdulaziz_Al_Saud Only 69, former director of Saudi intelligence, and the old King had appointed him deputy Crown Prince, deputy PM, and special adviser. And he's the new King's brother.
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Jan 23, 2015 01:07
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Yeah, saw that name come up when I was poking around and my first thought was it sounds like he'll be the one actually running things. Still, could be messy when the last of original Saud's issue kicks off, though yeah, a little while yet at least before that's a concern.
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Jan 23, 2015 01:16
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Lacking much knowledge of the Saudi political situation, and being more familiar with succession crises in earlier times, what is the possibility of one of the Saudi princes pulling off a coup and taking control of the government with the aid of internal and external interest groups? There's a big heavily armed group just across the border who are incredibly dedicated and fanatical and would be happy to exploit any weaknesses of their neighbours. (Of course, an ISIS coup of SA is going to 100% guarantee a US intervention).
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Jan 23, 2015 02:15
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There ain't much chance of a coup with this succession I think. Salman will officially take power and drool on the throne while a bevy of close relatives actually runs things. But in the future the succession issues will continue to get worse as the next generation of princes gets closer to power.
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Jan 23, 2015 02:20
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Phobophilia posted:(Of course, an ISIS coup of SA is going to 100% guarantee a US intervention). They'll probably just send some fbi guys to Lowtax's office again
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Jan 23, 2015 02:20
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Radio Prune posted:Some Peshmerga combat footage Jesús the part of the footage that shows a guy stumbling out of a vehicle with what appears to be the remains of his arm sent chills down my spine.
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Jan 23, 2015 04:06
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I would hate to think that the Saudi succession would allow Jihadist extremists the chance to start ravaging the country, which would cause all economic hell to break loose. How likely is that?
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Jan 23, 2015 04:22
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Grouchio posted:I would hate to think that the Saudi succession would allow Jihadist extremists the chance to start ravaging the country, which would cause all economic hell to break loose. How likely is that? nigh 0%---who do you think is paying those jihadists' salaries?
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Jan 23, 2015 04:25
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Grouchio posted:I would hate to think that the Saudi succession would allow Jihadist extremists the chance to start ravaging the country, which would cause all economic hell to break loose. How likely is that? Not very, I would think. I don't recall a big kerfuffle when Fahd died.
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Jan 23, 2015 04:28
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The fact that not even one of these princes has bothered to set up an army of Shia in order to take advantage of the succession and the crisis in Yemen in order to carve himself a piece of the oil-rich Shia region is proof positive that welfare stifles the entrepreneurial spirit and engenders dependency and passivity. In other news, I have now become a Republican. 
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Jan 23, 2015 04:35
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I don't think that any major disturbance is going to happen in the country until salman dies. Abdullah's been out of commission for a couple of years now. Generally the overall vibe is one of shuddering at the thought that the next generation are the ones going to rule, since they are universally not pleasant. We'll see what happens.
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Jan 23, 2015 05:52
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http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/01/king-abdullah-saudi-arabia-dies-150122232049573.html when did al jazeera get so horrifically biased? didn't this guy gently caress over half the arab spring movements with whoever was fundamentalist enough for him to endorse, and they're saying he was a brilliant reformer and a champion of arab nationalism
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Jan 23, 2015 06:52
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