Rattlesnake Ridge      

 
      BFF

“Five times a day for the past 30 years, thin, threadbare Sheik Shakhbut bin Sultan faced west, bowed low, and prayed for an oil strike. His realm of Abu Dhabi was desperately in need of some good luck. Up and down the Persian Gulf……….This has all been rather unsettling to Abu Dhabi, whose 15,000 Bedouins have got along for centuries on piracy, pearl fishing and intertribal raids. In the 19th century, the swift pirate dhows were swept from the gulf by Britain, which established “a perpetual maritime truce”hence the name Trucial States, given to Abu Dhabi and six other sheikdoms. Pearl fishing became unprofitable when the Japanese cleverly introduced cultured pearls to the world. There was nothing left to Abu Dhabi but intrigue: of the twelve predecessors of the present sheik, only three died peacefully in their palace beds. The rest were either murdered or violently deposed, usually by close relatives. Sheik Shakhbut took over in 1928 when his uncle was assassinated, after having earlier killed Shakhbut’s father who, in turn, had come to power by killing his older brother. Shakhbut is said to have ruled so long and safely only because his own two brothers swore a solemn oath on the Koran not to murder him…….. He installed an air conditioner in his bedroom but seldom used it because he disliked the noise. He also put in a flush toilet………….”

Little did Shaikh Shakhbut bin Sultan al-Nahayan know that he will soon meet a similar fate as his predecessors. His brother Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahayan was biding his time.
Cheers
mhg


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