Rumors spread on the Internet this past week of Saudi King Abdullah abdicating in favor of Crown Prince Salman. The king is about 90 years old, give or take a few years. That would make Prince Muqrin the next Crown Prince. Muqrin was appointed recently as a Crown Prince to the Crown Prince, wtf that be.
That move rankled Prince Talal bin Abdulaziz, the father of prince-about-town I-am-richer-than Forbes-claims Al-Waleed. Talal is easily rankled because he is not influential in these decisions and is never picked for promotion. He has been out of the loop for decades, ever since he flew to Cairo with bunch of others and joined Nasser’s call for revolution. Eventually he came back home, although not fully trusted. He has about as much hope of becoming King of Saudi Arabia as Saad Hariri has. Which is a much better chance than I have of ruling Saudi Arabia.
Rumors and speculation have been around for some time that the king wants to make sure his own son, Met’eb, will be in the direct line for succession after Muqrin. That would mean a clash between Met’eb and Mohammed Bin Nayef, the man in charge of police, security, religious police, arrests, prisons, and most violations of human rights. Arab media rumor has it that the Americans (the government not the people) prefer Mohammed Bin Nayef as the future king, although it is not clear why. Mohammed has been visiting Washington DC quite a few times, so maybe he and his camp are spreading the rumor. Apparently Met’eb is not a regular visitor of Washington. Met’eb will need all the help his dad can give before he dies.
I’m beginning to suspect that this abdication rumor was a lead up to April Fools Day.
Cheers
mhg
