Remember the days a couple of years ago, way back then, when the late Saudi King Abdullah announced an Allegiance (Al-Bae’a) Commission to regulate succession to the throne? Remember the fanfare? How it was cheered as shifting the kingdom toward a ‘civil society’ where ‘institutions’ are supreme?
Remember when Saudi media trumpeted this as a great wise decision? Remember when Western media dutifully echoed all that? Remember when some American columnists, especially in the Washington Post, waxed enthusiastic about King Abdullah’s “reforms”? When a whole media cottage industry about “Saudi reforms” grew in Western punditry (and among some Arab columnists)? Remember when the king almost immediately ignored it completely and appointed whoever he wanted?
Now the new King Salman has also ignored it completely, and will continue to do so.
No doubt they will soon start talking about the new “reforms” of the new king. In Riyadh and Washington.
Vive la réforme et MDR! That means LOL……….
Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum 