Down With Democracy, Let’s Have a King
With a 10 percent rate of unemployment among his subjects and fear of the unrest that this could unleash, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia decreed an increase in aid to the unemployed, an increase in the salaries of government employees, an increase in aid to students, an increase in funds (more).
With a 10 percent rate of unemployment among his subjects and fear of the unrest that this could unleash, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia decreed an increase in aid to the unemployed, an increase in the salaries of government employees, an increase in aid to students, an increase in funds for schools, an improvement in health care, aid to people who get married, aid to people who buy homes, and investments in infrastructure.
Here we turn against each other. There they unite against their king instead. Enough democracy already, let’s have a king we can depose instead.
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Even before King Abdullah landed in Riyadh, the capital, the Saudi government announced that it would pour billions of dollars into a fund to help its citizens marry, buy homes and start their own businesses, the government announced. Reuters said the package was estimated at $37 billion.
King Hamad had already tried his own payout — offering $2,650 to every Bahraini family in the days before large protests broke out more than a week ago — but the economic concession was not enough to stem the tide of opposition from the country’s Shiite majority. Sunnis, the majority in Saudi Arabia, also form the ruling class in Bahrain, where Sunnis are a minority.
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Middle East
Seen as a dry run for a similar deal with Saudi Arabia, such arrangements are more likely to further destabilize the region.
After abruptly withdrawing from Syria, the president reportedly is considering deploying an additional 14,000 soldiers to counter Iran.
The U.S. has aligned itself with some of the worst actors in the Middle East. We'll be living with the consequences for years to come.
In his new book "Fire and Fury," Michael Wolff makes a number of allegations about the U.S. president's role in the Gulf crisis that, if true, help explain the mess in that part of the Middle East.
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