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| 2007 Archives – Saudi Arabia |
King Abdullah prepares Al-Saud for a generational leap
Consolidating the House of Saud’s long-term position at the head of Arabia’s most powerful state, King Abdullah Bin Abdelaziz has announced the membership of the Allegiance Commission (Al-Hayaat Al-Bayaa), the new council of senior royals tasked with discussing the choice of an heir apparent after a monarch’s death.
Issue 820, 21 December 2007. more
Also see Issue 820: Who’s who in the Saudi Allegiance Committe and Issue 792, 27 October 2006: With ‘Allegiance Committee’, circles of power evolve in Saudi Arabia
Saudi budget: caution even as Riyadh steps on the spending gas
Analysis of the Saudi budget suggests that capacity constraints continue to hold back the pace at which King Abdullah Bin Abdelaziz’s ambitious social spending goals can be fulfilled – even though education, health and the development of a long-term credit funding base for housing and the non-oil economy emerged a key priorities in next year’s spending programme, which has been fattened with revenues from the continuing oil boom.
Issue 820, 21 December 2007. more
As Sarko prepares for Saudi visit, Western governments express concerns over policy issues
With President Sarkozy expected to fly in during January, Western governments are keen to cultivate the Saudi leadership. But while European officials generally express admiration for King Abdullah’s commitment to reform, in private reservations continue to be expressed about the direction of policy coming from Riyadh on a number of key issues. GSN focuses here on French and (below) British concerns.
Issue 818, 23 November 2007. more
Papal dialogue plays better than dinner at the palace with King Abdullah’s Saudi critics
Religious radicals are less bothered about dialogue with faith leaders than the government’s partnership with Washington and London. For ordinary Saudis jobs, crime and schools are bigger worries than ideology.
Issue 817, 9 November 2007. more
Saudi Arabia plays the wealthy mediator role in Somalia’s clan warfare
Saudi Arabia has emerged as a significant player in Somalia’s various conflicts, with King Abdullah Bin Abdelaziz Al-Saud playing a personal role to help turn around a deeply destabilising situation for the region. Abdullah is being urged by the internationally recognised Transitional Federal Government (TFG) to support the formation of an Arab-African force, under United Nations command, to replace Ethiopian troops backing the interim government, who are constantly under attack from an insurgency. He is also being asked to provide financial support to the cash-strapped TFG in his capacity as chairman of the League of Arab States’ rotating presidency.
Issue 817, 9 November 2007. more
UK’s parochial preoccupations waste opportunity of Saudi tour
For superficiality, inaccuracy and lack of perception, it would be hard to think of a visit to the United Kingdom by a major international figure that could rival Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Bin Abdelaziz for the dismal quality of its press coverage. Abdullah’s crucial and long-running efforts to develop a common Arab negotiating position for a Middle East peace settlement went almost without mention, as did his slow but steady programme of domestic modernisation, including the holding of the Kingdom’s first ever nationwide elections, for local councils, in 2005.
Issue 817, 9 November 2007. more
Allegiance Committee’s new rules
Following last year’s creation of the Allegiance Committee (Al-Hayaat Al-Bayaa), King Abdullah has again chosen the final days of Ramadan to release new rules guiding the body.
Issue 815, 12 October 2007. more
Talking up the jihadist threat, MoI is on the lookout for rockets
Although fears of a Ramadan spectacular have not been realised this year, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) remains on alert, and continues to talk up the potential risk of militancy in a way that surprises some Saudi-watchers. This has recently included warnings of a potential Katyusha-style rocket attack.
Issue 815, 12 October 2007. more
New chances and tough choices for the 21st century Kingdom
With oil revenues flooding in and capital piling up, Saudi Arabia is embarking on one of the most ambitious phases of development in its history. Facing the challenge of relentless population growth and persistently high unemployment, but empowered with the financial means to respond, King Abdullah Bin Abdelaziz has decided on the creation of six new economic cities, which are forecast to have a combined GDP equal to that of Singapore and a population three times that of Dubai.
Issue 814, 28 September 2007. more
Eurofighter confirmed, disputes rumble on
The Saudi government’s announcement that it had signed the contract to purchase 72 Typhoon aircraft from the Eurofighter consortium was intended to draw a line in the sand under the protracted talks prior to King Abdullah Bin Abdelaziz’s official visit to the United Kingdom in early October.
Issue 814, 28 September 2007. more
Rights focus as reformers show support for Al-Hamid
Human rights are the main focus of new campaigning by Saudi liberals and other reformists, at a time when the prospects for a democratising change in the Kingdom’s political system seem uncertain.
Issue 812, 14 September 2007. more
Saudi crackdown turns to farce and a climbdown
The detention of a prominent Saudi reformist is derailed by international embarrassment, forcing a retreat.
The shortlived detention of a leading political reform supporter, lawyer Abdullah Al-Hamid, and his brother, Isa Al-Hamid, was made on the order of top figures in the Interior Ministry headed by Prince Nayef Bin Abdelaziz.
Their arrest followed the holding of five women, on the specific orders of Mohammed Bin Nayef Bin Abdelaziz, against the advice of local security chiefs in the conservative city of Buraydah, GSN has been told. It was also there that the Al-Hamids were detained on 19 July.
Issue 811, 3 August 2007. more
Mutawa trials signal a cautious normalisation in Saudi Arabia
For the first time in the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Mutawa)’s 81-year history, members of the religious police are being tried – in three separate cases – in a civil rights court, for crimes against humanity.In the past, abuses were either hotly denied or dealt with through internal disciplinary action, which one analyst called “a joke”. New York-based Human Rights Watch’s Gulf analyst Christoph Wilke told GSN that during a meeting with the Mutawa’s head he asked how often disciplinary action was taken. The response was: “maybe once every two years.”
Issue 810, 20 July 2007. more
Saudi Miksa deal at the heart of Sarkozy’s GCC agenda
While Paris remains close to several smaller Gulf states, the relationship with Riyadh will be pivotal for France’s new president – and securing the long-awaited Miksa defence deal would be a symbolic and lucrative prize.
Issue 809, 6 July 2007. more
Saudi naval delays frustrate potential suppliers
France and the USA have dominated Saudi naval procurement, but even for these practised partners the slow pace of RSNF development is frustrating.
Issue 809, 6 July 2007. more
Air defence: Saudi fleet development options
Were Saudi Arabia to decide to pull the Eurofighter Typhoon deal – which is still unlikely, despite the Al-Yamamah ‘bribery’ scandal in the United Kingdom – the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) and Saudi policy-makers would be confronted with a number of problems.
Issue 809, 6 July 2007. more
BAE scandal barks on, but may not bite deep into contracts
The headlines associated with the British Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation into BAE Systems will continue to cause alarm in the corporate world and in the Saudi Ministry of Defence and Aviation (MoDA), but the signs are that the furore may only delay, but not derail, UK defence aerospace industry efforts in the Kingdom.
Issue 809, 6 July 2007. more
Alignment with US neocons costs Bandar dear
This has not been a comfortable time for the high-profile former envoy. In Riyadh, Prince Bandar is losing critical foreign policy arguments, while in the West he faces a barrage of unfavourable coverage linked to Al-Yamamah.
Issue 808, 22 June 2007. more
The UK’s BAE ‘scandal’: what’s new(ish) in a convoluted history
Interrogations and allegations surrounding payments made to Prince Bandar for his contribution to BAE System’s Al-Yamamah con
