Friday, May 30, 2014

Many princes all in a line

Saudi Arabia, since its founding in 1932, the Kingdom has been ruled by a series of brothers of the original founder: King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud.  They have aged out.  When you consider that the founder had 45 sons all by himself, that leaves a lot of potential claimants to the throne.  So it is getting interesting.
 
Liz Sly, Washington Post, 26 May 2014 (hat tip: NC)
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — When Saudi Arabia’s elderly king took the unusual step of naming a deputy heir, the move initially was welcomed as a sign of continuity in a country that soon will confront major questions over the future of its leadership.
But in subsequent weeks, the announcement has stirred a rare outburst of dissent, revealing previously unacknowledged strains within the royal family and casting into doubt prospects for a smooth transition from King Abdullah’s rule.
 
To keep the ever compounding growth rate of the modern world economy, it is my understanding that we need to find an additional 8 Saudi Arabias by the year 2050.  Maybe we should up that to 9.

2 comments:

Degringolade said...

I am thinking that being a "Saudi Prince" might not be all that healthy in the none-to-distant future.

Gwahar is struggling to maintain production, and they don't have anything else in the wings to replace that flow of oil.

They have created a spoiled and demanding populace with a truly fubared theocracy overlay.

Lastly, any work that needs to get done is done by foreign workers who are less than impressed with the heavy hand of the Saudi security forces.

Things could go south there in a big way. Maybe designating a "Deputy Heir" is a way to add some depth to a system where problems are mounting quickly

russell1200 said...

Degringolade: I think you are very much on target.

What is worse is that even if Saudi production keeps on target (link at previous post showed it still increasing for a few years), the Saudis still have way to many priests, and much to entitled of a population to keep things going.

The silver lining in their case is that they will likely outlast some of the medium-small producers and what output they have will go up in value. Kind of like Russia did by accident.