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He used his education to continue his brother’s policies to modernize Saudi Arabia using the West as a tool to facilitate that. For instance, Fahd allowed Western technicians to oversee industrial diversification and development in the country. As a part of his domestic policies, Khalid focused heavily on improving educational standards so that Saudi citizens could compete with foreigners in international markets. Khalid spent much time and interest in desert reclamation programs where he worked to use water under the ground to reclaim desert land, a process which current Saudi Kings continue to use. This would be a sign of the country benefiting from the economic and scientific educational reforms. During his rule, Faisal would lead Saudi Arabia in various wars in the region.
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Saudi Arabia was left to do what most other countries, including the United States, have done, which is to imprison terrorists until they grow too old to fight. Another dissident, Salman al-Awda, is a preacher with a massive following. His original crime, too, was to utter publicly a thought that would later be shared by the crown prince himself. When MBS began squabbling with his counterpart in Qatar, al‑Awda tweeted, “May God harmonize between their hearts, for the good of their people.” He was imprisoned, and actual harmony between the two leaders has not freed him. His son Abdullah, now in the United States, claims that his father, who is 65, is being held in solitary confinement and has been tortured. In 2017, he rounded up hundreds of members of his own family and other wealthy Saudis and imprisoned them in Riyadh’s Ritz-Carlton hotel on informal charges of corruption.
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The second state was also marked by severe internal conflicts within the Saudi family, eventually leading to the dynasty's downfall. In all but one instance, succession occurred by assassination or civil war, the exception being the passage of authority from Faisal ibn Turki to his son Abdullah ibn Faisal ibn Turki. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met today with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud. Secretary Blinken underscored the need to avoid further escalation in the region. The Secretary discussed ongoing efforts to reach an immediate ceasefire in Gaza that would secure the release of hostages held by Hamas.
Struggle with Faisal
Known to the West as Ibn Saud, he was born in Riyadh, located in the Emirate of Nejd, the second Saudi State, in 1876. After the rival Rashidi family seized Saudi lands, Ibn Saud escaped with his father to Kuwait to escape further persecution. Saud spent his youth consolidating power and demonstrating his military strength across the Arabian Peninsula.
Saudi Arabia's royal family: The women of the House of Saud, a wealthy dynasty - Fox News
Saudi Arabia's royal family: The women of the House of Saud, a wealthy dynasty.
Posted: Tue, 30 Apr 2024 12:30:00 GMT [source]
Sultan bin Salman al Saud
Salman has played an increasingly prominent role in Saudi politics in recent years. He is known to favor close political and economic ties with the West. Saudi’s royal family is certainly not the longest reigning in humanity’s history books; that title belongs to the Japanese who have had 126 monarchs serve to date.
Despite being officially neutral, Saudi Arabia supported the Allied powers. In 1945, following peace talks, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt met King Ibn Saud and laid the foundation for U.S. diplomatic relationships with the Saudis. FDR and Ibn Saud discussed issues of the creation of Israel and the balance of power in the Middle East post-WWII. Despite the leaders’ disagreements on both topics, they remained civil and began strengthening economic ties with one another.
The incident ends up forcing the government to cede more control to the Wahhabi clerics, but only if the clerics promise to support the government. Partly due to his standing as a pious Muslim, Faisal is able to introduce cautious social reforms such as female education. In 1965, he approves the first television broadcast inside the kingdom -- a recitation of the Quran. When a nephew of the king is killed at the protest in clashes with the police, the king does nothing to punish the policemen.
Foreign relations
The British wanted to sway Saudi support towards Allies due to their strategic location and prior military success against the Ottomans. In 1915, the British crafted the Treaty of Darin with Ibn Saud, which made his land a British protectorate in exchange for weapons and money to wage war against Rashid. As a protectorate, Saud could retain control of his territory while giving control of defense and foreign affairs to the British. Although WWI raged, the Saudis did not act, preparing for the perfect time to launch an attack. Saud contributed to minor battles which allowed him to remove himself from significant involvement in the conflict.
In the old Saudi Arabia, and even to an extent today, corruption and bureaucracy layered on each other to make an entrepreneur’s nightmare. No matter where you are, you cannot walk anywhere, except perhaps to your local mosque. Instead it is huddled in a mostly empty corner, as if seeking sustenance and inspiration from Jordan and Israel. Belated realization of this error might be behind the grandest and most improbable of his projects. If existing cities resist your orders, just build a new one programmed to do your bidding from the start.
The U.S. remained firm on their position, which contributed to Saud’s influence in the Middle East remaining non-aligned during the early years of the Cold War. Saud informed the Arab countries of Eisenhower’s plan and after deliberation the participating countries chose to reject the plan and remain nonaligned. This point of contention between the two countries would be one of the first examples of the two countries looking to work with each other for mutual gain. This left a lasting impact on Islamic world, as the House of Saud would one day control Mecca and Medina, the holy cities of Islam. Muqrin’s alliance has lasted almost 300 years and shaped Saud Arabia from its creation to the present day. Wahhabism is the most prominent form of Islam in Saudi Arabia, and the religious elites want to export Wahhabism as the proper form of Islam around the region.
Though for a time acknowledging the sovereignty of the Ottoman Sultans and even taking the title of pasha, Abdulaziz allied himself to the British, in opposition to the Ottoman-backed Al Rashidis. From 1915 to 1927, Abdulaziz's dominions were a protectorate of the British Empire, pursuant to the 1915 Treaty of Darin. Saudi Arabia is the 18th largest economy in the world, sandwiched between Indonesia and the Netherlands in the rankings, and the fastest growing economy in the world in 2022 at 7.6%. With an estimated GDP of US $1.7 trillion in 2022, a conservative 5% annual growth rate would put Saudi Arabia’s GDP to just over US $2.5 trillion by 2030.
The new king will face economic constraints as oil prices decline in the late 80s. In the wake of Ayatollah Khomeini's bitterly anti-American Shi'a fundamentalist revolution in Iran and the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia strengthen their security relationship. Rising oil revenues allow the Saudis to increase military expenditures at all levels. Shaken by the seizure of the Great Mosque by radical fundamentalists, the royal family moves to increase its religious standing and starts implementing a more Islamist agenda.
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