Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah dies at 90

RIP

Now I could only hope the next king will bring more freedoms to people but I don't see it happening anytime soon.

Abdullah had more than 30 children from around a dozen wives.

"It's good to be the king..."

I doubt reform is on the way. successor is 80 and not well. Maybe next generation will be better, although from my experience of Saudi (admittedly not extensive) even they are unlikely to want to change the status quo. too much wealth and privilege at stake and can't run the risk of upsetting the Wahabbi clerics

This man was no friend of the west. Under his reign Saudi Arabia funded terrorists and promoted an extreme, intolerant interpretation of islam throughout the world.

This man was no friend of the west. Under his reign Saudi Arabia funded terrorists and promoted an extreme, intolerant interpretation of islam throughout the world.

He did help the U.S. a lot in the war with the Jihadists, but I totally agree, the man practiced Wahhabism, not to the level that Al Qaida or ISIS does, but nonetheless. In that regard, the man wasn't a friend at all, but the Saudis need the U.S.. If the U.S. stops supporting that country, the entire family would be slaughtered within days.

What? He didn't float of into the sky? Now that is unbelievable.

The new king is more conservative than his brother. Many of the recent changes will be revoked and IS will have a foot in the door! Japan needs to be prepared to pay higher prices for oil.

Hurrah for gerontocracies!

According to pinchofsaltopedia, Salman had spinal surgery in 2010, hasn't fully recovered from a stroke, and has Alzheimers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_of_Saudi_Arabia

So tell me again - what country did the 9-11 people come from?

Now is the time for standing around awkwardly at the G20s support for dictatorships around the world.

don't agree that without the US the family "would be slaughtered in days". huge chunks of Saudi society (not least the radical clerics) have too much to lose if the Al-Sauds were to be overthrown......

"It's good to be the king..."

Damn yes. He can have all the wives without problems with all mothers-in-law.

RIP and how much longer will the Saudis keep up the cheap oil and cheap gasoline??

Scrote, correct. Under his regime the country also executed women for being raped and at the time of his death still refuses to allow women to drive. What great opportunities for women this zealot who personally tried to fund Wahhabist faith schools and their intolerant preaching in the UK left eh. It was his citizens under the preaching encouraged in his mosques that attacked the US on 9/11 too, as well as his soldiers that violently ended the Arab Spring when it reached Saudi shores. The only bad news in this story is that he was moderate by Saudi standards and his successor could prove to be many times the tyrant he was.

Abdullah made "significant reforms, including nudging open greater opportunities for women."

Hooray, maybe the new king will even allow women to drive cars?

just want to know what is Wahhabisim according to your EXPERT opinion!!! one doesnt have to FRIEND of west to do good in this world.Every one have right to look after thier interset rather than GOOD FOR WEST ONLY.

but anyway he is human so let show some respect RIP.

One of his 43brothers ( andsisters) will lead on. A younger one born in 1953, so may he be there for long. Lets wish him well!

Elbuda Mexicano RIP and how much longer will the Saudis keep up the cheap oil and cheap gasoline??

How long keeps cheap prices Abdullah ?

Is it new king a hero or just a clever man ?

RIP and how much longer will the Saudis keep up the cheap oil and cheap gasoline??

Unlike most of the other oil producing countries, Saudi Arabia has enough cash reserves that they can take the short-term losses far longer than the other countries can. Some analysts say Saudi Arabia is keeping production high (and taking losses on the cheap oil) in order to drop some of the other oil-producing nations out of the market. An interesting strategy, if true. Rather than cutting back your own production to prop-up prices, make other producers stop producing - instantly increasing your share of the world market while also reducing supply (and pushing the prices back up).

Abdullah for the first time gave women seats on the Shura Council, an unelected body that advises the king and government. He promised women would be able to vote and run in 2015 elections for municipal councils, the only elections held in the country. He appointed the first female deputy minister in a 2009. Two Saudi female athletes competed in the Olympics for the first time in 2012, and a small handful of women were granted licenses to work as lawyers during his rule.

...and yet, there are women in Saudi prisons for committing the heinous crime of driving a car - which is outlawed in Abdullah's Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia may be an ally of the U.S., but they certainly don't hold the same views on civil rights. From yesterday's Washington Post:

The case of Raif Badawi, a blogger whose criticism of Saudi Arabia’s powerful religious leaders led to a sentence of 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes in public, has focused harsh international attention in recent days on Saudi Arabia’s human rights record.

But Badawi’s case is simply the most recent example of what rights groups call an intensifying campaign to punish activists, bloggers and anyone else who challenges the country’s political or religious leaders. People have been jailed for tweets, and two women have been held since early December for defying the ban on women driving.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/a-flogging-in-saudi-arabia-is-just-one-sign-of-a-new-crackdown-on-rights-activists/2015/01/20/e9c50f86-9da0-11e4-86a3-1b56f64925f6_story.html

May God rest his soul. At the end of the game the King and the pawn go in the same box. ....Rich ,poor,gentry or peasant all go into the same box at the end.

" In Syria, Abdullah stepped indirectly indirectly into the civil war that emerged after 2011. He supported and armed rebels battling to overthrow President Bashar Assad, Iran’s top Arab ally, and pressed the Obama administration to do the same. "

Translation: He funded the Sunni jihadis in their fight against the secular Alavite Assad regime, and as a result now we have ISIS committing genocide and practising radical Sharia. Yes, some friend of the West here....

the king was really a kind man loved by his people, he was a close friend to the USA and the bush family, Clinton family, and also to the royal family UK,sweden king, Denmark,Norway , Saudi is a free health care free education and tax free country, you will find the girls and the boys of Saudi studying in all over japan universities, USA and UK university, all supported by the government and they are also paid monthly for expenses of books, housing and everything. in the new KAUST and the old universities all international students in Saudi receive same treatment and monthly support from government as well.

Syrian people and Egyptian people all love king abdullah, so did the people of Kuwait,Lebanon, uae and everywhere, flags in countries from the UK to Australia are flown half mast just to tell how they lost a great friend

we want to apologies to the people of japan if we did wrong by ourselves and hope the crown prince will come to the funeral

Abdullah will go to hell, together with the rest of the Saudi royals.