Posted on 09/03/2011 9:28:57 AM PDT by bayouranger
The house of Saud is pulling out all the stops to strengthen its legitimacy as the tsunami of revolution sweeps Arabia. As the self-proclaimed "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques" in Mecca, protecting and developing the Grand Mosque is a way of underscoring the royal family's God-given right to rule. But trouble is closing in all around the royals.
This summer King Abdullah dedicated the new Royal Clock Tower in Mecca. The world’s second-tallest building (behind Dubai), it measures over six hundred meters and can be seen from all parts of the city. Bigger than Big Ben, it’s a symbol of Saudi power for every hajji making the pilgrimage to Mecca.
The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques also announced plans to expand the Grand Mosque of Mecca. Currently it can hold 800,000 worshipers; when completed, the new expansion will allow 2 million people to worship at one time. Some 10,000 workers are now engaged round-the-clock in the largest expansion project in the mosque’s history by far.
Saudi sources suggest the new project is in part yet another response by the family to the Arab Spring. While planning began years ago, the king is eager to highlight and publicize the al-Sauds’ piety as other Arab leaders topple. Ever since its origins in the eighteenth century, the kingdom has cultivated its Islamic roots and its connection to militant Wahhabi Islam.
As the king reaffirms Saudi Islamic credentials, his brother Interior Minister Prince Nayef gave a recent interview describing the kingdom as surrounded on all sides by enemies. Without giving any details, Nayef said the country remains at high risk from al-Qaeda. The interior minister is the voice of the kingdom’s hard-liners, who see only peril and folly in reform and the Arab awakening. He quashed the Manama uprising last March in tiny Bahrain.
And the family's biggest headache won't go away: Yemen, which is boiling this summer. President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has been recovering in Saudi hospitals from wounds suffered in an assassination attempt last spring, refuses to give up power and threatens to return home. His son commands those troops remaining loyal to the regime in Sanaa and is preparing for full-scale civil war. The opposition is arming just as furiously. Saudi Arabia has invested billions in trying to rent Yemeni politicians for decades, but it now seems powerless to stop the slide into chaos. Saleh is oblivious to Saudi calls for peaceful change. No wonder building towers and mosques seems so much simpler.
http://www.asecondlookatthesaudis.com/index.html
http://www.sauduction.com/issues/07
http://www.sperryfiles.com/
Apparently they’re not familiar with the phrase ‘reaping what you sow’.
It would really be a shame if those two so-called holy mosques were vaporized. What would the Moosies do then?
Also, the government lookslike a geriatric ward...and the next generation...theu're too busy living itg up in Europe's capitals..after decade of women and booze..they don't want to come back home and pretend to be pious..it's a House of Cards that could well topple easily..and quickly..
Not so..... Think Bandar.
Lots of crap here. Grain of salt is required
T'would be a sign from Allah they were on the wrong course.
America should use food as a leveraging tool.
Cheap gas or NO FOOD pal.
This summer King Abdullah dedicated the new Royal Clock Tower in Mecca. The world's second-tallest building (behind Dubai), it measures over six hundred meters... also announced plans to expand the Grand Mosque of Mecca. Currently it can hold 800,000 worshipers; when completed, the new expansion will allow 2 million people to worship at one time.Keep buying OPEC oil. They need the money.
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