BTW, if you get caught badmouthing the royal family in Saudi you'd best have relatives in one of the more powerful affiliated clans ~ otherwise you are 'toast'.
The way the state is organized is there are two main military forces ~ the Army, answerable to the king ~ and the National Guard, answerable to the various clans ~ which are sometimes identified as provinces.
They maintain the ideal balance ~ whether it's ideal or not, it's a well practiced traditional federal/federation system that's thousands of years old.
Here's where they really differ from us, although Bill Clinton might have tried to get it started ~ the founding family provides the dynasty which is a series of kings, usually brothers, or first cousins. Each king and his successors has as many wives as possible, and those wives come from the clans ~ whether affiliated or not. So a Saudi king might have a wife from Yemen for example.
They each try to have as many kids as possible.
Back when they had a million or so people the royals succeeded in breeding with each clan to produce a new class which is affiliated with the royal family and with the most important clan families.
This practice was continued down the line ~ I believe the last count was a good 50,000 'royals' in a country with 24 million.
Mullahs in Saudi are state employees. When one of them starts speaking out of line he gets reported, and he changes his sermons or he disappears.
There's always been a campaign against the royals and their corruption. That was going on even before they discovered oil there. At the same time the royals have always sought to ferret out discontent and silence it.
I think at the moment the royals are ahead ~ back on 9/11 they were behind and didn't know it.
The author spent three years in the Middle East, including 18 months training the Saudi Arabian National Guard in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
I’d be interested to read the credentials that make you an expert on Saudi Arabia sufficient to inform and educate LtC Russell on this matter.
“John McCain lives in the desert”
That reminds me of something.
John McCain armed the KLA
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1979818/posts
[snip]“He did everything that we asked of him, including arming the KLA”, said Albanian lobbyist Joe DioGuardi. The Albanians collected one million dollars for the presidential campaign of this senator.
Americans of Albanian heritage collected a million dollars in one evening for the presidential campaign of Republican Senator John McCain, said the Albanian American Civic League yesterday, the lobby group headed by former Congressman Joe DioGuardi. A reception for McCain was held January 22 at the Saint Regis Hotel in Manhatten, and the senator, who is now leading in the runoff for the Republican party candidacy in the November elections, cut his campaign in Florida by one day to attend this gathering.
“Even in 1998 when we had problems with Milosevic, McCain did everything that we asked of him to the benefit of the Albanian people, including arming the KLA”, announced DioGuardi. “We are American Albanians and we need a leader who will strengthen this country… We must support John McCain because he did everything we asked of him for Kosovo, from supporting the Kosovo Liberation Army to supporting the independence of Kosovo.[snip]
Muawiyah,
Not a bad write up, but you I disagree with a couple of your statements.
1. The Saudi Arabian National Guard (SANG), like the Army (Ministry of Defense) is manned by tribal members. But both organizations answer to the king. They are headed by members of the royal family who are also loyal to the king. They are similar in strength and as ballast to each other, to ensure that no Prince leading an armed organization would choose to seize power ahead of his time. When I was working with the SANG, the guy in charge of it was Crown Prince (now King) Abdullah, who was King Fahad’s brother.
2. On a more minor point, all sources I have ever heard on the size of the royal family place it at 6,000 (+/-), vice the 50,000 (+/-). Where does the 50,000 estimate come from?
V/R
Bill
Thanks for writing.
Muawiyah,
Not a bad write up, but you I disagree with a couple of your statements.
1. The Saudi Arabian National Guard (SANG), like the Army (Ministry of Defense) is manned by tribal members. But both organizations answer to the king. They are headed by members of the royal family who are also loyal to the king. They are similar in strength and as ballast to each other, to ensure that no Prince leading an armed organization would choose to seize power ahead of his time. When I was working with the SANG, the guy in charge of it was Crown Prince (now King) Abdullah, who was King Fahad’s brother.
2. On a more minor point, all sources I have ever heard on the size of the royal family place it at 6,000 (+/-), vice the 50,000 (+/-). Where does the 50,000 estimate come from?
V/R
Bill
Thanks for writing.