I hadn't thought of it in those terms but you are absolutely correct.
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Good way to prevent chaos. It also prevents foreigners from coming in and buying any form of control over the national economy.
The original owners of the petroleum and natural gas were, of course, the Saudis. But they SOLD all their rights to the "BIG FOUR" oil companies: Exxon, Chevron, Mobile and Shell (which was Dutch) in the mid -1920's. I think that's right. It's been a long time.
In 1982 the King BOUGHT back those rights. Whew. He PROBABLY took the money out of his "chump change."
He started giving away oodles of money in the form of charity. He gave to BOTH Muslim and Christian countries. He never did, to my knowledge, give anything to Hindu countries...only to people "of the Book." (Bible, Koran)
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It has always been hard for me to wrap my mind around: the King made a billion dollars every other day....1982.
“An interesting form of ‘checks and balances.’”
“I hadn’t thought of it in those terms but you are absolutely correct. “
Truth be told, I sincerely think that this is the best way for a monarchy to be run, with the relations keeping the Sovereign in check and the clan in general keeping things under control. The royals in the Arab nations know that if their king messes up big, it means that a firing squad will take the rest of them with the naughty king in a revolution.
“In 1982 the King BOUGHT back those rights. Whew.”
Smart thing to do; he has likely learned about the damage that foreign business interests do when they have a controlling stake in the country. Being seen as a toady to foreign interests is a sure way to get overthrown.
“He PROBABLY took the money out of his “chump change.””
There’s something funny about the way you said that.
“It has always been hard for me to wrap my mind around: the King made a billion dollars every other day....1982.”
What a way to live.