Remembering Saudi King Abdullah

Today we pay our respects to King Abdullah and remember him for what he was.

From Mark Sleboda – my sentiments entirely!

Western govts, MSM:

Saudi King Abdullah: wise man, cautious reformer, revered leader, friend Russian President Putin: evil dictator, Satan, Stalin, Hitler, Sauron

Oh just go fuck yourself!

New Saudi king promises continuity

Saudi Arabian King Salman has pledged continuity, hours after his accession to the throne following the death of his half-brother, King Abdullah.

The new Saudi Arabian King Salman

The new king moved swiftly to appoint heirs and ministers, including one prince from the ruling dynasty's third generation.

King Abdullah died yesterday, weeks after being admitted to hospital with a lung infection.

He was buried in an unmarked grave in Riyadh, following Friday prayers.

His burial was conducted in line with the traditions of Wahhabism - the ultra-conservative form of Sunni Islam followed by the kingdom - where funerals are austere and simple.

King Abdullah's body was wrapped in a shroud and taken by ambulance to the Imam Turki bin Abdullah mosque in Riyadh.

Following prayers, which were attended by Gulf heads of state as well as foreign leaders including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his body was taken to a public cemetery and buried.

'Correct policies'

Within hours of acceding to the throne of the oil-rich kingdom, King Salman, 78, vowed to maintain the same policies as his predecessors.

"We will continue adhering to the correct policies which Saudi Arabia has followed since its establishment," he said in a speech broadcast on state television.

The new king's profile was updated on his official Twitter account, where he wrote: "I ask God to help me succeed in my service of the dear [Saudi] people."

He named another of King Abdullah's half-brothers, Muqrin, who is in his late 60s, as the new crown prince.

Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, 55, was appointed deputy crown prince, making him second in line to the throne and effectively smoothing the line of succession for years to come.

Cameron leads UK tributes to Saudi King Abdullah after death

COMPARE AND CONTRAST: OBAMA’S REACTION TO THE DEATHS OF KING ABDULLAH AND HUGO CHÁVEZ

Glenn Greenwald

the Intercept, 

23 January, 2015

Hugo Chávez was elected President of Venezuela four times from 1998 through 2012 and was admired and supported by a large majority of that country’s citizens, largely due to his policies that helped the poor. King Abdullah was the dictator and tyrant who ran one of the most repressive regimes on the planet.

The effusive praise being heaped on the brutal Saudi despot by western media and political figures has been nothing short of nauseating; the UK Government, which arouses itself on a daily basis by issuing self-consciously eloquent lectures to the world about democracy, actuallyordered flags flown all day at half-mast to honor this repulsive monarch. My Intercept colleague Murtaza Hussain has an excellent article about this whole spectacle, along with a real obituary, here.

I just want to focus on one aspect: a comparison of the statements President Obama issued about the 2013 death of President Chávez and the one he issued today about the Saudi ruler. Here’s the entire Obama statement about Chávez (h/t Sami Khan):

Now here is the one today about Abdullah:

One obvious difference between the two leaders was that Chávez was elected and Abdullah was not. Another is that Chávez used the nation’s oil resources to attempt to improve the lives of the nation’s most improverished while Abdullah used his to further enrich Saudi oligarchs and western elites. Another is that the severity of Abdullah’s human rights abuses and militarism makes Chávez look in comparison like Gandhi.

But when it comes to western political and media discourse, the only difference that matters is that Chávez was a U.S. adversary while Abdullah was a loyal U.S. ally – which, by itself for purposes of the U.S. and British media, converts the former into an evil villainous monster and the latter into a beloved symbol of peace, reform and progress. As but one of countless examples: last year, British Prime Minister David Cameron – literally the best and most reliable friend to world dictators after Tony Blair – stood in Parliament after being questioned by British MP George Galloway and said: “there is one thing that is certain: wherever there is a brutal Arab dictator in the world, he will have the support of [Galloway]”; last night, the very same David Cameron pronounced himself “deeply saddened” and said the Saudi King would be remembered for his “commitment to peace and for strengthening understanding between faiths.”

That’s why there is nobody outside of American cable news, DC think tanks, and the self-loving Oxbridge clique in London which does anything but scoff with scorn and dark amusement when the US and UK prance around as defenders of freedom and democracy. Only in those circles of tribalism, jingoism and propaganda is such tripe taken at all seriously.

Hypocrisy Dressed Up as "Realism" Justifies American Alliance with Saudi Dictatorship.

Remembering Saudi’s King Abdullah: "He Was Not a Benevolent Dictator, He Was a Dictator"