(Editor's Note: Al Bawaba FYI is a new series, where we give you the fast-take on the news of the moment. Enjoy!)
By now, you know the story. Early on January 23, 90-year-old King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia passed away in Riyadh after a brief battle with pneumonia, closing a decade-long rule in the KSA. Ushered into his place on the throne is his half-brother, Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud. No spring chicken himself, the 79-year-old is rumored to be suffering from dementia.
Such an appointment is no stranger to Saudi, where the only rulers have been sons the nation’s founder, and an long-living Arab tradition has consistently empowered monarchs who are old enough to have already picked their own (unmarked) tombstones.
So what happens now?
King Abdullah’s death comes at a crucial time for the kingdom.
The country is battling sleeper-cell terrorism at home, and Daesh just outside its borders. Meanwhile, US shale and oil export boom and Russian production has sent oil prices on a downward spiral.
The economic battle may be quiet, but its fiercer than the ideological one: 2014 was recorded as the year were Saudi Arabia spent the most in its history, and 2015 will likely go down with an even bigger deficit.
Swiftly-crowned Salman, who pledged certainty and continuity, wasted no time confirming that key Saudi figure and controversial oil minister Ali Al-Naimi will remain in place. The action helped quell speculation about an internal palace rift, but despite votes of confidence voiced by Western leaders at Davos, much remains uncertain about the kingdom’s economic and political future.
Here’s the lazy news guide to the King Abdullah saga — the good, bad and ugly.
