https://www.rt.com/news/349472-blast...arabia-medina/
They're actually targeting the holy cities now, they weren't bluffing. To carry it out in the last three days of the month is supposed to give meaning to their sad lives. There's a new wave of terror and KSA is suddenly finding itself in the frontlines.
And here I thought they were being bankrolled by saudi arabia, I don't see that continuing in the future if they keep doing this.
Bad dog. I don't understand why Medina is a target though it's supposed to be a holy city
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While there are some diehard Wahabists in SA, I suspect that rather few of them are part of the extended Saud family whose 15k members and clients (in the old Roman use of that term) dominate most of the country's capital, government, military, and economic power positions. The Saud family has long been targeted by radical Islamic sects as not "pure enough" in the faith to be worthy of this dominant position. Rather than let the radicals conflate with the local Saudi dissidents (panem et circum not always being enough), they have long bought of the radicals by funding them (indirectly of course) just so long as they go radical outside of SA.
The Saud family, however, has smashed Yemen around rather then letting it slip into the radical's hands entirely. The radicals MUST punish this behavior by the Sauds (not Saudis) and remind them as to the limits of the arrangement.
It is really a question of re-establishing an equilibrium point is all.
"The only way that has ever been discovered to have a lot of people cooperate together voluntarily is through the free market. And that's why it's so essential to preserving individual freedom.” -- Milton Friedman
"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." -- H. L. Mencken
I think that equilibrium point is long gone at this point. They have been declared apostates by the militants, and are now finding themselves in direct conflict with them in Yemen, so that’s a first. It's possible the deputy crown prince becomes king by the end of the year, he is known to be pro-western and not anti-Israel in order to be favored over the actual crown prince, who's the minister of interior and in charge of dealing with stuff like this. If bin Salman (deputy cp) succeeds, there will be resistance by hardline salafis as he has already stripped many privileges of the religious police and is planning to muzzle the clergy on a number of things for his economic reform plans, which includes women doing more and getting long overdue basic rights. Interior minister, on the other hand, has a vested interest in being conservative as it makes his counterterrorism job easier, which is why the US might even take his side due to his reputable talent in cracking down on terrorists.
This is basically a result of monarchical rift, arguably the same thing that caused the war in Yemen and is prolonging it. Inside the country itself, the supposedly liberal Saudi prince is rendering “moral” servants irrelevant to strengthen private sector and lessen oil dependence, and salafis aren’t having it. They want their jobs that require no skills seem as important as possible so they don’t lose the Saudi youth.
Fair comment. We are seeing the various parties pushing to establish a new equilibrium point -- you are correct that things are a bit "up in the air" at present. The Salafists will use a bit of violence to remind the "young turk" prince of the cost of too much change or secularism. Clan Saud must counter to establish the limits of control by the salafists.
"The only way that has ever been discovered to have a lot of people cooperate together voluntarily is through the free market. And that's why it's so essential to preserving individual freedom.” -- Milton Friedman
"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." -- H. L. Mencken
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