Introduction to the evening news 22-10-2011

The death of Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz al Saud raised a series of questions whose answers will surface before his Tuesday funeral. These questions did not emerge because he was the "Sultan Al-Khair (sultan of goodness)”, or for his influence in the largest oil-exporting state in the world; nor did they emerge because of his role as the kingdom's defense minister for 48 years, during which he presided over the Saudi defense policy, a policy that turned the kingdom into one of the World's largest consumer of arms. Rather, the questions arise because his death neatly coincided with a delicate period for the kingdom, both at the domestic and external level.        

For the first time in the history of Saudi Arabia, which was founded in 1932, a Crown Prince dies before the King; and for the first time, the Allegiance Council, established by King Abdullah in 2006, will have to come face to face with the possibility of appointing a Crown Prince, who should be essentially designated by the king as provided for by the basic law of government.       

So far, Interior Minister Prince Nayef, who was appointed by King Abdullah as the second deputy prime minister in March 2009, is the most likely candidate to replace Sultan. But who will replace him as second deputy?  Is it going to be Prince Salman, the governor of Riyadh? Will Prince Salman also fill the vacant position of the defense minister after Sultan’s death? What role will the second-generation of the descendants of Abdulaziz-the sons of kings and princes- play? Will the appointment of Prince Nayef as Crown Prince be a doorstep to his appointment as king in the future, knowing that King Abdullah left the hospital today?       

As for the external challenges, Prince Sultan has left the world as the Yemeni crisis has reached boiling point, knowing that he has adopted the Yemeni issue since the first war in Yemen, exactly from Abdel Nasser’s involvement until the Houthi crisis which emerged last year.       

Prince Sultan has left the world as the Iran-Saudi tension has reached its peak, knowing that Iran’s foreign minister has expressed condolences over the prince’s death.  Moreover, The Syrian crisis raises more challenges for the kingdom that is busy with looking into the future of Iraq after the U.S. announcement of a full withdrawal by the end of this year and Clinton’s warning to neighbor states, notably Iran, of filling the U.S. void in Iraq.  Iraq’s wealth has been controlled by the Shia since the U.S. invasion, knowing that Nouri al-Maliki’s relationship with Riyadh is still shaky.