Word: abdullah
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Such praise could be taken as a comment on the mess the Kingdom was in when Abdullah gradually began taking over following King Fahd's stroke in 1995. Custom dictated that Abdullah, as heir apparent, take the helm; the King, now 80, still appears for ceremonial functions but is too frail to run the country. During Fahd's 20-year reign, government spending as well as Saudi births soared, while oil revenues declined from $40 a barrel in 1980 to about $20 today. Fighting off Iraq's Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War also set the Kingdom back $60 billion...
...Abdullah began shaking the Kingdom out of its petroleum hangover by declaring in 1998 that the "boom is over and will not return - all of us must get used to a different lifestyle." As an alternative to the easy oil riches, Abdullah has spearheaded the most significant attempt at economic restructuring in the Kingdom's history, opening negotiations with American and other Western energy powers on a $100 billion foreign investment project to develop natural gas and build related electricity and desalination plants. Still, oil accounts for around 70% of the country's revenues...
...Abdullah has slashed government budgets, barring new military spending and scaling back white elephants like the Strategic Storage Program, an estimated $25 billion project designed to supply the Saudi armed forces with jet fuel in case some invader happens to occupy Saudi refineries. Earlier this month, he warned bureaucrats that they faced dismissal if they didn't shape up, a far cry from the glory days when every graduate was assured a government desk and a paycheck, work or no work. The 30,000-strong royal family weren't spared the belt-tightening: no more ignoring telephone and utility bills...
Since Sept. 11, Abdullah has sent clear signals - albeit in the quiet, gradual Saudi way - that Saudis must get their heads out of the sand and become part of the global village. One after another, he called in groups of Saudi imams, teachers, journalists and businessmen and warned them against taking Saudi Arabia's puritanical brand of religion, known as Wahhabism, to unacceptable extremes. Though not to Washington's complete satisfaction, Abdullah began tightening up on potential terrorist financing, scrutinizing Islamic charities and freezing some suspect bank accounts - an explosive issue in a culture that fiercely guards privacy...
...Abdullah became an overnight hit with Saudi women when he pointedly declared that the country would "open all doors" for them to play greater roles in society. Recently, the government began issuing identity cards to women for the first time...