Word: abdullah
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Despite his relatively progressive instincts, it remains to be seen whether Abdullah will succeed in pushing his reform agenda past Islamic opposition. His efforts to bring the Kingdom into the World Trade Organization, for example, could help create jobs - unemployment is 15%. But the obstacles to membership include the country's slow progress in enacting commercial and insurance laws over the objections of Islamic traditionalists, who regard them as an affront to Shari'a, the rules of life handed down...
...Abdullah faces similar difficulties when it comes to issues like sex and education. The ban on women driving certainly limits Saudi economic potential. But what had been a long-standing cultural taboo became a seemingly irreversible religious edict in 1990 after a group of 40 women protested against the prohibition by driving cars in a convoy through downtown Riyadh. Abdullah has green-lighted a very limited population control campaign to address what may be the gravest long-term threat to stability, a birthrate unofficially put at 4.2%, one of the world's highest. (The population of Saudi nationals...
...emphasizes Islam even in science and history classes, and churns out thousands of unemployed religious scholars every year. Still, education officials are making no apologies for textbooks that preach suspicion of non-Muslims, even to the extent of discouraging Saudis from congratulating Christians or Jews on their religious holidays. Abdullah rejects charges that the education system is breeding future bin Ladens, but many Saudis who can afford it prefer to send young children abroad for schooling. "I hate this fanatical crap my kids have to put up with," says Badr, 42, a Riyadh businessman. "I want to teach my kids...
...Hobbling Abdullah's efforts is the fact that, as Crown Prince, he lacks the full authority of a king to act. Fears of a power struggle in the royal family have proved unfounded, with Abdullah serving as day-to-day ruler with the consensus of other powerful princes. Insiders say that tensions on issues like the pace of reform and cleaning up corruption simmer between Abdullah and other ranking princes, notably influential Defense Minister Prince Sultan, the next in line to the throne after Abdullah. "The Crown Prince is in an unenviable position," says a prominent Jidda businessman close...
Royal rifts cast an unflattering light on the Kingdom's failure, in its 70 years of stability and prosperity, to evolve institutions capable of running a modern society. Each week Abdullah - unusually for a senior prince - spends an hour or two holding a Majlis, a traditional Bedouin form of consultation. Hundreds of grizzled tribesmen compete to press petitions into Abdullah's hand, requesting help in a land dispute, a medical emergency or a blood feud. "Look at how they shout at him," remarked Abdullah's son Prince Mithab during a recent Majlis. "Where else do you see people talking...