Word: saudi
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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They are, strangely, the same person: Fahd ibn Abdul Aziz, King of Saudi Arabia and Custodian (of the holy places of Mecca and Medina), a form of address he prefers to Your Majesty. And the difference between the profligate prince and the cautious King reflects something more than the aging of the young hell raiser into a 69-year-old monarch whose 275-lb. bulk has so weakened his knees that he has trouble walking. Some 37 years ago, Fahd went through a conversion that, though forced on him, has had a lasting effect...
...home and devote himself to serious matters of state. Implicit in the rebuke was a warning that Fahd was endangering his chances of succeeding to the crown. As one of seven sons borne by the favorite wife of the legendary Abdul Aziz (generally known as Ibn Saud), who created Saudi Arabia, Fahd was among those in line someday to be King. But there was, and is, nothing automatic about the succession; like almost every other major decision in Saudi Arabia, it reflects a consensus of the royal family...
...money by 1975 had reached flood tide -- around $100 billion a year -- and Fahd led Saudi Arabia into headlong modernization. He built hospitals, schools, superhighways, sports arenas. Many Saudis went in a single generation from mud huts to trim low-cost housing, free education for their children through the university level, and free medical care in modern hospitals. Fahd managed affairs with Bedouin shrewdness. He insisted that as soon as a project was approved, money for it had to be set aside. The practice horrified financial advisers who thought the cash should be invested to earn interest, but when...
Fahd's personal wealth, built on a fee levied on every barrel of oil extracted from Saudi land before 1980, is estimated at $18 billion, second only to the wealth of the Sultan of Brunei ($25 billion). He boasts at least 12 royal palaces, ranging from the $2.5 billion Al-Yamamah Palace complex in Riyadh to a "cottage" four times the size of the White House in Marbella, Spain. He owns several jets and yachts, all with gold bathroom faucets; his main yacht, a $60 million craft, is escorted by a vessel that carries Stinger antiaircraft missiles. His fleet...
...SAUDI ARABIA...