Photo, left: In April 2009, at a summit for world leaders U.S. President Barack Obama met him. In June 2009, King Abdullah hosted President Obama in Saudi Arabia. In turn, Obama hosted King Abdullah at the White House in the same month.
King Abdullah passed from this world on 22 January at the age of 90, was swiftly buried; Prince Salman, age 79, was immediately installed as his successor. More important, the n Crown Prince is Prince Muqrin Bin Abdul Aziz, a highly-educated, experienced, and capable member of the family.
"In keeping with traditions of Wahhabism - the ultra-conservative form of Sunni Islam followed by the kingdom - King Abdullah will be buried in an unmarked grave immediately after Friday prayers. The Saudi religious establishment views every aspect of life and death as a submission to God's supreme will, and protocol permits no official mourning period. Government offices stay open and flags remain at full mast."
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Hour One
Friday  23 January 2015  / Hour 1, Block A: Liz Peek, The Fiscal Times & Fox, in re: DID OBAMA'S SOTU UNDERMINE HILLARY CLINTON? / HOW FAR LEFT WILL OBAMA YANK THE DEMS IN NEXT TWO YEARS? "Is President Obama trying to sabotage Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential run? That’s one take-away from his feisty State of the Union address, in which Mr. Obama did three things: first, he moved the Democratic agenda far to the left, where Hillary is not entirely comfortable; second, he rebuffed the clear preference of voters that he work with Congress, by making the cornerstone of his address proposals unacceptable to the GOP and third, he assured the country that our foreign policy (Hillary’s foreign policy) is working.  . . .
Friday  23 January 2015  / Hour 1, Block B:  Sadanand Dhume, AEI, in re: India’s Bad Example on Free Speech  No major democracy has less to teach the world about how to respond to blasphemy.  US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry weren’t the only notable absentees at Sunday’s unity rally in Paris. India too failed to send a high-level representative to honor the victims of the Charlie Hebdo shootings. In a decidedly tepid show of support to a grieving fellow democracy, New Delhi sent its ambassador.
Friday  23 January 2015  / Hour 1, Block C: Jim Rutenberg, NYT, in re: New York Times Magazine cover story,  NYT Mag's chief political correspondent Jim Rutenberg profiles Megyn Kelly, the most popular anchor in cable news.  Although she delivers four times as many viewers to Fox News as Rachel Maddow does to MSNBC, Kelly's appeal for the network isn't just the raw numbers--it's her potential, as a combative interviewer who's won the at-least-fleeting admiration of the likes of Jon Stewart, for growing Fox's audience beyond its aging core demographics.
Friday  23 January 2015  / Hour 1, Block D:  Harry Siegel, New York Daily News, in re: In a season of protesting — of cops and by cops — the mayor and his commissioner move New York forward. Today's column: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/harry-siegel-bill-de-blasio-policing-peace-dividend-article-1.2087512
Hour Two
Friday  23 January 2015  / Hour 2, Block A:  Richard A Epstein, Hoover Institution, Chicago Law, in re: reBack in 2010, President Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress took the wrong fork in the road to health care reform. To be sure, the case for some reform was very strong, given that the mixed health care system in the United States provided inferior health care at premium prices for large portions of the population. But identifying a problem does not point the way to the necessary cure. What is needed is a clear theory of what has gone wrong and why.  http://www.hoover.org/research/obamacares-slow-death  (1 of 2)
Friday  23 January 2015  / Hour 2, Block B: Richard A Epstein, Hoover Institution, Chicago Law, in re: reBack in 2010, President Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress took the wrong fork in the road to health care reform. To be sure, the case for some reform was very strong, given that the mixed health care system in the United States provided inferior health care at premium prices for large portions of the population. But identifying a problem does not point the way to the necessary cure. What is needed is a clear theory of what has gone wrong and why.  http://www.hoover.org/research/obamacares-slow-death  (2 of 2)
Friday  23 January 2015  / Hour 2, Block C:  Gregory Copley, StrategicStudies director; GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs; & author, UnCivilization, in re: "The Transition Occurs in Saudi Arabia: a Delicate Time."  King ‘Abdallah bin ‘Abd al-’Aziz al Sa’ud, 91, of Saudi Arabia died on January 22, 2015, and was succeeded — as expected — as King by Crown Prince Salman bin ‘Abd al-’Aziz al Sa’ud. But, as this journal reported, the youngest of the King’s 34 half-brothers, Prince Muqrin bin Abd al-’Aziz, 69 or 70, will — as the new Crown Prince — carry the burden of actual governance, given that King Salman is suffering from the onset of age-related dementia.
Power, in the immediate sense, then, remains with the late King ‘Abdallah’s camp, which controls the National Guard. The Sudeiri side of the House of Sa’ud was confirmed in the line of succession by the appointment of the Minister of the Interior, Prince Mohammed bin Nayif bin ‘Abd al-’Aziz al Sa’ud, as Deputy Crown Prince, second in line to Muqrin. King Salman’s son, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was named Minister of Defense & Aviation, the post vacated by King Salman with his accession to the throne. The succession, announced immediately after the announcement of the death of King ‘Abdallah (who was buried on January 23, 2015), was in line with the planned process.
The succession line now in place gives no real comfort to the US Barack Obama White House. Crown Prince Muqrin, who holds much of the real power for the time being, still has his own problems within the royal family; his rise to this position had never been considered a real prospect [by Washington], and from the US perspective Muqrin is an Anglophile. The Deputy Crown Prince and Minister of the Interior, Prince Mohammed bin Nayif, was favored over King ‘Abdallah’s son, Prince Mutaib bin ‘Abdallah bin ‘Abd al-’Aziz al Sa’ud, largely because Prince Mohammed is a Sudeiri, but his robust approach to the suppression of radical opponents of the Crown makes the White House nervous. (1 of 2)
Friday  23 January 2015  / Hour 2, Block D: Gregory Copley, StrategicStudies director; GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs; & author, UnCivilization, in re: "The Transition Occurs in Saudi Arabia: a Delicate Time."  King ‘Abdallah bin ‘Abd al-’Aziz al Sa’ud, 91, of Saudi Arabia died on January 22, 2015, and was succeeded — as expected — as King by Crown Prince Salman bin ‘Abd al-’Aziz al Sa’ud. But, as this journal reported, the youngest of the King’s 34 half-brothers, Prince Muqrin bin Abd al-’Aziz, 69 or 70, will — as the new Crown Prince — carry the burden of actual governance, given that King Salman is suffering from the onset of age-related dementia.
Power, in the immediate sense, then, remains with the late King ‘Abdallah’s camp, which controls the National Guard. The Sudeiri side of the House of Sa’ud was confirmed in the line of succession by the appointment of the Minister of the Interior, Prince Mohammed bin Nayif bin ‘Abd al-’Aziz al Sa’ud, as Deputy Crown Prince, second in line to Muqrin. King Salman’s son, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was named Minister of Defense & Aviation, the post vacated by King Salman with his accession to the throne. The succession, announced immediately after the announcement of the death of King ‘Abdallah (who was buried on January 23, 2015), was in line with the planned process.
The succession line now in place gives no real comfort to the US Barack Obama White House. Crown Prince Muqrin, who holds much of the real power for the time being, still has his own problems within the royal family; his rise to this position had never been considered a real prospect [by Washington], and from the US perspective Muqrin is an Anglophile. The Deputy Crown Prince and Minister of the Interior, Prince Mohammed bin Nayif, was favored over King ‘Abdallah’s son, Prince Mutaib bin ‘Abdallah bin ‘Abd al-’Aziz al Sa’ud, largely because Prince Mohammed is a Sudeiri, but his robust approach to the suppression of radical opponents of the Crown makes the White House nervous. (2 of 2)
Hour Three
Friday  23 January 2015  / Hour 3, Block A:  Michael Vlahos, Naval War College, in re: the death of King Abdallah of Saudi Arabia: history of relations between Saudis and the West.  Saudi royal family seeing non-Muslim leaders as supplicants to the Saudi treasury; all as dhimmis. (1 of 2)
Friday  23 January 2015  / Hour 3, Block B: Michael Vlahos, Naval War College, in re: the death of King Abdallah of Saudi Arabia: history of relations between Saudis and the West.  Saudi royal family seeing non-Muslim leaders as supplicants to the Saudi treasury; all as dhimmis. (2 of 2)
Friday  23 January 2015  / Hour 3, Block C:  Sohrab Amari, WSJ, in re: The Champion of French Anxiety   The National Front leader says of the country’s Islamist threat,  "We are the only ones to solve the problem."
Friday  23 January 2015  / Hour 3, Block D:   Peter Berkowitz, Hoover, in re: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/01/13/tradition--the_beating_heart_of_a_democracy.html
Hour Four
Friday  23 January 2015  / Hour 4, Block A:  Heidi Zhou Castro, al Jazeera America, in re:   live in Dallas -  The state of immigration in the US in advance of the president's speech. President Obama's execution action on immigration could help up to 4.9 million illegal immigrants stay in this country.  The program, known as Deferred Deportations for Parental Accountability, starts taking applications this May, and the Silva family - who may qualify under this program - are hoping this means that their father, Raul, can stay in the US.  Other migrants who streamed across the border this year may not be as fortunate.  They're part of the flood of mothers and children who surged across the Texas border last summer, hoping to escape the growing violence in Central America.  Many of their cases are pending in immigration courts.  While they wait, their sheer numbers can often overwhelm local communities and school districts who provide them services.
Friday  23 January 2015  / Hour 4, Block B:  Carl Zimmer, NYT, in re:   http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/16/science/earth/study-raises-alarm-for-health-of-ocean-life.html?ref=science&_r=0
Friday  23 January 2015  / Hour 4, Block C: Dan Saltzstein, NYT, in re: The Times has just posted its annual "52 Places to Go" feature: a vibrant mix of destinations from around the world that travelers should explore in the coming year
Friday  23 January 2015  / Hour 4, Block D: Ken Croswell, Physics Today, in re: extrasolar planets and "tidal locking":  http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2015/jan/15/exoplanets-could-av...