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All in the (royal) family
By Bill Schneider (CNN Washington Bureau)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- When other countries deal with Saudi Arabia, they're dealing with a family enterprise. The country was established by the al-Saud family in the early 20th century, and they've been running it ever since. "All Saudi culture is based on extended families. If you're not in an extended family, you're probably not a Saudi," says David Long, author of "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia." In a culture where men can take more than one wife, extended families can get pretty extended. The Saudi royal family has some 30,000 members, including about 4,000 princes -- like a gigantic Kennedy clan, with all the implied rivalries and competition. How does the Saudi royal family stay in power? Religion, for one. The royal family has assumed the role of guardian of Islam's holy places. And money -- the family uses its oil wealth to buy off its opponents. One way the Saudi royal family does not stay in power is democracy. "They've now had it go from brother to brother since the early 1950s," Long says. "I think they've got that down pretty well." Power has passed from Abdul Aziz, the founder of the Saudi regime, to his many sons. King Saud, who ruled until 1964, was deposed by the royal family when it lost confidence in him. King Faisal was assassinated by a disgruntled relative in 1975. King Khalid died in 1982 and passed the reins to King Fahd, who is now ailing and unable to exercise power. So who's next? King Fahd's designated successor is his half-brother, Crown Prince Abdullah, who is now the country's acting ruler. Abdullah is a reformer who has moved closer to the United States since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. His rival could be his younger brother, Prince Sultan, who is seen as more hostile to reform and more anti-American. Sultan is also seen as more popular, because anti-American sentiment has grown in Saudi Arabia over the past year -- especially among the kingdom's rapidly growing number of young people, who resent their country's alliance with Israel's chief supporter. At the same time, in the post-September 11 environment, anti-Saudi sentiment has increased in the United States. The Bush administration and the Saudi royal family like to pretend it isn't true. But a wound has opened up between the United States and Saudi Arabia, and it could get worse if the United States goes to war with Iraq and asks for Saudi help. And any new Saudi ruler who tries to be more responsive to popular sentiment in his country will feel pressure to distance himself from the United States.
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