Saudi Arabia

14 months ago, Saudi Arabia had a plan.

That plan involved deliberately suppressing the price of crude in order to bankrupt the US shale complex and put pressure on the Russians who were still clinging to the notion that Bashar al-Assad would remain President of Syria.

Preserving crude market share and securing the “ancillary diplomatic benefits” (to quote The New York Times) of lower oil prices has proven to be a trickier proposition than Riyadh originally imagined.

China is “at the center of a clash between Saudi Arabia and Iran,” WSJ wrote on Tuesday, as Xi Jinping marks his first visit to Riyadh as President.

To be sure, Xi’s trip to the Mid-East comes at a critical juncture. The Sunni and Shiite communities exist in a perpetual state of strife, but Riyadh’s execution of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr threw gasoline on a fire that’s already being fueled by fighting in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.

Earlier this month, a black swan landed in the Mid-East when Saudi Arabia executed prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr along with 46 other “terrorists.”

Most of those executed were not Shiites but that didn’t matter. Al-Nimr was a key voice among Saudi Arabia’s dissident Shiite minority and his death reverberated across the Shiite community, sparking mass protests from Bahrain to Pakistan.

David Cameron has defended Britain’s alliance with Saudi Arabia and British support for the controversial Saudi-led air-strike campaign in Yemen. The British prime minister also dismissed concerns that funding for ISIS came from the Riyadh. The Saudi Arabian ambassador to the UK slammed the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn last month for raising the allegations. RT reports: Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today program on Monday, the Prime Minister defended UK’s arms exports to the oil-rich autocracy and said that the UK carefully monitors how the Saudis use British-made weapons.

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud is plannings to renounce power in favor of his son according to reports. The report by the Institute for Gulf Affairs quoted multiple sources as saying that the ailing 80-year-old monarch has been seeking to transfer power to his son Mohammed, the deputy crown prince and defense minister. His son, who is currently the second in line to the throne is widely believed to be the real ruler. Press TV reports: The sources did not give a specific date for the abdication but said the issue will be concluded within a matter of weeks.