– Kumar Moses

What goes around comes around. It is remarkably valid for King Abdulla (1924-2015) of Saudi Arabia. About 10 years ago a Muslim housemaid from Sri Lanka by the name Rizana Nafeek was attending to a baby in Saudi Arabia. The baby died in her care and she was blamed for it. Poverty and the 2004 tsunami that devastated her home led her to work in the Kingdom despite her young age. Many appealed against her execution but failed. As a last resort a state level mercy plea was sent to Saudi Arabia’s king Abdulla. It was rejected and she was executed in January 2013 in an uncivilised medieval manner which no civilised country on earth practices today. Exactly two years passed and King Abdulla was dead in January 2015! Karmic justice has been delivered to the poor soul Rizana.

No one should be committing sins and crime in the name of religion, beliefs, philosophy or god. All these are man made things. Conscience must rank above all these. If a religion, beliefs, philosophy or god requires violence, it deserves no respect or tolerance in a civilised society. It is time to close the chapter on such ignorant behaviour that is on the rise around the world.

King Abdulla is no stranger to medieval practices. Under his rule Saudi Arabia went many centuries back. He totally clamped down on democracy and dissent while financing sham democracy and dissent in other countries. Anyone opposed to his rule is executed. Women’s rights were totally denied. Saudi Arabia despite its riches doesn’t allow its women to drive in this 21^st century. Under a new law introduced a few years ago, the Kingdom made it mandatory to employ ‘princes’ of the king’s lineage. They had to be given highly paid jobs commensurate with their lineage. Over 7,000 were employed this way but another 23,000 claim royal lineage and privileges.

It is no secret the KSA finances Islamic terror groups, the spread of extremism and Wahabism around the world. However, due to its oil reserves and the control over petroleum prices over the world, no country dares to discipline it. This emboldened it to commit worse crimes of extremism through a heavily funded a network of terrorists. From the fanatics in a cockpit to the suicide bombers in Syria to the Taliban in Afghanistan and hostage takers around the world, the Saudi imprint is all too visible.

However, thankfully, its rulers are not blessed with intellect. Americans managed to fool the Kingdom at the inception of the OPEC to sell crude oil in US Dollars thus giving USA a tremendous currency advantage which turns into real gain given the greenback’s global appeal. Thanks to Saudi’s self-centred approach, the OPEC was soon a toothless tiger. Further manipulations in Iraq, Kuwait, Iran, Israel and other regional countries by the west bled Saudi Arabia in the past three decades. Saudi Arabia venerates the Jewish State of Israel but behind the scenes tries every trick to destabilize it. This game of brinkmanship has opened avenues for the west to make a fortune selling outdated weapons to the Kingdom. In the 1980s a well connected British defence company sold billions of dollars worth technologically outdated weapons. Recently USA dumped a few billion dollars worth 1980 era warplanes in Saudi while donating fifth generation fighter jets to Israel. It is said that Saudi money ultimately paid for the donation! Creating a sense of vulnerability, USA has managed to establish military camps throughout Saudi Arabia with the stated objective of defending it. In reality they are a deterrent to a stead oil price rise which would benefit the Saudis.

However, the biggest manoeuvre of deceit played on the KSA is none other than the recent slump in crude oil prices. The west came to the realization that high oil prices are linked to the rise of extremism. Oil production cost is mostly static. It doesn’t go up with the oil price. This means higher profits at higher prices. Enormous profits thus earned were ‘invested’ in promoting extremism around the world. The oil price had to be brought down to reduce terror financing. USA introduced fracking – a controversial and environmentally damaging method to bring out underground oil. However, the state financed propaganda machine displayed fracking as the future and trumped up its benefits. At the same time US advisors in KSA warned the king of the possible collapse of oil prices if fracking continues. They advised the only way to collapse fracking is to reduce oil prices so fracking ventures will go bust. However, what they didn’t tell the Saudis was that USA was never keen on expanding fracking anytime soon anyway. It was only a red herring.

Western agents also succeeded in pitting the Kingdom against Russia. Saudi funded anti-Russian terrorist groups. High oil prices helped Russia balance its budget and invest heavily in weapons. For this reason, USA wanted Saudi to tap into its excess capacity and produce crude more and more.

Saudi fell for it and started depleting its scant oil reserves at a faster rate with lesser earnings. Although low oil prices are a blessing for Asia, it is the opposite for oil producers, mainly Saudi Arabia.

Hopefully the new king will bring modernity and civility to the Kingdom and identify the manipulators who are more powerful than the god they worship. May Rizana Nafeek rest in peace.