Interesting timing as well, since Prince Bandar's father, Crown Prince Sultan is currently dying of cancer. He'll probably be dead within the year. Then to add further to the excitement, King Abdullah appointed some relatively unknown half-brother (more on him in a minute) to the post of "Second Deputy Prime Minister" - A post that has been vacant for quite some time.

This is big, folks.

Back in 2005, when King Fahd died and Prince Bandar was suddenly recalled, I knew there was trouble. I said then that there would be a battle for the throne, and it looks like I was right again. Consider the line of succession:

The King is old, the crown prince is dying and the third in line is missing. And look at the men involved. Abdullah, as I commented in 2005, is hated by the people of Saudi Arabia. He's a brutal dictator, ranked the world's 5th worst. But he's also a "special friend" of the United States:

(Real photograph - I seriously couldn't make this shit up!)

Sultan, on the other hand, is not. In 2002, Sultan was one of the 3 princes personally named in a lawsuit for helping finance the 9-11 terrorist attacks. (The other two were Princes Turki bin Faisal and Mohammed bin Faisal). Further, Prince Sultan denied the United States use of Saudi bases to stage military strikes on Afghanistan after said attacks, stating that his government "will not accept in [Saudi Arabia] even a single soldier who will attack Muslims or Arabs."

Which brings us to Prince Bandar. Look at the photo again:

If Abdullah's cozy relationship with America pissed off the Saudi people, "Bandar Bush" here must have them positively seeing red. I mean, he's wearing denim for crying out loud! It's easy to see why certain people might want to prevent him from ascending to the throne.

And finally, the "relatively unknown half-brother" of the King. You're not going to believe this guy.

His name is Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, and he just got a big promotion. He was 5th in the line of succession. With his appointment as Second Deputy Prime Minister, he is now third. So when Sultan dies (probably some time within the next year), and if Bandar doesn't turn up, this guy will be the next King. This is cause for concern.

First of all, he's not really "unknown". Considering the failing health of the King and the Crown prince, Nayef is probably the most powerful man in Saudi Arabia. His last job was Minister of the Interior, where he oversaw all security within the Kingdom. In addition, he chairs the Supreme Council on Information, which oversees the nation's print, television, phone and internet communications. He chairs the Ministerial Oversight Committee on the WTO, which oversees all dealings with the WTO. He chairs the Supreme Committee on the Hajj, which gives him tremendous influence with religeous leaders devout muslims all over the country. He chairs the Ministerial Committee on Morality (Whatever that is, but it doesn't sound good.) He brokered the talks with Iran in 2001, even though he technically has nothing to do with the foriegn ministry. Am I painting a picture here? King Abdullah may wear the crown, but make no mistake - Prince Nayef runs the show.

But what about the man himself? Well, for starters, he is known to have personally donated at least $33 million to the widows and orphans of suicide bombers in Palestine. Further, in 1997 when our old friend Osama was trying to smuggle missiles into Saudi Arabia to take out members of the royal family, the Saudi intelligence agency (at the time Headed by Prince Turki bin Faisal) buried a report that Osama had held a number of meetings with Nayef in the months prior. Yeah, you read that right. The Saudi Ministers of intelligence and interior conspired with a known terrorist to assasinate their own King and Prime Minister. He was also named in a (different) lawsuit in 2002 for initiating payoffs to Al Quaeda so they wouldn't attack targets within Saudi Arabia. He's also really cozy with the Ulema - a group of religeous scholars who advise the King on a variety of matters (including the naming of successors).

So whether through faith, or cynicism, it appears Nayef is deliberately courting the militant, extremist and conservative voices within the kingdom, while at the same time pushing his way to the throne. So I have to ask...Could he have succeeded this time? Are they going to find Bandar's body out in the desert somewhere, with Nayaf's fingerprints on his throat?

Rant if it makes you feel better, but calling for AIG executives to commit suicide won't solve our problems. Of course, it is very entertaining listening to Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) condeming these guys for accepting the bailout money he himself voted to give them...

Yes it's true that AIG executives have had to hire on extra security at their Conneticut offices to defend themselves from the death threats that crashed the company's phone lines for 2 days running. Yes it's also true that New York will be handing down subpoenas for information on these bonuses, and they are deserving of every single one of those calls for justice. But let's keep our eyes on the prize, people. The fact that pigs gorge themselves at the trough of public funds should come as no surprise. They are afterall, pigs. They can't help themselves. But they didn't fill those troughs with your dollars in the first place.

The blue line tracks the great depression of 1929-32. The red line tracks the current depression. Like I said, pretty bleak.

Now I know what you're thinking: "I knew this would happen when Obama took over, his crazy liberal policies will be the death of us all!" But not so fast! I've redrawn the same graph, with a big fat black line denoting the day of Obama's inauguration. Have a look:

Now I'll be the first to admit Obama's policies are making things worse, but this ship hit the iceberg long before he climbed onto the bridge. I'm all in favor of roasting the new guy, but let's try and keep it in perspective.