Saudi King 'In Talks to Buy Disused New York Hospital to Move Mosque Away From Ground Zero'
MAIL ONLINE: The King of Saudi Arabia is said to be in talks with New York officials about a plan to move the controversial Ground Zero mosque to a disused medical centre.

Lawyer Dudley Gaffin claims King Abdullah is considering buying St Vincent's Medical Center in the West Village to build an Islamic cultural centre on the site.

Under the proposals, the hospital would also be saved with units shut when it filed for bankruptcy in April reopened, the New York Post reported.

Sources said that Mr Gaffin has come up with the plan in a bid to head off the Rudin Organization, which is trying to buy St Vincent's with a view to constructing luxury housing.

One community leader, who did not want to be identified, told the newspaper: 'He's asking what it would take to put in a bid.

'He says the king wants to do this as a PR move - to save the hospital and move the mosque away from the World Trade Center site.

'He wants to show that Muslims can do good works.' Read on and comment >>> Daily Mail Reporter | Monday, December 20, 2010

Cables Depict U.S. Haggling to Find Takers for Detainees
THE NEW YORK TIMES: WASHINGTON — Last year, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia proposed an unorthodox way to return Guantánamo Bay prisoners to a chaotic country like Yemen without fear that they would disappear and join a terrorist group.

The king told a top White House aide, John O. Brennan, that the United States should implant an electronic chip in each detainee to track his movements, as is sometimes done with horses and falcons.

“Horses don’t have good lawyers,” Mr. Brennan replied.

That unusual discussion in March 2009 was one of hundreds recounted in a cache of secret State Department cables obtained by WikiLeaks and made available to a number of news organizations that reveal the painstaking efforts by the United States to safely reduce the population of the Guantánamo Bay prison in Cuba so that it could eventually be closed.

American diplomats went looking for countries that were not only willing to take in former prisoners but also could be trusted to keep them under close watch. In a global bazaar of sorts, the American officials sweet-talked and haggled with their foreign counterparts in an effort to resettle the detainees who had been cleared for release but could not be repatriated for fear of mistreatment, the cables show. >>> Charlie Savage and Andrew W. Lehren | Monday, November 29, 2010

Saudi King Abdullah to Go to US for Medical Treatment
The king had a new flare-up of back pain on Friday, the palace said. Photograph: BBC
BBC: Saudi Arabia's ailing 86-year-old King Abdullah is to go to the US for treatment for a back problem, Saudi officials have said.

He has a herniated disc worsened by an accumulation of blood around the spine and is to leave for the US on Monday.

Crown Prince Sultan, who is himself said to be unwell, is to return from an extended overseas holiday to take over. >>> | Sunday, November 21, 2010

Report: Saudi King Cancels Visit to France
YNET NEWS: Decision comes less than two weeks after Le Figaro quoted Abdullah as saying both Israel and Iran don't deserve to exist

Saudi Arabia's state news agency said King Abdullah has indefinitely postponed a trip to France planned for this week.

The Saudi monarch was to open an exhibition of Saudi antiquities at the Louvre museum in Paris during his visit.

The Saudi Press Agency on Saturday did not say why the trip was postponed. But the decision comes less than two weeks after the French daily Le Figaro quoted King Abdullah as saying both Israel and Iran don't deserve to exist. >>> Associate Press | Saturday, July 10, 2010

LE POINT: Diplomatie – Riyad confirme le "report" d'une visite du roi d'Arabie saoudite en France: L'Arabie saoudite a confirmé samedi le "report à une date qui reste à déterminer" d'une visite du roi Abdallah en France, prévue initialement pour ce lundi et au cours de laquelle il devait notamment rencontrer le président Nicolas Sarkozy. La visite "a été reportée à une date qui reste à déterminer, la plus proche possible pour les deux parties", a indiqué l'agence officielle SPA, citant un responsable gouvernemental anonyme. Le motif du report n'a pas été précisé. >>> AFP | Samedi 10 Juillet 2010

Obama gets ready for prayer in a mosque. This is proof, if any proof were needed, that Obama is a Muslim. Why? Because mosques are not open for prayers for infidels! – © Mark | Photo: Google Images
President Obama Welcomes Saudi King Abdullah In Praying For Media
ALL HEADLINE NEWS: Washington, DC, United States (AHN) - U.S. President Barack Obama and visiting King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia on Tuesday prayed together* for the serenity of the media at the White House meeting.

"I want to also thank our friends, the American people, and I also would like to thank our friends here in the media," King Abdullah said at the end of his statement. "May God spare us from all of the bad things they can do to us."

As Obama laughed, Abdullah added, "And may God bless us with all the positive things they can do for us and for humanity."
Obama added: "Well, that is an excellent prayer. Thank you."

According to a White House communique, the two leaders “met and reaffirmed the strong, historic ties between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States of America.” >>> Tejinder Singh, AHN News Correspondent | Wednesday, June 30, 2010

*If B. Hussein Obama prayed together with King Abdullah, you can be sure that they prayed together in the Islamic way. Many Americans will surely find this act very offensive. – Mark

Saudi King in Washington


Obama praises King Abdullah in mutual love fest >>>

Obama, King Abdullah: Must be bold in the pursuit of a Palestinian state >>>

AL JAZEERA ENGLISH: Saudis urge US on Middle East peace >>> | Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah: Barack Obama's Most Important Friend
Barack Obama with King Abdullah at the G20 conference. Photograph: The Telegraph
THE TELEGRAPH BLOGS – RICHARD SPENCER: President Obama meets King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia later today, and though I don’t suppose it will be picked up much it’s probably far more important than any White House meetings he will have with Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel, Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinians, or even David Cameron.

There’s something so weird to Western eyes, obsessed with youth and the cut of your suit and the colour of your tie, about seeing an 86 year-old in a white robe turn up at the White House that it doesn’t compute into importance in our minds. Saudi Arabia, too, is a subject that makes both liberals and neo-cons nervous. Nervous? Apoplectic with rage, more like.

But the facts have to be faced: Saudi is America’s second-most important ally in the Middle East, and nowadays a lot easier to deal with than the number one. It is certainly a strategic asset, and King Abdullah represents a better hope for a Saudi Arabia we can grow to respect than most other leaders it has had. Abdullah may be an absolute monarch of a state where Christianity is banned, executions are public, jihadism is rife and women are, well, not given to overt displays of “Girl Power”. But he argues for a Middle East that tackles fundamentalism head-on but humanely, that is willing to accept the existence of Israel, even if it does not actively welcome it, and above all is tough on Iran. Tough on Iran? If Saudi Arabia poses a real problem to America it is that its hatred of Iran is so intense that sometimes it cannot think straight about it. Continue reading and comment >>> Richard Spencer | Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Photo of Saudi King with Women Could Lead to Reform
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: A photograph of the king of Saudi Arabia surrounded by a large group of professional women may mark a breakthrough in the country's society and politics.

The photograph shows King Abdullah and his brother and heir apparent, Crown Prince Sultan, alongside 40 women dressed in abayas. Photograph: The Telegraph
The photograph, showing King Abdullah and his brother and heir apparent, Crown Prince Sultan, alongside 40 women dressed in abayas appeared with little explanation in several newspapers with close ties to the royal family.

The women were described as participants in a "National Dialogue Forum on Society and Health Services".

But the real importance of the picture was its timing. The country is in the middle of a major debate about the future of rules previously strictly enforced by the religious police banning the sexes mixing in public.

The royal family is already believed to have intervened in the argument once.

When the head of the religious police in Mecca gave interviews saying he saw nothing in Shariah outlawing mixing, he was sacked. Two hours later he was reinstated, after, it was rumoured, the direct intervention of a ruling prince.

The photograph of the king "mixing" unabashedly with a group of smiling professional women is all the more important because of two extra pieces of symbolism.

The presence of the crown prince suggests that the king's promotion of the rights of women has the backing of the royal family and is likely to continue after his death.

The king, who is 85, last year opened a science university in his name where mixing is specifically permitted, and appointed the country's first woman minister. >>> Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent | Sunday, May 02, 2010

War Between Israel and Hizbollah 'Imminent', US Warned
THE TELEGRAPH: A war between Israel and Hizbollah that could spread across the Middle East is "imminent", King Abdullah of Jordan has warned the US.

Jordan's King Abdullah II in Washington. Photograph: The Telegraph
The king, in Washington for President Barack Obama's nuclear summit, gave his warning after Israel claimed that Syria had handed over Scud missiles in its armoury to the Lebanon-based Hizbollah.

His comments, which were made to private meeting of the US Congressional Friends of Jordan caucus were said to be "sobering".

Syria yesterday denied the allegation that it has provided Hizbollah with long-range Scud missiles, which would allowing [sic] them to target Israel's cities. The country's foreign ministry said the claims would be used as a pretext by Israel to raise tension prior to a possible attack on Hizbollah.

"For some time now, Israel has been running a campaign claiming that Syria has been supplying Hizbollah with Scud missiles in Lebanon ," a foreign ministry statement released yesterday said.

"Syria strongly denies these allegations which are an attempt by Israel to raise tensions in the region."

However, the statement did not appear to rule out an alternative possibility being raised by defence sources, that Damascus has allowed Hizbollah control of or access to Scud missiles still currently in Syria. >>> Alex Spillius in Washington, Richard Spencer and Adrian Blomfield | Thursday, April 15, 2010

Obama’s New Year Gift to the Saudi King
FRONTPAGE MAGAZINE: Islam is in trouble at the heart of its birthplace, Saudi Arabia, and consequently in other Muslim countries. Muslim leaders and media are desperately trying to regain control both internally and externally. Muslims are starting to openly and defiantly ask questions about their religion and rulers; while the international image of Islam is being tarnished daily with by every act of Islamic terror, hate speech and calls for jihad from the pulpits of mosques. The traditional Muslim call for violence and jihad that Islam got away with for centuries is now under increasing — scrutiny especially after 9/11. Islam is now under the microscope. That is the quagmire of Muslims today. How can they continue teaching their basic religious jihad education but still save Islam’s reputation in a culture where image and honor is everything?

The West is not fully aware of what is happening in the Muslim world today, where taboo topics are being discussed by brave Muslim reformists and former Muslims. There are ground-breaking Arabic TV and internet shows aired inside homes in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, Algeria, etc, discussing what ordinary Muslims were never allowed to hear before.

The brilliant Rachid Hmami, a former Muslim-turned-Christian and originally from Morocco, has a show, Suaal Garii ‘Daring Question,’ that is making shock waves across the Middle East. Another equally effective show is that of the brave Coptic priest, Father Zakareya Botros, who was imprisoned in Egypt for proselytizing to Muslims. Father Botros’s show is a huge success in exposing tyranny, contradictions and weaknesses in Islam. Muslims who call in are often shocked by what they hear for the first time about their own religion, yet another proof that the Muslim establishment intentionally spreads misinformation and ignorance about basic Muslim doctrines to Muslims. Many Muslims, even from Saudi Arabia, call in to renounce Islam.

Unprecedented defiance is happening in the heart of the Muslim world. Recently a prominent Egyptian female attorney and human rights advocate, Nagla Al Imam, announced she left Islam and became a Christian and insists that she will remain in Egypt, in defiance of Islamic law condemning her to death. She is now under intense 24-hour security. Islam is in trouble from within.

Both King Abdullah, custodian of the two Holy Mosques of Islam in Mecca and Medina, and the Islamic establishment everywhere, are extremely alarmed by the status of Islam today. Their power to control Muslims, trained for centuries to blind submission, is slipping away. Huge sums of oil money dedicated to rescue Islam’s image, is not enough to do the job.

That is where Obama’s services come to the rescue of King Abdulla. Obama’s bow to the king was no small matter, but of great significance in Muslim culture. It is a Muslim symbol of subjugation and inferiority. >>> Nonie Darwish | Monday, January 11, 2010

Saudi-Arabien: König erlässt Journalistin 60 Peitschenhiebe
WELT ONLINE: Eine Sendung im saudi-arabischen Fernsehen über das sittenwidrige Thema Sex zieht nun drakonische Maßnahmen nach sich. Die Männer, die über ihre Bett-Abenteuer sprachen, werden mit bis zu 1000 Peitschenhieben bestraft. Lediglich die verantwortliche Journalistin bleibt durch den königlichen Gnadenakt verschont.

Die Journalistin Rosanna Al-Jami ist zu 60 Peitschenhieben verurteilt worden, bleibt durch den königlichen Gnadenakt allerdings verschont. Bild: Welt Online
Der saudi-arabische König Abdullah hat einer Journalistin 60 Peitschenhiebe erlassen, zu denen sie am Wochenende wegen einer Fernsehsendung über Sex verurteilt worden war.

Das Informationsministerium teilte mit, die drakonische Maßnahme gegen die 22-jährige Rosanna al-Jami werde aufgrund des königlichen Gnadenakts nicht ausgeführt. Auch der Fall einer Kollegin, der schwangeren Iman Radschab, werde von einem Komitee des Informationsministeriums überprüft. >>> dpa/jm | Montag, 26. Oktober 2009

Saudi Sex TV Producer Spared Lash
BBC: The Saudi king has waived a sentence of flogging on a female journalist working for a TV channel which aired graphic accounts of sex in the kingdom.

King Abdullah cancelled the sentence of 60 lashes against Rozanna al-Yami, after being briefed on the case.

The programme broadcast by Saudi-owned Lebanese channel LBC caused a huge scandal in the conservative kingdom.

Three men who bragged about their sexual adventures in the show, as well as the cameraman, have been jailed.

No reason has been given for the king's decision. It is the second time he has intervened in a high-profile flogging sentence in two years.

The original programme was part of a series called Red Lines, examining taboos in the Arab world, including extra-marital sex in Saudi Arabia. >>> | Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Saudi King Sacks Cleric for Attack on His University
THE TELEGRAPH: King Abdullah, the Saudi monarch, has dimissed a senior Muslim cleric after he described a new university that will teach male and female students together as 'evil'.

Sheikh Saad al-Shethri was "relieved" of his duties on the influential Council of Religious Scholars, according to state television. He had described the new King Abdullah University of Science and Technology as a "great sin" and had demanded that fellow scholars vet the curriculum to be taught at the flagship institution, which opened near Jeddah last month.

The university is part of a new opening up of the conservative kingdom by Abdullah, who is keen to pursue its modernisation. >>> | Tuesday, October 06, 2009

The Straight Talk On Islam
TOWNHALL.COM: I suspect that because George Bush and Condoleezza Rice were so respectful of Muslims, constantly telling us that theirs is a religion of peace, some otherwise sensible Americans actually began to believe it. Now we have a president who not only kowtows to a Saudi prince [sic], but carries on as if Israeli homes are more threatening than Iranian nukes.

What is wrong with our leaders? Are they worried that they won’t be invited to those cool Ramadan parties? The Islamics have been actively at war with us for 30 years and generally at war with western civilization for well over a thousand years, and still we pay lip service to these people in a way we never did with Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan or the Soviet Union. Is it because the Muslims commit sadism and murder in the name of religion and not country? If anything, I would think that would make their evil acts all the more contemptible.

Still, I would contend that Hezbollah and Al Qaeda are not as dangerous as America’s liberals. The Islamic terrorists can only kill so many people, but those on the Left are doing everything in their power to eviscerate America. Cap and Trade can destroy our industrial might; Obama’s trillion dollar stimulus programs combined with his delusional health care plan will not only bankrupt our nation, but lead inevitably to a rate of inflation that will impress even Jimmy Carter; and the budget cuts directed at our military and our missile defense system will make us increasingly vulnerable to our various enemies. >>> Burt Prelutsky | Monday, August 10, 2009

Saudi Arabia's Renewed Political Influence Counters Tehran
Saudi Arabia's clout in Middle East politics may be on the rebound. At right, King Abdullah. Photo courtesy of The Wall Street Journal
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Saudi Arabia's traditional clout over Middle East politics appears to be on the rebound with the weekend election victory of its political allies in Lebanon, after years of frustration in Riyadh over Iran's regional ascendancy.

Invigorated Saudi influence could be important to the Obama administration's emerging strategy on Middle East peace.

The staunch U.S. ally is seen in Washington as perhaps the only regional powerhouse that can bring unruly Arab neighbors, in particular Syria, into line with the U.S. goal of a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace deal.

Both Riyadh and Washington believe that checking Iran's recently rising regional influence is a key element. Saudi officials could get another big boost if Iranian voters toss out hard-line conservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

For now, Saudi officials are savoring the weekend election victory in Lebanon of the so-called March 14 alliance. The Western-leaning bloc held on to its parliamentary majority, despite some polls predicting gains by an opposition coalition headed by Iranian-backed Hezbollah.

"The vacuum of power among the Arabs has finally been filled. We can see that the balance is tipping in our favor," said one Saudi diplomat.

Saudi Arabia was a key player in ending the civil war in Lebanon in 1989, but its influence there waned after the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a billionaire who made his fortune as a contractor for the Saudi royal family.

Since then, the Saudis have openly intervened on behalf of the government dominated by Mr. Hariri's party. It has pledged $1.5 billion to prop up the country's currency and to help rebuilding efforts after the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel.

Opposition politicians in Lebanon accused Saudi Arabia of funneling money into the campaigns of politicians running alongside Mr. Hariri's son, Saad, who is now in the running to become Lebanon's next prime minister. Saudi officials have denied interference.

Influential Saudi-owned regional media outlets, however, waged their own public-relations campaign, warning in Lebanon of a looming crisis should Hezbollah and its allies win.

After the elections, Saudi's King Abdullah sent congratulations to the Lebanese people for their "successful" elections.

Tariq Alhomayed, editor of Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, owned by a brother of the king, went further, declaring in an editorial that the results showed "the fall of the Iranian project" in Lebanon. >>> Margaret Coker | Friday, June 12, 2009

Pope Visits Christ 'Baptism Site'
BBC: Pope Benedict XVI has visited the reputed site of the baptism of Jesus Christ in Jordan, on the third day of his Middle East tour.

The Pope arrived in a motorcade of electric vehicles to the site at Bethany-beyond-the-Jordan.

Earlier, the Pope held Mass for thousands of people at a football stadium in the Jordanian capital Amman.

Jordan's 200,000 Roman Catholics, and other Christians, were given a special holiday to enable them to attend.

The Pope was accompanied to the alleged baptismal site by King Abdullah of Jordan and his wife Queen Rania. He blessed the cornerstones of two churches on the site.

'Courage of conviction'

But the BBC's David Willey, travelling with the Pope, said the 20,000-seat stadium was not completely full.

Our correspondent says the situation for the dwindling Catholic minority in the Middle East has worsened considerably since the last Papal visit to Jordan nine years ago.

He says many Catholic families have emigrated. >>> David Willey | Sunday, May 10, 2009

Watch BBC video: The Pope addressed the issue of a region divided by conflict >>>

Foster to Ease Mecca Pilgrims’ Progress
THE SUNDAY TIMES: A new look for Islam’s holiest city - with hotels, flats and fast trains - has been likened to a ‘mini Dubai’

THE mountain is to move for Muhammad. Norman Foster and Zaha Hadid are involved in plans to transform the landscape around Mecca, Islam’s holiest city, to make way for a high-rise metropolis complete with high-speed rail link for pilgrims.

Architectural designs being considered by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia could see the mosque at the heart of the city expanded fivefold to hold 5m worshippers in one go.

However, much of the land around the historic site, including ancient mountains, is likely to be flattened to accommodate seven-star hotels and towering blocks of luxury flats.

Critics believe the 20-year redevelopment programme will turn Mecca into a “mini Dubai”, the Middle Eastern emirate that has become a byword for consumerism.

Hadid, the Iraqi-born architect who has designed the aquatics centre for the London 2012 Olympics, is believed to have submitted proposals to extend Mecca’s Haram mosque. At its centre lies the Kaaba, the black cube-shaped building which all Muslims face in prayer five times a day.

Although Hadid’s plans remain secret, she has previously produced bold designs for other mosque projects, including one in Strasbourg which featured a sweeping roof inspired by Islamic calligraphy.

Hadid is also thought to be involved in redesigning part of Mecca’s central district, which already boasts a Starbucks and chain stores such as Topshop. >>> Chris Gourlay | Sunday, May 10, 2009

Barack Obama Invites Middle East Leaders to Washington
THE TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama has called on Israel and the Palestinians to “step back from the abyss” and renewed his support for the creation of a Palestinian state.

Deepening his direct role in reviving stalled Middle East peace efforts, Mr Obama met King Abdullah on Tuesday and invited Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak for separate talks by early June.

The US president reassured King Abdullah of his commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict despite reluctance by Mr Netanyahu’s new right-leaning government to support the idea of eventual Palestinian statehood. >>> By Tom Leonard in New York | Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Welsh Guard Plays "Darth Vader" for Saudi King

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
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Saudi Secrets (October 2007)

Obama Brown-noses King Abdullah: A Bow to End All Bows!
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: Conservative American commentators have accused Barack Obama of "grovelling" to an Arab monarch at the G20 summit in London.

A photo and video footage of the US President bowing to Saudi Arabian King Abdullah at yesterday's G20 meet-and-greet has been doing the rounds on the internet today.

Obama grovels to the Saudi king.
Mr Obama appears to shake the King's hand and then bow from the waist while French President Nicholas Sarkozy looks on.
Leading conservative blogger Michelle Malkin and Dakota Voice both wrote of their outrage at the President's deference to a foreign monarch.

"The whole thing is embarrassing. Its like the 'American Hillbillies go to Europe'," Malkin wrote.

"He is throwing American power and prestige out with both hands as fast as he can."

Dakota Voice contributor Bob Ellis said the bow was a gesture of submission.

"The leader of the most free nation in the world should not be slobbering on the ring of some king," Ellis wrote. Obama and the King: A Right Royal Bow Row >>> Georgina Robinson | Friday, April 3, 2009

Obama fawning to the Saudi king in a disgusting act of extreme dhimmitude. From now on, it would be more appropriate to call the president Barack Hussein Abdulmalik (meaning: 'slave of the king').