He was constantly frustrated by Washington failure to broker a

27 Aug He was constantly frustrated by Washington failure to broker a

King Abdullah dies at age 90

canada goose clearance sale ally who fought against al Qaida and sought to modernize the ultraconservative Muslim kingdom, including by nudging open greater opportunities for women, has died. He was 90. canada goose clearance sale

canada goose More than his guarded and hidebound predecessors, Abdullah assertively threw his oil rich nation weight behind trying to shape the Middle East. His priority was to counter the influence of rival, mainly Shiite Iran wherever it tried to make advances. He and fellow Sunni Arab monarchs also staunchly opposed the Middle canada goose factory outlet toronto location East wave of pro democracy uprisings, seeing them as a threat to stability and their own rule. canada goose

He backed Sunni Muslim factions against Tehran allies in several countries, but in Lebanon for example, the policy failed to stop Iranian backed Hezbollah from gaining the upper hand. And Tehran and Riyadh colliding ambitions stoked proxy conflicts around the region that enflamed Sunni Shiite hatreds most horrifically in Syria civil war, where the two countries backed opposing sides. Those conflicts in turn hiked Sunni militancy that returned to threaten Saudi Arabia.

Canada Goose Outlet And while the king maintained the historically close alliance with Washington, there were frictions as he sought to put those relations on Saudi Arabia terms. He was constantly frustrated by Washington failure to broker a settlement canada goose outlet usa to the Israel Palestinian conflict. He also pushed the Obama administration to take a tougher stand against Iran and to more strongly back the mainly Sunni rebels fighting canada goose discount uk to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad. on Friday. His successor was announced as 79 year old half brother, Prince Salman, according to the statement carried on the Saudi Press Agency. Salman was Abdullah crown prince and had recently taken on some of the ailing king responsibilities. Canada Goose Outlet

Canada Goose Jackets President Barack Obama expressed condolences and offered sympathy to the people of Saudi Arabia. Canada Goose Jackets

buy canada goose jacket cheap a leader, he was always candid and had the courage of his convictions, Obama said. was born in Riyadh in 1924, one of the dozens of sons of Saudi Arabia founder, King Abdul canada goose outlet vip Aziz Al Saud. Like all Abdul Aziz sons, Abdullah had only rudimentary education. Tall and heavyset, he felt more at home in the Nejd, the kingdom desert heartland, riding stallions and hunting with falcons. His strict upbringing canada goose outlet jackets was exemplified by three days he spent in prison as a young man as punishment by his father for failing to give his seat to a visitor, a violation of Bedouin hospitality. buy canada goose jacket cheap

FILE In this Monday, Nov. 22, 2010 file photo released by the Saudi Press Agency, Saudi Arabia King Abdullah, left, speaks with Prince Salman, the Saudi King brother and Riyadh governor, right, before the king departure to United States, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. On early Friday, Jan. 23, 2015, Saudi state TV reported King Abdullah died at the age of 90. (AP Photo/Saudi Press Agency, File)Abdullah was selected as crown prince in 1982 on the day his half brother Fahd ascended to canada goose outlet in canada the throne. The decision was challenged by a full brother of Fahd, Prince Sultan, who wanted the title for himself. But the family eventually closed ranks behind Abdullah to prevent splits.

Abdullah became de facto ruler in 1995 when a canada goose stockists uk stroke incapacitated Fahd. Abdullah was believed to have long rankled at the closeness of the alliance with the United States, and as regent he pressed Washington to withdraw the troops it had deployed in the kingdom since the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. finally did so in 2003.

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canada canada goose outlet goose coats on sale In 2000, Abdullah convinced the Arab League to approve an unprecedented offer that all Arab states would canada goose outlet new york agree to peace with Israel if it withdrew from lands it captured in 1967. The next year, canada goose outlet in montreal he sent his ambassador in Washington to tell the Bush administration that it was canada goose outlet store new york too unquestioningly biased in favour of Israel and that the kingdom would from now on pursue its own interests apart from Washington Alarmed by the prospect of a rift, Bush soon after advocated for the first time the creation of canada goose outlet trillium parka black a Palestinian state alongside Israel. canada goose coats on sale

The next month, the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks took place in the United States, and Abdullah had to steer the alliance through the resulting criticism. The kingdom was home to 15 of the 19 hijackers, and many pointed out that canada goose outlet in new york the baseline ideology for al Qaida and other groups stemmed from Saudi Arabia Wahhabi interpretation of Islam.

canada goose deals When al Qaida militants in 2003 began a wave of violence in the kingdom aimed at toppling the monarchy, Abdullah cracked down hard. For the next three years, security forces battled militants, finally forcing them to flee to neighbouring Yemen. There, they created a new al Qaida branch, and Saudi Arabia has played a behind the scenes canada goose jacket outlet uk role in fighting it. canada goose deals

The tougher line helped affirm Abdullah commitment to fighting al Qaida. He paid two visits to Bush in 2002 and 2005 at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

When Fahd died in 2005, Abdullah officially rose to the throne. He then began to more openly canada goose outlet paypal push his agenda.

His aim at home was to modernize the kingdom to face the future. One of the world largest oil exporters, Saudi Arabia is fabulously wealthy, but there are deep disparities in wealth and a burgeoning youth population in need of jobs, housing and education. More than half the current population of 20 million is under the age of 25. For Abdullah, that meant building a more skilled workforce and opening up greater room for women to participate. He was a strong supporter of education, building universities at home and increasing canada goose outlet store quebec scholarships abroad for Saudi students.

canada goose clearance Abdullah for the first time gave women seats on the Shura Council, an unelected body that advises the king and government. He promised women would be able to vote and run in 2015 elections for municipal councils, the only elections held in the country. He appointed the first female deputy minister in a 2009. Two Saudi female athletes competed in the Olympics for the first time in 2012, and a small handful of women were granted licenses to work as lawyers during his rule. canada goose clearance

buy canada goose jacket One of his most ambitious canada goose parka outlet uk projects was a Western style university that bears his name, the King Abdullah canada goose womens outlet University of Science and Technology, which opened in 2009. Men and women share classrooms and study together inside the campus, a major departure in a country where even small talk between the sexes in public can bring a warning from the morality police. buy canada goose jacket

canada goose black friday sale The changes seemed small from the outside but had a canada goose outlet real powerful resonance. canada goose black friday sale

Canada Goose sale But he treaded carefully in the face of the ultraconservative Wahhabi clerics who hold near total sway over society and, in return, give the Al Saud family rule religious legitimacy. Canada Goose sale

Senior cleric Sheik Saleh al Lihedan warned against changes that could snap the between a leader and his people. In some cases, Abdullah pushed back: He fired one prominent government cleric who criticized the mixed gender university. But the king balked at going too far too fast. For example, beyond allowing debate in newspapers, Abdullah did nothing to respond to demands to allow women to drive. don think he had as much impact as one would hope on trying to create a more moderate version of Islam, she said. me, it has not taken inside the country as much as canada goose jacket outlet one would hope. any change was strictly on the royal family terms. After the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings in particular, Saudi Arabia clamped down on any dissent. Riot police crushed street demonstrations by Saudi Arabia Shiite minority. Dozens of activists were detained, many of them tried under canada goose outlet online store review a sweeping counterterrorism law by an anti terrorism court Abdullah created.

canadian goose jacket Regionally, perhaps Abdullah biggest priority was to confront Iran, the Shiite powerhouse across the Gulf. canadian goose jacket

canada goose store In Lebanon, Abdullah backed Sunni allies against the Iranian backed Shiite guerrilla group Hezbollah in a proxy conflict that flared repeatedly into potentially destabilizing violence. Saudi canada goose outlet online uk Arabia was also deeply opposed to longtime Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, whom it considered a tool of Iran oppressing Iraq Sunni Muslim minority. canada goose store

canada goose coats In https://www.canadagoosestorevip.com Syria, Abdullah stepped indirectly indirectly into the civil war that emerged after 2011. He supported and armed rebels battling to overthrow President Bashar Assad, Iran top Arab ally, and pressed the Obama administration to do the same. Iran allies Hezbollah and Iraqi Shiite militias rushed to back Assad, and the resulting conflict has left hundreds of thousands dead and canada goose jacket outlet toronto driven millions of Syrians from their homes canada goose coats.