I'm STILL holding out hope that Obama killed King Abdullah with his voice.

[Poll_Blind]

I'm a dreamer like that. Having the monarchy in Saudi Arabia and the dictatorship in Egypt fall into disarray in the same week would be nice. They both suck. I read earlier today that the top three people in succession for the Saudi throne are, at their youngest, in their 70's so...I mean...there could be some quick turnover.

PB

[blondeatlast]

1. Shame on me, but--yeah, me too.

Karma got me pre-emptively in a very nasty way 2 years ago, I think, but if there's more to come, I'll enjoy this while I can.

(No beer and travel money involved, though, I swear.)

[Poll_Blind]

2. I think they already have a replacement but they haven't fully dyed his beard yet so....

...they're holding off breaking the news.

PB

[eissa]

11. BWAH!

Fouad Ajami (who I've vehemently disagreed with in the past, but seems to be on point these days) made some cracks about these elderly middle eastern leaders pre-occupied with hair dye. Haven't these guys heard of "A Touch of Gray" or some other product that at least kind of looks natural?

[barbiegeek]

3. THAT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!! Bawhahahaha

[eleny]

4. Did he really have a heart attack and die?

I've been away a few hours and didn't ever know if it actually happened. Holy crap.

[Tx4obama]

5. Not confirmed, but possible

http://ibloga.blogspot.com/2011/02/reports-of-king-abdullahs-death-have.html

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/saudi-ministry-profusely-denies-rumor-king-abdullahs-death/

[eleny]

7. Thanks , Tx

[Poll_Blind]

6. Totally a rumor at this point but possibly the MOST puzzling "rumor" I think I've ever heard spread.

I mean, what an odd rumor to start.

PB

[eleny]

8. The timing is a hammer

[tekisui]

9. Exactly. If nothing else, the people of Saudi Arabia thought about it for a moment.

[Poll_Blind]

10. Ha! Good point! n/t

PB

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. We had something similar in 2005 iirc

also from Saudi.

And if it happened... yes hell could break loose.

[FedUpWithIt All]

12. There is an interesting comment to this Business Insider report.

Me in Iran on Feb 10, 7:47 AM said:
He is seemingly dead. why?

1 - See the official news agency of Saudi:
http://www.spa.gov.sa/
and
http://www.spa.gov.sa/english/

Guess the top news of the agency.
a news + image of the king abdullah, taken on Jan 22, is their current top news! this kind of reporting is so weired for a news agency.

2- see the latest news of the agency:
http://www.spa.gov.sa/Search.php?pg=1&s=&by1=p

and see this:
http://www.spa.gov.sa/PhotoGalleryView.php?cid=71568&id=71568

the caption of the image says: the brother of king arrived. the caption doesnt go to details. but he seemingly has arrived from Morocco. he and the men in picture are wearing black, which means, in islamic culture, that someone is dead. look at their faces. they are clearly unhappy. why? because probably someone is dead. he may be the king.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/abdullah-dies-report-2011-2#ixzz1DckUWa8T

It links to this page... http://www.spa.gov.sa/PhotoGalleryView.php?cid=71568&id=71568 which is supposedly an image of the Kings brother arriving in Morocco looking grim and wearing black.

[Poll_Blind]

14. Very interesting, which way are you leaning? I've gone to the official news...

...agency (the #1 from the text you quoted) and have found really stale stuff there before so that doesn't necessarily seem out of hand to me. But some of the others links are curious. How long would you imagine it would take to find out if he is dead? Three days? A week? Two?

PB

[FedUpWithIt All]

15. I have no idea.

:shrug:

But i did say to my husband, when i saw the reports from the embassy, that i couldn't believe he wasn't making a statement himself, considering the instability and all.

Crazy days...