[The Federalist] Let’s bracket a great piece of journalism with more details and some context.
By now, I assume most readers here have seen the magnificent work of the independent journalist Nick Shirley in Minnesota, showing widespread Somali fraud in government-funded programs by simply walking up to the front doors of daycare centers and healthcare organizations and inquiring about their services.
Daycare centers with millions of dollars in government funding and no children inside, and neighbors who say they've never seen children going in or coming out. This is a slam dunk, and I couldn't possibly love it any more.
He names the daycare centers he visits, so you can start to find out how much the state of Minnesota knows about the scam without getting off the couch. Daycare centers are licensed and inspected: government inspectors regularly show up with a clipboard and look around. So go look at the record of inspections for Quality Learning Center of Minneapolis, the one in the video with the misspelled sign over the door. The whole thing instantly becomes darkly funny, because there's no way anyone has ever believed that this is a functioning daycare center running at anything near its declared and funded capacity of 99 children:
[Jonathan Turley] Former New York Times reporter and Howard University professor Nikole Hannah-Jones has long been controversial as a writer who expressly rejects objectivity and neutrality in journalism. That was most evident in her "1619 Project," which was ridiculed by historians and law professors in claiming that slavery was the driving force behind American independence. Nevertheless, the project was awarded the Pulitzer Prize despite glaring historical errors. Yet, this month, Hannah-Jones is back on the pages of the New York Times again rewriting history. This time, she is praising cop-killer and 1960s revolutionary Assata Shakur (left).
Hannah-Jones has been a lightning rod in her writings, from declaring "all journalism is activism" to spreading conspiracy theories against the police. Yet, mainstream media, including the Times, has run interference for Hannah-Jones, including the dean of the University of North Carolina trying to shut down criticism by reminding a reporter that they must all defend Hannah-Jones.
Hannah-Jones’s latest project of historical revision is a sorrowful memorial to Shakur, which shows the same disregard for facts in favor of a preferred narrative.
Born JoAnne Deborah Byron (and later adopting the names of Joanne Chesimard and Shakur), the violent revolutionary was a member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army. In 1977, she killed New Jersey police officer Werner Foerster, 34, a U.S. Army Vietnam veteran who left behind a widow and a young son. She later escaped prison and fled to Cuba, where she died earlier this year. In 2005, she was declared a domestic terrorist. In 2013, the Obama Administration put her on the most wanted list.
You would know little of that from the New York Times column. After all, all journalism is activism, according to Hannah-Jones, and, if the facts do not fit the narrative, the facts have to go.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited by Malek Dudakov
[REGNUM] The year 2025 marks a turning point for the United States. The transition of power and Donald Trump's return to the White House has led to the launch of a second attempt at organizing a nationwide MAGA project.
However, it is quite difficult to overcome the inertia of the state system and public sentiment.
It’s not inertia that need be overcome, but intentional obstacle and opposition.
The entire year that is ending was devoted to the reboot of the US development model, which took place with varying success, and its consequences will be felt for the foreseeable future.
At an accelerating pace if the Republicans can hold or increase their numbers in legislatures and executive offices at all levels. If not, then it will all depend on the Trump team.
The year began with Trump's theatrical inauguration, during which he promised to usher in the return of America's "golden age."
True, no one knows when this mythical age existed.
Rather, it combines some features of the early 20th century, say, protectionism and the Monroe Doctrine, the mid-20th century with its economic boom, as well as the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, the end of the Cold War and Trump's personal successes.
Unlike his first, Trump entered his second term with an existing team of loyalists. Almost all cabinet positions were confirmed fairly easily in the Senate.
However, problems immediately arose in the work of the new administration.
The first major scandal erupted in February–March 2025—the so-called "Signalgate"—due to leaks in a closed chat room about military operations against the Houthis. Ultimately, it cost Trump's national security adviser, Mike Waltz, his career.
He’s been our man at the UN since September, a position that needs a strong mind backed by knowledge, perspective, and steady good sense. A bit of charm would not go amiss, but is less necessary.
In the spring, the American economy found itself on the brink of a real crisis due to attempts to impose tariffs on virtually the entire world.
Certainly many feared it was on the brink of crisis for that reason. Many turned out to be wrong, as it happens.
Markets were shaken, and major economies like China began to introduce retaliatory measures that hit US manufacturing and agricultural markets hard. These sectors never recovered by the end of the year, remaining in recession.
The White House was forced to back down, then resume trade war efforts throughout the summer and adjust policy again.
*shrug* That’s the Trump approach to most things.
Insiders made billions of dollars in the US stock market thanks to the Trump team's endless vacillations. But there were also real negative consequences—for example, the number of bankruptcies among large US companies is currently at its highest level since 2010.
A great many companies made their pile because of political connections instead of solid products and sound financing. That is the sort that do worst when economic conditions go even a little wonky.
Running a reasonable business in a situation where tariffs are constantly being introduced and then cancelled is extremely expensive.
All year, Trump has been meeting with leaders of other countries and pleading with them to invest hundreds of billions, even trillions, of dollars into the American economy.
The figures were literally drawn out of thin air, and the actual investment volumes attracted are estimated at only a few billion dollars. Most of this investment is going to the data center market, which is popping up in the US like mushrooms after rain.
The artificial intelligence industry has become the main driver of US economic growth in 2025. The market bubble now threatens to have very serious consequences if it bursts in the next few years.
At the same time, data centers have dramatically increased the load on aging power grids, the average age of which reaches 70 years. And electricity prices in many states have hit record highs.
Americans are generally skeptical about the impact of Trump's initial economic reforms, including the passage of the "one big, beautiful bill," which became the first and, so far, only legislative victory of the current Republican administration. But the primary criticism is directed at the tariffs being introduced.
During his first year in office, Trump's approval ratings fell from an average of 50-52% to 38-40%.
The consequence of his shrinking electoral base was a revival of the Democratic Party after its 2024 defeat. In the recent local elections, Democratic candidates won almost everywhere: in Virginia, New Jersey, and even Miami, Florida.
The New York elections, won by Zohran Mamdani, a socialist and Muslim of Indian descent, caused a sensation. He represents the growing left wing of the Democratic Party, which is attempting to become a trendsetter in politics.
Democrats remain divided – along ideological lines (left and center), territorial and clan-based, and so on. However, there is one common idea that unites them: the need to fight Trump.
And right now, this kind of "counterfeit" game allows opponents of the current administration to begin creating a host of problems for the Republicans. The situation for the latter will only worsen in 2026.
Nevertheless, the White House is succeeding in changing the way the government operates. Since Trump's second term, the new team has been able to fire several hundred thousand officials.
Purges have been launched within the intelligence agencies and the Pentagon, although the campaign to reduce bureaucracy has been inconsistent due to divisions within Trump's team and Elon Musk's departure from government service.
And the icing on the cake was the publication of the new US National Security Strategy, which is already upending the consensus on American foreign policy.
For the first time, Washington's official strategy proposes restoring relations with Russia while simultaneously increasing pressure on Europe and reorienting resources toward Latin America and Asia.
The weakening of the US position, which can no longer single-handedly control all major global processes, is de facto acknowledged. It is forced to select the highest priorities and work on them.
Two phases of Trump's trade war with China ended in fiasco for the United States, forcing the White House to establish a temporary truce in relations with Beijing. However, Washington remains committed to the logic of competition with China.
The situation around Taiwan remains tense amid new arms deliveries from the United States and retaliatory exercises by the Chinese military.
And the trade disputes haven't been resolved; they've only been temporarily pushed aside. China has refused to buy liquefied natural gas and soybeans from the US and has limited supplies of rare earth metals, putting American industry on the brink of disaster.
Trump was forced to make significant concessions, soften tariff pressure, and allow the supply of advanced chips to China, effectively lifting the sanctions imposed under Joe Biden. This had never happened before in modern US history.
Throughout the year, the endless back-and-forth over Ukraine continued. Deadline after deadline was missed, and negotiations with Kyiv were proceeding at a rocky pace.
The episode of the altercation involving Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office in February 2025 will be included in the history books.
Since then, Kyiv has signed the long-forgotten rare earth deal and has tried unsuccessfully to win Trump over. But by the end of the year, military and financial aid deliveries had dwindled to a bare minimum.
For Russia, 2025 marks the third attempt in the last quarter century to reset relations with the United States.
The first occurred at the beginning of George W. Bush's presidency, when Russia and America drew closer after the 9/11 attacks. The second occurred under Barack Obama.
Now everything comes down to the unresolved Ukrainian crisis and the unwillingness of the European "war party" to adapt to Trump's agenda.
But there were still breakthroughs, from the first negotiations in the Middle East to the presidential summit in Anchorage.
Similar fluctuations are observed in Europe.
Back in February, at the Munich Conference, US Vice President J.D. Vance announced the start of an ideological crusade against Europe's liberal elites.
Since then, the right has won the Czech Republic elections and the Polish presidential race. But in Romania, Trump's team has been unable to significantly influence the outcome.
Next year will be revealing in this regard.
Next year always is.
For now, the situation remains uncertain—both within the United States and in relations with the rest of the world. This is happening against the backdrop of a profound division within America and is affecting all of Trump's reforms—they could either stall or lead to widespread consequences.
The only question is which way the pendulum will swing.
[IsraelTimes] UAE-backed separatists have upended a years-old political arrangement among anti-Houthi partners in Yemen after more than a decade of complex sectarian violence
Saudi Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start... bombed Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... ’s port city of Mukalla on Tuesday, targeting a shipment of weapons from the United Arab Emirates for separatist forces — a significant move in a country located along a key international trade route that threatens to bring new risks to the Persian Gulf region.
The secessionist Southern Transitional Council, STC, a group backed by the United Arab Emirates, this month seized most of the provinces of Hadramout ...the formerly independent Qu'aiti state and sultanate, annexed by Communist South Yemen in 1968, encompassing a region along the Gulf of Aden, extending eastwards to the borders of the Dhofar region of Oman. The people are called Hadhramis and speak Hadhrami Arabic. The city Tarimis is estimated to contain the highest concentration of descendants of the Prophet Muhammad (PTUI) anywhere in the world, approximately seven in every square yard... and Mahra this month, including oil facilities.
Yemen has been mired for more than a decade in a civil war that involves a complex interplay of sectarian grievances and the involvement of regional powers.
The Iran-aligned Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... s control the most populous regions of the country, including the capital Sanaa. Meanwhile,
...back at the argument, Jane reached into her purse for her .38... a loose regional coalition of powers — including Saudi Arabia and the UAE — has backed the internationally recognized government in the south.
The war has created a humanitarian crisis and shattered the economy. Still, since 2022, violence had gradually declined as the sides reached something of a stalemate in the war.
The move by the UAE-backed separatists upends the political arrangement among the anti-Houthi partners.
THE ORIGINS OF THE CRISIS
The war in Yemen began in 2014, when the Houthis marched from their northern stronghold of Saada. They took the capital, Sanaa, and forced the internationally recognized government into exile. Saudi Arabia and the UAE entered the war the following year in an attempt to restore the government.
The new fighting pits the STC against the forces of the internationally recognized government and its allied tribes, even as they are both members of the camp fighting against the Houthi rebels in the country’s broader civil war.
The STC is the most powerful group in southern Yemen, with crucial financial and military support from the UAE. It was established in April 2017 as an umbrella organization for groups that seek to restore South Yemen as an independent state, as it was between 1967 and 1990.
The latest moves reinforced the STC positions across southern Yemen, which could give them leverage in any future talks to settle the Yemen conflict. The STC has long demanded that any settlement should give southern Yemen the right of self-determination.
The STC enjoys loyalty throughout much of southern Yemen. It is chaired by Aidarous al-Zubaidi, who is also vice president of the country’s Presidential Leadership Council, the ruling organ of the internationally recognized government.
The STC and other UAE-supported groups now control most of the southern half of Yemen, including crucial port cities and islands.
The other party in the latest fighting includes the Yemeni military, which reports to the internationally recognized government. They are allied with the Hadramout Tribal Alliance, a local tribal coalition supported by Saudi Arabia.
These forces are centered in Yemen’s largest province of Hadramout, which stretches from the Gulf of Aden in the south to the border with Saudi Arabia in the north. The oil-rich province is a major source of fuel for the southern areas of Yemen.
SECESSIONISTS ADVANCE THIS MONTH
Earlier this month, STC forces marched to Hadramout and took control of the province’s major facilities, including PetroMasila, Yemen’s largest oil company, after brief festivities with government forces and their tribal allies.
This took place after the Saudi-backed Hadramout Tribal Alliance seized the PetroMasila oil facility in late November to pressure the government to agree to its demands for a bigger share of oil revenues and the improvement of services for Hadramout’s residents.
The STC apparently seized on this move as a pretext for wrestling control of Hadramout and its oil facilities for itself and expanding areas under its control in Yemen.
STC forces then marched to the province of Mahra on the borders with Oman and took control of a border crossing between the two countries. In Aden, the UAE-backed force also seized the presidential palace, which serves as the seat of the ruling Presidential Council.
Saudi troops also withdrew earlier this month from bases in Aden, a Yemeni government official said. The withdrawal was part of a Saudi "repositioning strategy," said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter.
On Friday, Saudi Arabia targeted the Hadramout region in Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s that analysts described as a warning for the separatists to halt their advance and leave the governorates of Hadramout and Mahra.
A FRAGILE SITUATION HAS BEEN SHATTERED
The escalation shattered the relative quiet in Yemen’s war, which has been stalemated in recent years after the Houthis reached a deal with Saudi Arabia that stopped their attacks on the kingdom in return for ceasing the Saudi-led strikes on their territories.
The escalation highlights strained ties between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, which had been backing competing sides in Yemen’s decade-long war against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels amid a moment of unease across the wider Red Sea region. The two nations, while closely aligned on many issues in the wider Middle East, increasingly have competed with each other over economic issues and the region’s politics.
The United Arab Emirates said earlier this month that Yemen’s governance and territorial integrity are "an issue that must be determined by the Yemeni parties themselves."
Posted by: trailing wife ||
12/31/2025 2025-12-31 03:37 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1776 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia
The most consequential aspect of the recent KSA strikes in Yemen lies not in their kinetic element, but in the non-kinetic exposure and attribution strategy that accompanied them. Rather than focusing solely on physical destruction, the operation… pic.twitter.com/dNcMBpvzgG
strikes in Yemen lies not in their kinetic element, but in the non-kinetic exposure and attribution strategy that accompanied them. Rather than focusing solely on physical destruction, the operation emphasized information dominance, legal positioning, and strategic signalling.
Several indicators point to a deliberate attempt by the involved actors to preserve plausible deniability.
- The vessels transporting military equipment reportedly operated with AIS (Automatic Identification System) disabled, a common technique used to obscure maritime movement patterns and complicate attribution.
- The armoured vehicles offloaded do not align with platforms typically fielded by Emirati forces operating openly in Yemen, suggesting the use of surrogate equipment profiles to mask end users and blur responsibility chains.
- The subsequent re-disabling of AIS shortly after offloading further reinforces the intent to minimise traceability across the logistics cycle.
Taken together, these measures reflect a well-established Emirati modus operandi, observed not only in Yemen but also in Libya, Sudan, and other theaters. The approach relies on layered deniability; civilian or ambiguous shipping, non-standard equipment, fragmented logistics nodes, and indirect force employment, all meant to maintain operational flexibility while avoiding formal escalation or political accountability.
More at the link
Posted by: badanov ||
12/31/2025 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[1753 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia
The preparation phase has ended, and the implementation phase has begun.
If you are shocked by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia striking UAE-backed forces in Yemen, wait till you witness what awaits in Sudan, Somalia and beyond. The logistical networks of the secessionist axis would… https://t.co/0Y4694RhS8pic.twitter.com/8NA0RhBJDz
The preparation phase has ended, and the implementation phase has begun.
If you are shocked by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia striking UAE-backed forces in Yemen, wait till you witness what awaits in Sudan, Somalia and beyond. The logistical networks of the secessionist axis would be targeted in the next phase. Would it lead to regional coordination between Egypt, Türkiye, and Saudi Arabia?
Let's see, but the Egyptians and Turks have their hands on the trigger. So do the Ansarallah in Yemen. There are talks about military Defence agreements.
As for Yemen. The matter in Yemen between Saudi Arabia and the UAE has moved from behind-the-scenes political divergence to indirect field clashes. Now the matter would be decided on the field, depending on who has the capability and will to impose reality on the ground.
Read the rest at the link
Posted by: badanov ||
12/31/2025 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[1765 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia
[PJ] At the start of 2025, investors were bullish on the American economy. With a pro-business president and consumer and investor confidence finally recovering from the Biden COVID hangover, 2025 promised to be a boom year.
Instead, the U.S. economy was a decidedly mixed bag for half the year. Inflation remained stubbornly high at 3.4%, and unemployment increased in the first quarter, driven by declines in business investment, government spending, and exports. The economy contracted by 0.6% in the initial quarter of 2025.
Things looked better in the second quarter with a robust 3.8% GDP growth rate and inflation moderating to 2.1%. Private goods-producing industries saw a major turnaround, jumping from a 5.9% decrease in Q1 to a 10.2% increase in Q2. By the third quarter, GDP growth had taken off, coming in at 4.3% and promising more of the same for the fourth quarter.
What will the economy be like in 2026?
It's good to note that voters rarely care about macro views of the economy. Biden talked about his "great" economy until he was blue in the face, but voters didn't believe the relatively good numbers. The macro view did not translate into a belief that Biden's economy was a "good" economy.
What will make 2026 different is the cold, hard cash that's going to be in people's pockets.
#1
Whether history rhymes or repeats, the first two years of Ronald Wilson Reagan's first term were painful economically, so let's hope Trump is also so fortunate so as to set up the next GOP candidate for success.
#2
America was being hosed throughout the world,but there were a lot of people making bank on that process. A smaller version of that is going on in Minnesota. Ending the fraud, waste and abuse will stop a large amount of economic activity that will ripple out to impact even part time workers at the Dollar Tree. There will be financial chaos in all the blue states plus Ohio. In the short term innocent people will be hurt, but in the long term people will get their cities and towns back. Rent prices will normalize and people will cease to be murdered by drivers who have no idea what they are doing. It is the same for Trump's economic policies. No more cheap Chinese stuff, but decent jobs return CONUS.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/31/2025 10:47 Comments ||
Top||
Very long but, IMO, worthwhile
[RealClearWorld] You know about the annual meeting in Davos, where anonymous shareholders and genderless bureaucrats mingle at private chalets. Like knowledge deities, they take a bird’s eye view of the global situation and ponder how to extract more riches for a privileged few. Their old citadels—London (finance), Brussels (administration), Paris (state-control)—have been revived and metropolized to serve the interests of a gilded elite disaffiliated from their home countries. Beneath the controlled aesthetic of European technocracy lies a new medievalism.
To perpetuate his ancestral advantage, the European bureaucrat nullifies sovereignty, dilutes currencies, harmonizes laws, manipulates human energy, and plunders the global system for wealth. To soothe his conscience, he professes a commitment to new age principles like diversity and equity, while self-segregating within his network of uber-affluent allies, fellow managerial sovereigns who sit above the native constituents whose labor and taxes underwrite his cultural power. We Americans may have escaped the dwarf-sized farms of peasant Germany and Bohemia some 150 years ago, but we, too, have fallen under dominion of the manorial European bureaucrat.
"Now is the time for America to obliterate Europe’s managerial plantation," says entrepreneur and designer Ross Calvin. He points to a system of organizations — the World Economic Forum, Bank of England, European Central Bank, Bank for International Settlements, and NATO — setting unfair rules of play for business and politics. But thanks to President Trump and other populist movements worldwide, Calvin believes the system is collapsing. "It won’t go quietly," Calvin warns. What follows is part one in a series of conversations on the future of global politics—Europe, Ukraine, and the fate of America’s children.
Rest at the link
Posted by: Grom the Affective ||
12/31/2025 00:24 ||
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Link ||
[1797 views]
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#1
European bureaucrats are important for the same reason expert witnesses are. Because they say they are.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
12/31/2025 15:04 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Conclusion: It’s time Americans stop mocking the EU bureaucrat for his weakling behavior and start treating him as the centuries-old enemy he is!
Having skimmed the article. I can understand and appreciate that point of view.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/31/2025 16:11 Comments ||
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[Hoover Institute] The wars in Ukraine and Gaza have shown the world that a new technology is now affecting the battlefield: artificial intelligence (AI). The Ukrainian and Russian armies are using AI to help locate and identify targets, pilot drones, and support tactical decision-making.
The wars in Ukraine and Gaza have shown the world that a new technology is now affecting the battlefield: artificial intelligence (AI). The Ukrainian and Russian armies are using AI to help locate and identify targets, pilot drones, and support tactical decision-making. Similarly, the Israel Defense Force has used AI in those roles to identify and locate Hamas leadership, command centers, and patterns. The introduction of AI to warfare has shown that the technology can and will increase the speed and scale of violence, resulting in effects that are both impressive and troubling. Integrating AI into warfare renders human oversight difficult in some cases, impossible in others, and in a sense, places the conduct of war into the hands of machines, intelligent or not. No longer confined to automating manual labor, machines are beginning to automate human reasoning. Understanding how this transition will, and should, fit into war is one of the defining problems of our time. However, introducing "thinking" machines into war is not that new. Militaries have been attempting it since World War II at least.
One of the most famous founding fathers of computer science, Alan Turing, became a household name by imagining how machines might think for humans and thus solve problems at greater scale and speed than humans can. The first pieces of this work were at Bletchley Park where Turing and his companions were working on breaking the German Enigma Code using new computers like the Bombe and the Colossus. Turing’s following work on computers as thinking machines made his name synonymous with the test for determining whether a machine had achieved consciousness or not. After Turing, both the British and the Americans continued work on integrating thinking machines into warfare. The U.S. Navy created a landmark system in 1958 called the Perceptron that was intended to learn tasks like a human. The New York Times reported that Perceptron was expected to learn to "walk, talk, see, write, reproduce itself, and be conscious of its existence," in short order. As with most of the history of AI, the hype proved overly optimistic. Perceptron and other systems failed to deliver thinking machines in the 1950s and 1960s, sending the field of AI into its first "winter."
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
