Thursday  29 January 2015  / Hour 2, Block B: Elliott Abrams is a senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations; in re: Saudi succession, US-Israel relations.
New king: King Salman, who’s just made many appointments, incl commoners (moderately meritocratic), and fired two of Abdullah's sons.  He's widely reputed to have advanced dementia, yet has made very surprising appointments in his first days on the throne.
New Crown Prince: Muqrin, a former head of intell, widely liked, the youngest-surviving son of Abdulaziz, founder of the modern Saudi kingdom.  He's not an intellectual; the big question is who will be the next king? (All previous kings have been brothers.)
Deputy Crown Prince: Mohammed bin Nayef, age 55 (a Suderi), could reign for thirty years.
"The late Crown Prince Nayef's son Mohammed, has been named Deputy Crown Prince by the Allegiance Council, as such is second in line to the throne of Saudi Arabia after the Crown Prince, and opens up the succession to the grandsons strictly on merit."
King's son: Mohammed bin Salman, is both Min of Defense and Min of the Court.
The oil minister is staying in his post.   Prince Bandar: king has just dissolved his National Security Council and fired Bandar, who's now through. 
http://www.cfr.org/presidents-and-chiefs-of-state/overkill-riyadh/p36053  http://time.com/3680147/the-saudi-king-abdullah-dead-salman-transition/  http://blogs.cfr.org/abrams/2015/01/26/about-that-netanyahu-invitation-to-address-congress/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+eabrams+%28Elliott+Abrams%3A+Pressure+Points%29