We live in a new world, dear Reader.
Soddy Arabia...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
is presiding over a virtual global interfaith forum
Ah. Not in the holy Muslim heartland, then, where Jews are forbidden altogether and Christians are tolerated so long as they do not parade it evenly privately. The new world is still evolving, it seems...
that began on Tuesday, with participation from Moslem holy mans, Jewish rabbis, Christian priests and other religious figures.The kingdom is hosting the online event as part of its presidency this year of the Group of 20 leading rich and developing nations.
Saudi Arabia has embarked more assertively in recent years on an outreach effort to Jewish and Christian groups. Some of those efforts have coincided with a broader alignment of interests and emerging ties between the Gulf Arab states and Israel, which share a common foe in Iran.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
...Crown Prince and modernizer of Saudi Arabia as of 2016. The Turks hate him, so he must be all right, despite the occasional brutal murder of Qatar-owned journalists...has also overseen efforts to supplant a religiously conservative Saudi identity with one rooted in hyper-nationalism, following decades of adherence to a hard-line interpretation of Islam known as Wahhabism, which has flourished in the kingdom.