Sultan Qaboos bin Said, who modernized Oman, dies at age 79.
Oman's oil minister routinely criticizes the policies of the Saudi-led OPEC oil cartel with a smile. Muscat hosts meetings of Yemen's Houthi rebels, locked in a yearslong bloody war with Saudi Arabia. When Americans or dual nationals with Western ties are detained in Iran or areas under Tehran's influence, communiques that later announce their freedom routinely credit the help of Oman.
Sultan Qaboos' outward-looking worldview could not have contrasted more sharply than that of his father, Sultan Said bin Taimur, under whose rule the sultanate more resembled a medieval state. Slavery was legal, no one could travel abroad and music was banned. At the time, the country, which is nearly the size of Poland, had only 10 kilometers of paved roads.
A July 23, 1970, palace coup ended up with Sultan Said shooting himself in the foot before going into exile in London. Qaboos took power. “Holding all these positions in government probably sort of constrained his country in the sense of developing senior leadership,” Grappo said.
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