Like his immediate predecessor, Kuwait’s new ruler is taking over in his 80s and will be confronted with the same economy-hobbling political dysfunction that has for years doomed reforms.
But there are differences in this succession as well as similarities, and how they play out will help dictate whether 83-year-old Emir Sheikh Mishaal Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah can break the OPEC member state free of its paralysis.