Like his immediate predecessor, Kuwait’s new ruler takes power in his 80s, and will face the same economically crippling political dysfunction that has quashed reforms for years.
But there are differences in this succession as well as similarities, and how it plays out will help determine whether 83-year-old Emir Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah is able to free the OPEC member state from its paralysis.