Put a dent in this massive waste problem. We begin this half hour with breaking news out of state media theyre announcing the death of sorts on couples spend side all sides he ruled since 1970 but he had suffered serious illness over the past 4 years theres been intense speculation for a long time now about who will replace him because he never publicly named a successor rob matheson starts our coverage looking back at his life. It was an only son born in 1942 a life of royal privilege and to a father he would overthrow 30 years later what he did basically is modernizing the country opening the country to outsiders and thirdly looking at the domestic politics and tried to move on to state formation where building is institutions and related elements sort unco bourse was educated in oman and then at a private school in the u. K. Before graduating from Sandhurst Military Academy and serving in the british army for several months on his return to a man in 1966 his determination to modernize his country is said to have been ignored by his father. 4 years later backed by the british sort of seize the throne he was immediately plunged into his 1st crisis an uprising by communists in though far in the south of a man who wanted independence it took a further 6 years before the fighting ended with the man being supported by forces from britain jordan and iran. A mans links with iran as well as its Foreign Policy of maintaining good relations with other neighboring countries have made it one of the main negotiators in the gulf a man basically rely on it is on understanding of geopolitics. Being realistic and also maintaining his own legacy of being you know the oldest state experience in the gulf as a whole that flexible Foreign Policy has been controversial in october 2800 sort on caboose met israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu in the omani capital muscat the meeting dismayed critics who said arab states should not be hosting israeli leaders until peace was established between israel and the palestinians a mans. Modern minister said his country was simply facilitating efforts towards negotiations. So i had rarely been seen in public since he went through lengthy medical treatment in germany in 2015 he was unmarried and had neither children nor siblings and he did not publicly name a successor the Foreign Policy already was i would say dynamic brad matic and also open to. The idea of engaging with the International Community and that that to dimension make make me believe that we should not expect a major change now the world waits to see who will replace a man who modernized his small gulf nation and maintained a delicate balance of loyalties in an often unstable region. Live diplomatic it is or james bays whos at the u. N. Headquarters building in new york james hows he being remembered there. Well certainly i think this is devastating news for the people of amman but it will be felt i think right across the region this is the longest serving ruler in the middle east in power for 50 years and beyond the people of amman a country where its still not clear who is confirmed successor will be i think theres going to be a great deal of reaction and a great deal of worry about the situation because 1st amman played an outsized role in the region particularly in the gulf but also in the wider middle east you have a Gulf Cooperation Council deeply divided in recent years with the spat with in the gulf thats been going on and amman very much has been a mediator and a peace keeper there but its also been a mediator and peace keeper on much bigger issues for example the u. S. And iran oman is the known back channel amman is the destination where people go to meet away from prying eyes to try and do deals and it was in amman that the key early meetings that led to the Iran Nuclear Deal took place so i think people be worried a particularly at this time of turbulence at a time when relations between the u. S. And iran are so bad when in recent days the 2 countries have seemed to come so close to war so i think this doesnt help an already difficult situation in the middle east theres one small opportunity of course here and that is the fact that there will be a funeral and almost certainly theres going to have to be high level delegations going there i think its quite likely youll see the president of iran there will you see the president of the United States as well youll certainly see high level representation so you will see high level. Gets from iran and the u. S. In the coming days i suspect in oman but a worrying time a further blow i think to the region and potentially to not the stability of the region but removing one of the the backstops that they had to deal with problems in the middle east and in the gulf there really were in the gulf to neutral players and they were oman and kuwait its worth reminding you that the america emir of kuwait is 91 years old and so clearly there are some worries about what happens next in that country the other aspect of this peter is the fact that there isnt a named successor so i think there are 2 things Going Forward there will be people in the country and in the region trying to influence who is the next successor and then theyll be people in the region trying to influence the new sultan should he continue to take this very independent Foreign Policy or should he be persuaded persuaded to be swayed to one side or the other under his rule james are people not familiar with the menu shii or the the intricate sometimes switching and changing relationships around the middle east was he kind of taking his country in a direction still i mean were looking at pictures of him meeting her majesty Queen Elizabeth meeting jeremy hunt meeting secretary of state mike pompei a as well were just just within the past 9 or 12 months or so it was almost like you know one of the scandinavian countries in the middle east it was a backstop it was a go to destination for the great and the good from outside the middle east and the calling card seemed to be will be friendly with everyone will be an enemy to no one and i mean trick that you mentioned there the emir of kuwait because hes elderly as well and those 2 in mali and influences from the north of the gulf to the south of the gulf the gulf the middle east the region it really needs those influences now. Yes and i think he will be a very big loss for that region reason of throughout his 50 years in power he almost met with everyone and in the end you almost did meet with everyone because the one that he didnt meet for quite a long period of his rule with the israelis but of course he met Prime Minister better than your netanyahu as well towards the end so a very very important figure in the arab world an outsize figure given its a relatively small country of 4 half 1000000 people he played an outsized role diplomatically giving carving out an outsized role for his country now is that down to the man himself and his personality or does that become the personality of the country i think thats one of the Big Questions that were going to be our skiing in the coming months as we look towards succession taking place in amman james many thanks the man will observe 3 days of mourning with the flags flown at half mast for a period of 40 days and a mans world family will have 72 hours to decide who will replace Sultan Qaboos spin side our side now under money law if they fail to agree the position goes to a person whose name was written in 2 sealed letters by the late sultan but individual will be revealed by muskets royal court before taking the throne this process is in place because couples as we mentioned have no children and never publicly named a successor joining us on the phone now is much of the director of the Gulf Studies Center cats are University Much of how will you remember him. Accomplished was. Obvious the longest ruler. In the gulf however he is the. Basic shapes. Contemporary history and basically putting together the idea of the state. Of politics in a very complicated your politics hes the person he basically developed his country put it under. Him of. Taking care of and also. Belly. Country. Its one of the sources who was in his early form and c. V. Is when he came back to the region from a successful military career in europe what was it that hed experienced that made him. Change direction will want to change his direction as the heir apparent and also change the direction of the country because he had that Big Conversation with his father that didnt go any place and then there was what some people already calling all remembering as being a bloodless coup when he ended up running the country. I think 2 things being you know. Part of owning family is important whether you know being abroad studying to graduate from stand. Which is one of the prestigious. Military Academy College over the globe so basically he was in Great Britain or. He was the you know that life im sure has shaped his ideas about politics about states about you know how to change. You know the nominate within his country and mission for that i think you know at the end of the day he also belong to. You know to. 5 which also was on the map for years so i think those together contributed to his ideas and his leadership style and also for him taking over. And leading the country for 50 years and thats a. Significant 111 of. This. Thing this the fact that you know a man has known history of state a man has a legacy for needin any more than one century even before the idea of a statehood the idea of ruling the idea of opening to the world all of those actually where to locate it in our minds. That that happened because of the politics online is to seize and to see many many many civilizations and cultures for 4 years and that itself is a crucial as well would it be safe to say that in the early days of. Being the ruler of the country he didnt get to the stage where he was exerting or using power for its own sake he wasnt trying to position on to be better or to be top dog compared to neighboring arab countries he was doing it to use soft power to bring people together. Yes and i think no doubt you know 96 seventys and eightys were very tough time when it comes to the middle east as a whole and to the gulf as well and you know managing managing the country at that period and being able to take it out of all of those you know dangerous trades and. Alliances and interventions that itself is a great achievement and you know taking care of the Country Building the infrastructure rebuilding the country in terror internally and moving on to gradually to the glue that itself seemed to be a very wise move because basically he was able to i would say strength in his internal front and then moving gradually i think that was in 19 seventies and eighties that was. Taking into consideration you know i was already a conflict you know the cold you know the post cold called the cold war as we know between the United States and soviet union and the the nature of the dynamic of regional politics in addition to the standards of illusion 179 and its limits occasion on that in the region so all of those major events you know take into consideration also the 8 years war between iraq and iran and oh man position itself very smart in it when it comes to this war in my mind kept its ties with iran it was the only embassy open in tehran in 19 between 118 and 19 i mean from the arab countries and that was. 2 significant at that time much obscenity thanks so much well talk later i suspect in the meantime thank you lets talk now to Joe Maccarone a political analyst at the arab center in washington joe welcome back to aljazeera. Were getting an idea how he will be remembered in the arab world around the gulf region how will he be remembered in the broader diplomatic world. Supporter for. The Peace Initiative and in the. Overtime to church he came to power. All with koren so im. Not going to do a bridge in the aggression with iran relation with israel he wants to be the key player who was able to have legal problems. Were able to engage everyone through how he. Managed to be a minority when the. Support of. Every side in that sense even though who do want. To be clear or in. The back channel because obama administration. Work to. Make a bitch the 1st step of the bill because producer to the truth. Is youre talking to were looking at pictures of the people that went to see him 2017282019 its is a roll call of globally influential politicians and monarchs he clearly inculcated an atmosphere internationally and around the region and around the arab world of respect aimed at him im interested to know what was it he did when he started ruling the country in 1970 that was so successful and generated that kind of respect very quickly. I think he was able to do it too to have a favorable. Political system. And heavy from the dependence on that from. Other regional actors especially in the gulf. To where he was. Staying in the sense that he was able to garner this role and i think he was one of the few who began this. Playing this role bigger than the country and. I think the political system the geography. Is interested in playing a role in the. Whole i think has been that hes the oldest ruling. Arab leaders still he has. Went through all the ups and downs of the. Political problems that he never took sides very far he obviously was. Because of. Many issues. But he kept mostly not being involved in many. Of the. Up and downs of we. See for decades and i think what gain him venture that he was able. To have connections and contacts. With everyone while maintaining. Some. Minimal distance from the main conflict around he mustve been diplomatically incredibly dextrous in that regard will he represent you know its a very big pair of shoes to fill so whoever his name successor is. Yes definitely i mean the. Kids. That he left the letters field left are going to be open at some point but its all the asli. Prime minister and his cousin. Say that saddam. Has been brewing room for a while been attending some of. That would have been that we need to get him back home. From belgium too when he knew that was close to yes going to be tough for. Any person after him not going to be in the same. Must have the same connection but. Im sure that the oman will move forward during the within is legacy than in. The general patton eaters he put. Them together to they dont destroy us. Ok from 2 going to be make sure d. But we 3 are going to be entered the coalition will be. Ok Joe Maccarone there at the arab center in washington thank you very much if you just joining us here on aljazeera just to sum up for you what we know now we are interrupting our normal shuttle programming to bring you the latest and the reactions around the world not just in the arab world not just in the gulf region but indeed as i say around the world on the news that the sultan of oman has passed away at the age of 79 he had been seriously ill with colon cancer he returned in the middle of last month from treatment in belgium. He has not named any successor that we know of so far he died childless that is something of an issue at this time the basic law socalled his name the basic law number 6 means that the ruling family have 3 days to name a successor operating in parallel to that there will be 40 days of flags flying at half mast in the country aljazeera snoozer to look at really who is in muscat oman the capital he joins us on the line lucas very Early Morning there people just be waking up to this news. Thats right peter its going to be a very sad and somber morning here in muscat oman is awake to this news although not entirely unexpected as you were previously saying the return from treatment a little over a week ago and since that time many omanis have been this has been forefront in their minds in terms of the future of the country and the health of the sultan i think its very difficult for many people to imagine modern oman without the soul tom as its his trigger had he seen largely as a kind of father of the modern nation here can you just walk us through because what we think happens next over the coming days and weeks. State media here is reporting that weve got we have 3 days of National Mourning have been announced so we will see sort of the start of the political process as the royal court looks to name a successor. You know many many omanis will be somewhat somewhat concerned about how that process plays out in 5 in the days that ive been here many have expressed some concern and sort of regret that a. Successor was not publicly stated and they feel some concern about how this process will go forward but again i think it cannot be understated how how difficult it is for many people to see where this nation goes and what this nation looks like without something that the head of state ok lucas thank you very much well earlier i spoke to john how sunyata in london hes a professor of International Relations on security issues. The sultan couples university i asked him more about how the late sultan will be remembered. Its a shocking news although. We did expect it to come because this sutton was. Recently he went to belgium or treatment and betty changed back. Just a few days after he left that was a sign that the treatment was not to be sexist with all the. Toys in the news after his return that he was ok but at this point i believe we see a crave nuance for the omanis i have sympathy. How do you think hell be remembered he remembered as a great. People at that door he was somebody who to chair or martin from. Stone age you can say to a very very modern society has 50 s. Still you know there was only one or 2 schools. Really just schools and now there are so many universities in terms of people prosperity to same team during the 2nd world war for example you could find very very poor people you know more about now in terms of. Revenue per capita has a good place among the nations and also maybe more importantly. Somebody who brought some peace and security to amman east but also you see that or protection. In amongst Foreign Policy and this is why oma