by Ghassan Kadi
Love him or hate him, Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman (MBS) is like no other prince that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has seen since its inception under the rule of his founding grandfather King Abdul Aziz in 1932 and the establishment of the Al-Saud dynasty that changed Arabia; including its name.
Some argue that even the worst of humans can do a bit of good. The question is this; is MBS capable of doing any?
MBS has been the architect of that awful and criminal war on Yemen. Tens of thousands of innocent Yemeni civilians have been killed either by Saudi-led raids or by starvation and diseases inflicted upon Yemen as a result of the war. Hundreds of thousands of Yemeni men, women and children are living under abject conditions; with lack of provisions, medication and basic requirements for survival.
On the account of Yemen alone, MBS is a war criminal, an architect of genocide, and ought to face justice.
His legacy in Yemen should not make us forget and ignore his sanctioning of the execution of Saudi Shiite scholar Nimr Nimr and many others, and his rabid ambition sweeping out anything and anyone in his way.
A few years ago, and before the death of the then Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz, the incumbent king Salman, father of MBS, was nowhere to be seen in the throne succession hierarchy. Saudi succession has always been left to a matter of “Shoura”, a council of princes (Bai’aa council) who decided how and when the third and fourth in line had to be picked; but the position of the Crown Prince was never a question, because it was always pre-determined many years prior to having to worry about the king’s successor.
With the many wives and sons that Saudi founding father King Abdul Aziz has had, he must have died thinking and believing that he had procreated enough to guarantee the survival of his dynasty, and in more ways than one, his hopes worked for four to five decades after his death. But in retrospect, that was a blessing with a hidden curse.
His first successors were the sons of his first wives. But more than six decades after his death, the generational change was not so much to be dictated by the father king, but rather by the maternal lineage.
Traditionally in polygamic societies, older wives and their children naturally loath younger wives and their children. When power is involved, the older generation tries hard, very hard, to hold on to it to make sure it does not get passed on to the children of the younger wives.
But because King Abdul Aziz had a fifty year age gap between his eldest and youngest sons, as older sons became kings, younger half-brothers had to inherit the throne because for as long as some direct sons of founder Abdul Aziz were still alive, the throne was not meant to skip the generation to appoint grandsons as kings.
It is this scenario that inadvertently allowed MBS to rise to power; the death of his older uncles.
It must be remembered that not only MBS, but his father King Salman, had lived their lives in a state of “discrimination”; albeit as members of the royal family with all the financial privileges. They were raised to understand that their royal status has its limits. They can have all the money they want, but no power; none whatsoever. They were made to feel like second class royals, for no reason other than being the sons and grandsons of the younger wives.
All the while, the sons and grandsons of the older wives of founder King Abdul Aziz lavished in power and wealth under the watchful eyes of royals who were designated to be “inferior” to them.
Much has been said and reported about the rorts and spoils of the Saudi royals and their debauched lifestyle, and no words of dismay and criticism can match those of young Saudis who have been recently educated and do not feel that they owe the royal family anything at all. Added to their voice of dis-satisfaction is the voice of women who virtually have no rights at all within the kingdom of sand.
It is within this atmosphere that MBS has found himself, by shear luck, by the virtue that the once fourth in line, Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz died before his half-brother King Abdullah.
The house of Saud was not ready for this, and the death of Sultan put the whole succession issue into jeopardy, and to the amazing fortune of MBS, his father eventually landed on the throne because he was the only surviving son of founding father Abdul Aziz who was in reasonable health to take the throne, and before the throne jumps the generation from the direct sons, Salman could not be ignored.
The elevation of Salman to the throne would have gone without much ramifications had he kept his nephew Mohamed Bin Nayef as his Crown Prince. Such a succession would have kept the tier of succession back into the box of the old princes. But Salman has a son who is different, and this son Mohamed, MBS, is seemingly like no other prince, and he had his father nominate him as the Crown Prince to the dismay of the generation of many grandchildren of the founding king who thought they were more worthy.
For many years, Al-Saud and their constituency agonized as to who was going to be the first grandson of founding king Abdul Aziz to assume the throne. A multitude of candidates have aspired to this position, and the most likely winner was Bandar Bin Sultan, the son of the would-be king, but that crown prince died before he became king and his son Bandar failed in his venture in Syria and missed out.
When the highly ambitious MBS found himself in a position that can secure his ascension to the throne, he had to make sure that nothing and no one stood in the way.
But ambition does not seem to be the only thing on MBS’s mind. The man does seem to have the attributes of a nation-builder; for better or for worse.
MBS is certainly trying to change the face of Saudi Arabia. As a matter of fact, he already has.
The recent arrests of top notch princes and government officials can indeed be seen as a crackdown on corruption as MBS claims. But the bigger message that MBS is giving his cousins is that he is the boss, and he can throw anyone in jail; and none is bigger than Al-Walid Bin Talal.
Al-Walid is incidentally not only the grandson of founding King Abdul-Aziz, but his mother is Lebanese, and his maternal grandfather is Lebanon’s first post-independence Prime Minister Riyad Al-Solh. Al-Walid was never interested in politics. He is perhaps the richest Saudi prince at a net worth estimated to exceed USD 50 bn. His interest is in business and in spending most of his life on board of one of his yachts in the Mediterranean. He is the status symbol of how “successful” and powerful a Saudi prince can be, and if anyone in the whole world can touch him and put him behind bars, it is MBS, and he did. The irony is that no clear charges have been laid; and this cements the theory that MBS is mainly trying to set into concrete the rules of the pecking order.
And former King Abdullah, who was endearingly called Abu Mutiib by those close to him, and this is in reference to his eldest son, well, where is Mutiib now? In jail with his cousin Al-Walid. If King Abdullah could have a sneak look from his grave, he would not recognize the royal court that he departed from less than 3 years ago.
And as events develop quickly, we learn that Aziz Bin Fahed, son of former King Fahed, has been killed in a gunfight between his body guards and police forces who were trying to apprehend him.
What we are witnessing in Saudi Arabia is nothing short of a coup d’etat.
No Saudi prince has ever been jailed in Saudi Arabia before; with the exception of Faisal Bin Musaed who killed his uncle the then King Faisal.
Even if there is a faint whim floating around in Saudi Arabia saying that princes are now facing accountability and can stand trial for corruption, then MBS has already done a great reform. This is because for decades, Saudi princes were above the law and above other humans and their rights in a manner that is fairly akin to their pre-democracy European predecessors.
Back to whether or not cruel monstrous men are capable of doing any good, and apart from his insane cruelty to the people of Yemen and bitter hatred to Shiite Islam and insatiable thirst for power, is MBS doing any good at all?
Well, he is going to allow Saudi women to drive and go to sporting stadiums. He is planning to dismantle the Shariah police (Mutawea). He commissioned a committee of clerics to review the Hadith of Prophet Mohamed PBUH in an attempt to remove any interpretations that can lead to violence. He is pushing for moderate Islam, and he is bringing accountability to the house of Saud. For someone who is not very familiar with Saudi Arabia this may not sound like much, but for fairness to MBS, such steps were utterly inconceivable just a few months ago.
His dream city project “Neom” is portrayed in its advertisement as a modern city with women not wearing Hijab. Perhaps MBS is a visionary and a nation builder. Perhaps he has a sound long-term vision to modernize Saudi Arabia as he claimed many times that he would. Perhaps he is so determined to lift Saudi Arabia from the doldrums of Wahhabism into modernity, and he realizes that the only way to do that is to remove all of the obstacles; including many royals who support the old ways.
This article is not an attempt to praise MBS, because perhaps also he is only a power monger. Mass genocidal murderers cannot be praised. That said, the dark side of people should not totally mask the bright side; if there is a bright side at all.
MBS is now in an ideologically paradoxical situation with one foot that is allegedly deeply entrenched into modernizing and reforming Saudi Arabia, and another foot that is sinking in the war in Yemen, a war that is based on the hatred and prejudices of the old ways that he is claiming he is trying to change. He has to make up his mind and stop being enigmatic, and if he truly wants to be the reformer who will be marked in history as the one who miraculously reformed the seemingly irreformable kingdom, he must first and foremost end the war on Yemen, respect the Yemenis political choices, and send the Yemenis reparations, food, medicines and aid instead of bombs.
Last but not least, speaking of reform, there is no bigger and more urgent reform that the Muslim World needs than mending the Sunni-Shiite divide and which has been growing into a hugely dangerous rift that can set the whole region ablaze and make the wars we have seen recently in the area as only a prelude. Under the excuse of blaming the West and the “divide-and-conquer” strategy, the Muslim World keeps feeding the dispute that was based on the succession of Prophet Mohamed PBUH. The least Sunnis and Shia can do is to agree to disagree and live in peace with each other instead of stoking wars and proxy wars all the while blaming Western interference for their own failures and hatred for each other.
But MBS is not giving the indication that he has the substance for reform of this caliber. He is one of those Muslim leaders who invite the West in and beg to buy arms from it in order to help him fight his rivals in the Muslim World.
The real question to ask is this; what is it really that MBS is after? Certainly, he is seeking ultimate and unrivaled power within Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, he is trying to modernize his kingdom and gain the support of the educated Saudi male youth and females, and this support should bolster his tenure on the throne. But if he wants to be the historic reformer that he makes out himself to be, he must realize that he cannot be both that and a bigot. There is no better way for reform for him to embark upon than breaking ranks with the American-Israeli camp and trying to make amends with Iran and put an end, once and for all, to the senseless Sunni-Shiite mutual fear and anxiety.
Will MBS be the man to take the conciliatory initiative with Iran? Unlikely. If anything, he is upscaling his anti-Iran stance and promising it war. Given his close American and Israeli links and his strategic reliance on American military hardware, he cannot break away even if he tries, and he will most likely implode, but his implosion can potentially bring down the Al-Saud dynasty with him. However, with MBS we have learnt to expect the unexpected, and the next surprise; positive or negative, can be just around the corner.
We shall see how much change Salman can instigate in Saudi Arabia. I have my doubts. You cannot change a mentality, which existed for centuries, overnight.
Dear Mr Ghassan Kadi, in your article, you have made several critical errata:
There is not so much a need for reconciliation between Shiite and Sunnis, considering their cooperation against Jihadi Wahabis in Syria and Yemen and Afghanistan and Egypt and … . What is needed is the excommunication of the Wahabi sect, and considering their intolerance and lack of ability to compromise, this will mean distraction of their ideology if not their physical elimination.
You portray MBS as a reformer while he seems to be a Would-be-PlayStation-King who has failed in his venture to subdue the poorest Arab country Yemen as well as the militarily insignificant Qatar. His window dressing is meant for an Western audience and you seem to be contributing to this.
Comparing his US deep state supported coup to Machiavelli’s genius just indicates your lack of knowledge about the latter, who was just an advisor to de Medici in Milan initially and later a de facto chronicler of Cesaere Borgia. The latter is of a different caliber than MBS US Puppet, considering he battled and manipulated the superpowers of his time.
It seems that MBS has been able to create an intelligence apparatus, while the other princes were distracted by his adventure in Yemen, with the help of the real Dark Knight, Eric Princes and his mercenaries; no doubt with the help of US’s intelligence apparatus.
As the Iranian Revolution and the successful power grab of Erdogan, have proven that physical removal of American influence is the only way to maintain independent control. In case of the former by complete diplomatic break of contact and the latter by removing the NATO-associated military elements in Turkish armed forces.
My hypothesis is supported by the distraction of Qaddafi, when he opened up his country to the West as well as the attempts that were made to remove Assad, when he sought proximity to the Americans. And let’s not forget Tunisian strongman’s faith as well as Saddam & Mubarak’s expiration date.
To paraphrase as saying about Iran’s pragmatic and relatively merciful approach, it is better to be anybody’s (Iran’s) enemy, than to befriend the American government. As also the Native Inhabitants of North America found out, it is only a matter of time for USG to betray it’s own commitments. In other words, the latter is “agreement-incapable” as the Russians say.
Iran’s “independence” is hanging by a thin thread at the moment. Will the Mullah Regime sacrifice Iran’s independence to remain in power? Russia wants that warm water port and a permanent base in the Persian Gulf. “Please uncle Putin!”, “Nyet. No S400 for you!”
Saker, why is it that Western and wanna-be Western observers always use extreme labels for leaders and emerging leaders in the Muslim lands? By your definitions, the entire Western and Russian leadership (ever) are “war criminals”. Every single one of them. This is not a good way to win hearts and minds.
Now who is upset with this MBS prince. Hmm. The “deep state” just got their entire influence and money network blown away and sequestered in a hotel? I wonder what they spilled under torture. You fucks were going to hang 9/11 on Arab necks, after all, but that’s gonna work anymore, is it.
Another very interesting thing, that Hariri stunt, well, if that didn’t expose the shallow strategic depth of Iran, what will?
Why would Iran not accommodate the need for an export route for Russia?
Just a few examples:
Pakistan does it for the Western part of China via Gowdar.
Netherlands (via Rotterdam) does it for Germany’s Ruhr region.
Antwerp in Belgium does it for Lille, Elzas-Lorraine and Cologne in Northern France and Southern Germany.
In ancient times, Athens via Piraeus did it for a considerable part of Greece.
In the Middle-Ages, Constantinople was an entry point of goods from Asia, for the whole of Europe.
In the Renaissance period, Venice and Genua were trading ports for Southern-, while Ghent and Brugge fulfilled the same function for Northern Europe.
Interdependence is the name of the game and you should get used to it that petty attempts to sow discord will not work anymore, in the age of internet.
Them Wahabis that the US is air-lifting out of Syria will be sent home
to ferment unrests in Saudi Arabia.
MBS won’t be allowed to pivot east to China (petro-yuan).
Git yer pop-pop-popcorn ready folks. :D
Yep, MBS and the rest will be likely hung out to dry after the demolition derby is over — no touches the petro-dollar scam uncontested. Load up ice and Pepsi with the pops…
Why would MBS take the Wahabi extremists back?
Obama’s globalist establishment may want to re-insert their operatives. However, the Trump administration has no reason to protect them.
The Wahabi are an obvious threat to MBS government. They will be left to expire on the front lines. Or, more likely vanish in transit from point A to point B, with tacit approval from the current anti-establishment, U.S. administration.
My suggestion — Try to avoid thinking of the U.S. as a single force acting with single purpose. While far less than a civil war, there are substantial internal divisions. And, the Clinton / Neo-Con / Obama / Bush uni-party faction is not exiting the stage gracefully.
http://theduran.com/leaked-cable-confirms-israel-and-saudi-arabia-coordination-to-start-a-middle-east-war/
The dark prince Salman will end up slitting his own throat And Hariri will become a Nemtsov, a martyr to a contrived war with Iran.
You can have wealth, all the money you want, or certainly much more than you need …. but you can not have power.
I’d take that deal. Quick, some Saudi royal please come adopt me, and I guarantee I won’t cause any trouble or especially I won’t fight for power.
Or, at least that’s the point of view of a poor America who has no rights, no access to money, and no say in his country despite all its blather about ‘democracy’. So, I’d take money and wealth and keep my same status of having no power and no say in what my government is doing. That would be an upgrade. :)
For fun, watch how this is covered and reported in the western corporate media. Remember that its been well known for a long time that the Saudi government makes large payments for favorable coverage.
Thus far, while the arrests were widely reported, like events amongst the rich and famous usually are in the west, there’s been very little commentary that I’ve seen about how this is really a palace coup in progress. Which of course seem obvious when a bunch or princes and ministers are killed and arrested on the orders of a commission that has only been in existence for a few hours.
What might be interesting is when some of the other Saudi money outside of MBS control starts buying their own columnists and opinion-makers. it was fascinating to watch that process go forward after MBS attacked Qatar. You could suddenly see opinion makers and politicians saying nice things about Qatar when they really hadn’t bothered to do so before. One could almost hear the checks depositing in the bank accounts.
In this modern world, anyone with lots of money can cause trouble and have a voice in the world corporate media. Thus, watching how the media is now very much telling only the MBS story, but also watching when and with who this changes. Always good to know which journalists and opinion makers can be bought. And a fight between people with money is a wonderful time to watch that.
And thanks to the Saker and this blog and to Mr. Kadi and Mr. Escobar for trying to tell us a bit of what’s really going on behind the press releases.
Yes, and the mandatory “Assad Must Go” mantra always had a silver/gold lining in some Swiss vault no doubt. But the phrase seems to have dropped out of use lately — the curse seems to be working, they have all largely gone and Assad is still here to stay it seems.
Ghassan Kadi, thank you for an excellent review of the balance scales that MBS sits in currently, as we wait for them to steady so we can take his measure. It seems that he keeps his mind hidden, and we don’t yet know what’s in it.
If he can find a way to pull out of Yemen, this will speak greatly about where he’s trying to go.
The story of Erdogan has shown us that people don’t change course overnight. It takes time for their thinking to change, and old habits to change, and they also have plans and players already in motion that they have to support. The first months of a strategic turn are filled with tactical contradictions. Eventually, the old plans give way to the new, and we see the person behind the new direction.
I suggest that Mohamed Bin Salman’s war crimes in Yemen are so great that it will take exactly this reversal to show us his mind. Anything else will be pointless if he allows the Yemen massacre to persist – which is madness for his stature and in the end suicidal for his country.
Russia and Iran could help him. How greatly does he want a future?
“The first months of a strategic turn are filled with tactical contradictions. Eventually, the old plans give way to the new, and we see the person behind the new direction.”
Absolutely. Very sage observation.
People vacillate when they are making or are contemplating making big changes. That is normal.
Human. Stick with the known, or venture into the unknown? How to test the unknown and make it more known? How to reduce the risk factor? Can I go back if things don’t work out? Etc.
So, it is perfectly reasonable to expect a lot of backing-and-forthing for Erdogan, for MSB, etc. as they contemplate taking risky steps and test the waters
Kadi’s article is very enlightening, esp. regarding the line of succession in the House of Saud. It souinds like MSB is going to ahve to take a very big leap into the future and hold out a hand of friendship to Iran if the ME is to rid itself of the american and British succubi. Can he do it?
Katherine
No, he can’t. He is in the same league as the U.A.E rulers and dependent on mercenaries to maintain his power. The internal threats to his rule have exponentially increased as the infighting in House if Al-Saud increases. As it was seen in last dynastic warfares (e.g. Ottomans, Mongols, Tataars, Romans, Gauls …), this will lead initially to severe weakening of that gang.
From and Iranian perspective: No one is going to buy into a burning house but rather wait till the flames settle and bid for the owner of the remaining plot of land.
Anybody expecting anything positive to arise from the maneuvering of the crown prince is simply not paying attention. All this talk of ‘anti corruption’ is nothing more than a smokescreen to divert one’s attention from the coming storm.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-11-07/leaked-secret-israeli-cable-confirms-israeli-saudi-coordination-lebanon
The plot against the growing of influence of the Shia crescent is moving away from Syria… it is now Lebanon that finds itself in the cross hairs.
You are totally correct. But why do so few people see this- even on our side.
Since the invention of the newspaper, the ‘chattering classes’, that class of people who ***seem*** to be well educated, well positioned in society, and with an ‘enlightened’ outlook, are mastered and controlled by the pundits who dribble their wordy columns in the paper, or magazine or now online.
These journos specialise in seemingly ‘intelligent’ analysis- but their methods and arguments are laughable junk. And I can ***prove*** this. Go read the serious journalism published before WW1 or WW2- and see how it discussed the coming wars. When the history of WW1 or WW2 is discussed today, the billions of words of analysis published before the war are completely ignored. Why. Because in the aftermath of the wars, you can see it for the pathetic, naive, idiotic rubbish it always was. But at the time people read this nonsense and thought this nonsense clever and insightful.
People who find it hard to apply logic and proper critical analysis hold on to ***bottom up*** ‘facts’ like a drunk holds on to a lamp-post. It’s how the dump kids are taught at school- by ‘rote’- parroting repeated ‘facts’. No comprehension skills. No understanding of the scientific method, or real logic.
The current facts of Saudi Arabia are so simple, most people on our side can’t even see them. The Deep State has placed a ‘Hitler’ in power who is prepared to sacrifice KSA- unlike those Saudis he is now removing. The Deep State falsely casts him as a liberal reformer (which they did also in the case of the actual Hitler in the early part of his rule), and has him allow women to drive so the BBC et al can constantly refer to this as ‘proof’ he is a ‘good guy’.
Meanwhile while zionist trolls are allowed to troll forums like this one calling people “defeatists” and demanding forum members invest in the mainstream media narrative, in plain sight, as you said, Saudi now publically works with Israel in readiness for the coming massive attack on hezbollah in Lebanon.
And at the same time, British, French, German and Canadian forces based in Saudi Arabia and other Middle East States prepare to strike Iran as part of the Saudi alliance – allowing their planes to fly under Saudi colours- the ‘new’ trick used by the West’s military powers outside of the USA.
Israel wants to be allowed to go ‘buck wild’ in Gaza and Lebanon at the same moment Iran is first being bombed. Israel knows that the coverage of the Iran war will overshadow its own simultaneous atrocities, giving Israel a window of at least two months to wipe out most of the population of Gaza, and destroy all the muslim areas of Lebanon.
(The removed section violated the blog rules against attacking the author.If you want to continue to see your comments posted.Its important to follow the rules.MOD)
We need clarity above all else. And clarity is summed up in one phrase- the Deep State is going to war with Iran. Lebanon, sadly, is but a sideshow to please the infinitely evil zionists of Israel- who know they will not be allowed to join in on the war with Iran.
And our greatest enemies are those on our side who say “people are always warning about WW3, but it hasn’t happened yet, so that proves these people are idiots who are just calling ‘wolf”. That’s what the same types said about those explaining that WW1 and WW2 were planned well in advance and going to happen under one excuse or another.
In the mainstream press, the voices warning about the coming World Wars were almost non-existent at the time. But the voices from every political position claiming the idea of World War was a laughable ‘conspiracy theory’ were the 99.9% majority in the same press. And today we see the same. Deniers denying the reasons behind every major power building up in readiness for great conflicts.
PS the meme comparing the Saudi coup with Game of Thrones comes straight from the psy-op dept of MI6. Sadly simpletons on our side love childish analogies, so the psy-op works beautifully as you can see in so many comments here. And then there’s the celeb gossip nonsense psy-op that gets the chattering classes really excited. Is Hitler really a bad painter? What do you think about his love life? See how fools fall to taking thusly about the warlord the Deep State has placed in command in KSA.
Only an idiot cares about the shape or form of a puppet. Get a clue, people. It is the intentions of the puppet master that matter. The elite wahhabi scum are interchangable- it should shame people to even know the irrelevant name of whichever wahhabi puppet currently has the highest position in KSA. It does not matter. But the plans of the Deep State do matter- and over the last few days they’ve told us tons about their immediate intentions.
@Twilight
Brilliant! Your analysis shows rare acuity (removed for attacking the author.MOD). I think you have read the long game correctly, the puppet strings are being pulled from we all know where. These princes and feudal fools are props and smokescreens, if not total puppets.
Let us keep hearing from you.
MBS is 32 years old, a satrap at best and managed 100% by the Deep State, just like Donald Trump.
Any write up about Saudi Arabia, which fails to account for how politics operates, with so much money is at stake, is hard to take seriously.
Indeed the whole of the funding of the US Deep State, it’s CIA, Pentagon and innumerable smaller branches, depends on a smooth transition from US dollar fiat to petro SDR.
But you know how it goes… people will dance for the money, and so the show must go on.
Ian McKellen’s Richard the Third is a fantastic rendition of the play, and although not exactly the House of Saud, there are similarities. Here’s a 3 minute taste:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXc0-EME0C8
You put too much emphasis on the reformer MBS. He is firmly under the Anglo/Zionist imperial thumb. Excellent analysis. Your hopes of peace between Shia and Sunni is sadly to optimistic. The entire purpose for Imperialism to control the resources of the Middle East is to divide and conquer. The role of Saudi Arabia is to divide. The next step is Israeli aggression in Lebanon supported by Saudi Arabia, MBS.
Who benefits from the Saudi’s suffocation by its idiosyncrasies? Who benefits from the Saudi’s engulfing in a war in Yemen? Who tried to bomb Riyadh airport to blame Yemen for it?
The helicopter that fell in Asir Province last Sunday killed Prince Mansour, a son of ex-Crown Prince Muqrin (Jan-Apr 2015) – a competitor of Mohammed bin Salman for the throne of Saudi Arabia. Any connection with the events above?
Prince Walid bin Talal was a kind of ‘ambassador’ to Israel, and he is now in ‘jail’ (in the Ritz Hotel in Riyadh). Why?
The nexus between these occurrences will show us who loses as a result of the tectonic changes that are happening in de Middle East.
The author points out that Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) is a:
– war monger, genocidal mass murderer, power hungry psychopath and anti-Shiite hater
and
– possibly someone who wants to reform and modernize Saudi Arabia and hold princes and Saudi elite accountable.
Even if the second point is true, the first point will make him highly unstable, obsessed with power and wars, and will compete with Iran at all costs……In the Middle-East we know what these psychopathic ambtious narcissistic leaders are capable of…..We have witnessed Saddam, Ghaddafi, Mubarak, Hafiz al Assad, et al. …..and before them Hitler, Musolini, Stalin, et al.
It seems it is now Saudi Arabia’s turn.
If MBS is indeed a mass murderer, anti-Shiite secterian power hungry psychopath……do not worry if he modernizes Saudi Arabia or gets rid of Wahabism……He will probably make up for it in other ways.
As an Arab and a Muslim, I do not trust these tribal deceiving Saudis one bit.
For now I do not buy the pivoting or realignment of Saudi Arabia to the Russian/Chinese camp until I see it with my eyes.
I would not be surprised if he allies himself with the US and Israel to launch an all out war with Hizbullah follow by a war with Iran.
Time will tell where he is going with all of this. The only positive thing that could come out of all this is the possible implosion of the Saudi State.
Everything MBS has done since getting his hands on some power has been a push for war. Its thus hard to believe that this is going to head for peace. MBS has always seemed very uninterested in peace, in a KSA that traditionally has seemed adverse to war. If MBS wanted peace, he could start with the conflicts he began with Yemen and Qatar. No sign of that, but now he seems to want war with Hezballah, and with Lebanon if they don’t join his war ….which means war with Iran, and probably Syria directly as they would at this time honor an alliance with Iran that’s just helped save them from CIA/Israel/Saudi/Qatar/Turkey backed ISIS and Al-Qaeda fake rebels.
I rather suspect that Russia would try to stay out of that war, although it might be interesting what they do if the USA gets directly involved. My guess is that USA would stay behind its proxy MBS, likewise Israel.
Except, I find it hard to picture the Saudi mercenaries coming out on top in a fight with Iran, Syrian and Hezballah combat veterans. If you can’t handle Yemen, don’t mess with Iran would seem to be sound advice. Especially when the Saudis also would need to fight a civil war against a likely Shiite rebellion against the royals that’s been brewing. But, I’m not sure the MBS, Netanyahooooo nor the Trumpette is especially open to sound advice.
Mainly, this to me seems like its about internal Saudi politics, and with the factions against MBS that Mr. Escobar does an excellent job of identifying, it seems like more of a last grasp at holding onto power by trying to strike first against an imminent coup.
This will end badly for him.
He has decided on an even closer alliance with the US empire which is in its dying days.
Only way out for him would be to extricate himself from the clutches of the US and to come to a rule and ethics based modus vivendi for competition for influence within the region and the world.
I don’t see this happening with him.
My first thought when I read that MBS wanted Saudi women to drive was that this was announced for the ears of western people, so that they will embrace him as the Saudi good liberal. Thus, when he attacks Iran, the west will want to support him against the Iranians. I hope that I am wrong.
MBS had more mundane considerations (the coming imposition of US-style austerity) in mind for women en masse as having to employ a driver keeps them out of the work force by making it uneconomic for them to work outside the home. He has to replace the depleted oil revenue somehow.
I entirely agree with your view regarding MBS’s survival depending on him extricating himself from the US clutches and embracing a rules and ethics based modus vivendi.
Unfortunately I had a lot of face-to-face experience dealing with the horrific lordly entitlements of various Saudi princelings from the 1970’s onward. Rules and ethics generally do not figure at all in their conception of themselves. That MBS has fought his way to the top of this vile bunch indicates what an exceptionally nasty piece of work he must be and I doubt there is room left for any redeeming features at all.
The one exception to my generalisations was Talal, who, though similarly entitled, was invariably polite, well-mannered and unassuming to all. I hope he, at least, survives this.
I predict without any reservaions or caveats whatsoever, that the House of Saud will fall with this fool.
He is way in over his head.
Bouyed by arrogance, MBS is sprinting, but this is a race for those with endurance who can go the distance.
He will collapse and succumb to fatigue with the Finish Line nowhere in sight.
“So it has been written,
So let it be done”!
thanks Ghassan, that’s a good clear article that helps me to understand what’s going on – I wish he’d stop that miserable thing that’s just target practice for fancy weapons in Yemen –
Before the dust settles this little pampered, pussyfooting, pathetic, prissy prissy prince will know what it is to stir the ire of the Islamic Republic.
This fool who has never faced a day of danger in his entire life, and who outsources his crimes to imported mercenaries, is looking to match wits with the likes of Qods Commander Qassem Soleimani and Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah?
His arrogance is only surpassed by his abysmal ignorance.
Lol, I bet the Israelis are egging him on, hoping to tear some of the flesh from the carrion of the rotten corpse of the House of Saud
Mad as Hell;
Has Saudi Arabia ever had much of a military? It seems their military is always outsourced paid poor bangladeshes, pakistani and some saudis. With that said; poor people who fight for money have no passion or nationalism they fight for.
I have to believe there is too much systematic take down of the crown princes and a few deaths for this to be unplanned and merely MBS doing his thing. This has a much more deep plan, that has to do with Lebanon and Iran. The end goal is the same with a different game-plan from the major players: UK, USA, Israel.
Why is Russia getting into this pit full of snakes?
Knowing all about the evil agenda of the Saudis?
I am truly amazed how many commenters allowed themselves to be misguided.
There won’t be a war on Lebanon. Full stop. Everything else is fake news
(coming from MSM or fake-alternative sources).
War on Lebanon –
Israel doesn’t dare do it (trauma from 2006 is still strong),
US doesn’t care to do it, and
Saudis can’t do it (they are already overstretched from domestic purge + state deficits + war with Yemen + stand-off with Qatar).
MBS is trying to pivot east to China (petro-yuan). This is a big no-no.
So the US/CIA is air-lifting Wahabis from Syria back into Saudi Arabia to try to overturn MBS.
Most likely, the Wahabis are right now being rallied round the idea that MBS is an infidel for allowing women to drive (LOL!). But I assume MBS already planed for this and was warned during the Russian visit. But the deal is, he will have to end the Yemen war, make nice with Syria & Iran
and adopt the petro-yuan.
I understand that the Saudis are vehemently hated. They sure did alot of war crimes all around.
And when the Wahabis hit hard at home, schadenfreude will be galore. It will be hard even for me
not to feel some, but folks do remember, this time around Saudi Arabia will be in the Neocon/Zionist cross-hairs.
By now, the third temple should have been built long ago with a burgeoning Eretz Israel as the new center of the universe. What we have instead? Same old Bibi lamenting and whining about Hezbollah like ten years ago. Yawn.
Enter MBS, Zion’s latest troll asset. This time in Saudi Arabia. MBS has all the credentials, all the crimes, all the dirty tricks and all the ridiculous lies under his belt. Like all Zion actors he is of course whining and lamenting in time honored fashion in front of the assembled Zionmedia court. About Hezbollah. And Iran. How very, very exciting!
Want to know what kind of man MBS is? Easy.
Watch how both Israel and US reacted to his purge and their post-purge responses or actions (if any).
If we assume MBS is genuinely trying to diffuse the Mid-East situation through amicable negotiations and progressive policy changes, then we can expect imminent media demonizations & rhetorics from the two above, including a possible covert ops campaign to destabilize Saudi Arabia.
If all is quiet on the western front, that’s not a good sign.
It’s certainly feasible that MBS is playing along, bidding for time to secure his powerbase, though I’m skeptical of this. He would need to be someone of Putin’s calibre to pull it off successfully. You need the correct upbringing & field experience. He has not shown any signs of brilliance thus far (perhaps in the future?). Saudi royals are educated under the western system, where there’s plenty of chances for the west to apply their soft power and gain someone sympathetic to the western sphere of influence.
MbS is acting on Trump orders- this is part of Trumps counter coup/cleaning the house.
Have to go back in time and see who financed Obama law school, Hillary and Bill dirty tricks for years, all this politicians, pedophiles, drugs, cover ups, false flags, you got the gist. Everything is connected…
Extremely dirty, lots of big shots involved, and lots of agencies involved.
Trump is fighting back finally, has military on his side.
He said: *Calm, before the storm*
That’s it, folks.
No need for panic, just wish him luck.
I remember when Trump was in Saudi Arabia and announced those huge arms sales. Some people were wondering with the high cost how were the Saudis were going to pay for them. We may know now.By grabbing 800 billion,MSB can afford the arms.
I read a few days ago a breakdown of the Saudi workforce.It said many (most) of the people with the skills that MSB is basing his “modernization” on are foreign guest-workers. So that increasing those jobs in the country doesn’t benefit the Saudi peoples.And the boondoggle of that trillion dollar “tech city” will eat up most of the stolen money. As well as the Saudi budget.I have a feeling MSB will soon go down in history as another “reformer” ruining his country.Who ends being overthrown in a bloody counter-coup.He reminds me of several of the ancient Roman Emperors,Nero,Caligula,Commodious.All of whom ended badly.
It’s important to keep in mind that according to Michael Hudson, the terms of the 1970s US-Saudi oil agreement require that Saudi oil must be purchased in dollars and that the proceeds must be recycled into US financial securities. This is well known. What is less well-known is that if the Saudis violate the terms of this agreement the monarchy will be removed and there would be regime change.
Once Saudi oil fields reach the point of terminal depletion the monarchy will no longer be useful, no longer protected, and at extreme risk. If that situation is now imminent it would be in the interests of the Saudis to attempt to seize whatever productive resources are available and not well defended. If the Saudis days are numbered it would also make sense for those closest to the centers of power to seize the wealth of those in less favor.
I ran to a very interesting theory on a FB. It might have something….
Amir Kabir:
Las Vegas was beginning of Saudi coup
Joanne Moretti is a political commentator. She often posts on Facebook. I find her comments enlightening, and I have never found her information unreliable. She frequently comes out with the truth long before anyone else.
Here she connects dots from the Las Vegas massacre to the mass arrests in Saudi Arabia. I don’t think Hollywood could create better fiction than this apparently/possibly true account of international money laundering, gun running and an attempted coup. The suspense builds with the number of witnesses who reported multiple shooters and who have died suddenly from unnatural causes.
The principal in this story is a recently arrested Saudi, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, one the world’s richest men with investments spanning the globe, and, btw, a major donor to the Clinton campaign. Moretti provides a greatly condensed lineage of the Saudi royals involved in this affair as background information.
This story makes more sense than anything we are hearing from the press or gov agencies. There is no share button, so I’m doing a copy and paste. Check it out and see what you think.
Jo Anne Moretti:
Last night, I was on radio discussing the Las Vegas shooting and the connection to what is happening in Saudi Arabia. They are connected.
I’ll start at the beginning. Before King Salman of Saudi Arabia, there was a King Faisal, who had a son, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal. When King Faisal took ill, he named his brother Salman as king in his place. In turn, King Salman named his son as heir to the throne instead of his brother’s son, Prince Alwaleed.
Alwaleed is a Wahabbi. Salman is Suni. Wahabbi is an extreme version of Islam. King Salman wanted a more modern, less extreme, form of Islam for Saudi Arabia. That’s why he named his own son as heir.
In Las Vegas, Prince Alwaleed owned the upper floors of the Mandalay Bay resort, including the 32nd floor, which was one of the points of shooting at the strip. I say one of the places, because the witnesses were all correct. There were other locations too.
The Mandalay Bay has a heli pad on the roof. That is important, because that was the escape route after the carnage.
Paddock, the alleged shooter, was a pilot. He was also a gun runner between the Philippines and the U.S. He was running guns for Prince Alwaleed. Paddock didn’t win his fortune at the casinos. His millions came from smuggling.
I have learned that on the night of the attack, King Salman was in Las Vegas. (I didn’t know that part until after the show when I received a missing piece of information. Salman was at the Tropicana.)
The FBI knew Paddock was running guns. They were tipped off, but they didn’t know there would be an assassination attempt on Salman by Alwaleed just down the strip.
Paddock brought the guns as he usually did. But instead of getting paid this time, he was killed. He was victim No. 1.
The guns were used to shoot at the country music venue to create chaos and distract from the real target at the Tropicana. Alwaleed’s assassins shot from Mandalay bay, but they were also at the Tropicana trying to kill Salman.
That explains why there were shooters on the ground as well as in the air. Remember the vids of the helicopter flying over. I asked why a helicopter would be there when there was a shooter high up. It wasn’t the news or the cops. It was the assassins who ran up the stairs to the roof from the 32nd floor.
Remember they sealed the door to the stairwell? Paddock had access to the service elevator, because the boss said he could use the elevator. Nobody questioned him.
Meanwhile, the assassination attempt on Salman failed. Now we are seeing the result of the failed attempt. It was not only an assassination attempt and a terror attack, but an attempted Saudi coup. This is why everyone shut up in Las Vegas.
The response is still ongoing. You are watching it play out. As I said, I spoke on air about this. I will post links in comments to prove my story.
Las Vegas was a terror attack. Paddock was the gun runner. Alwaleed, the owner of the suite, was behind all of it. All of the witnesses citing multiple shooters told the truth. There were shootouts along the strip and in the Mandalay Bay & Tropicana hotels.
The reason nobody is talking is because it’s not over yet.
It does not help the credibility of your account that Salman the present king is clearly on record saying that there is no distinction between the views of Abdul Wahhab and pure Islam. Do a search.
reform? more like secularism. western style destruction of religion. gone away the tribals. hello western educated young idiots(graduates) shaping the future.
Bin Salman took power pretty swiftly. That speaks of urgency. Right now, it is the Princes that did business with ISIS and Bin Laden that are in jail. That is encouraging. Also didn’t Saudi recently make a deal for some S400 systems with Russia? Isn’t that interesting!
Wouldn’t US normally be very concerned about that? Not that US should care since S400 is a defensive air/missile defence system. Why would Russia ever agree to sell the air defense systems to Saudi – which is the same Saudi that has been sponsoring training/arming/transporting ISIS into Syria? The Saudi Prince Bandar Bush is also the one who allegedly threatened Russia and remember that not long ago the Saudi’s were considering a ground invasion into Syria. The Saudi’s behind these aggressions are now detained and facing corruption charges and ALL their money is being held and who they were paying is going to be discovered.
So it seems to me that Russia should be pretty hopeful about MBS.
Personally I have a hunch that young MBS is the dawn of a new era in the Middle East and it is time for peace.
MBS is in tight with Donald J Trump and I think there is going to be another purge soon in the US. Right now, ISIS sugar daddies are in jail and that is huge. This will certainly link to the Clinton and ISIS backers in the US. I highly doubt MBS is going to push for war with Iran instead of Yemen. All the moves MBS is making speak of domestic overhaul (and that can’t be bad for Saudi Arabia or the rest of the ME). Pray +++