Bit of a fluff piece.
I'm going to get to witness some of this up close in a few months. I've been invited to give a lecture at a stem cell forum in Riyadh this September. Despite my reservations about the Saudis as a whole, I will gladly take their "investment", should they express any desire to give some to me.
Definitely a fluff piece, but the Prince comes off as a relatively progressive and empathetic guy. Maybe it's genuine and maybe it's not, but at least there's the possibility of social change in Saudi Arabia.
A relatively progressive and empathetic guy who will maybe one day allow women to hold driver's licenses if he can get it past the clerics. This is the guy who consolidated the oil ministry and the defense ministry into himself - and then blockaded and carpet-bombed Yemen. What does the BND say? - BERLIN—Germany’s foreign intelligence service warned about Saudi Arabia adopting a destabilizing role, in an unusual blunt criticism of the Gulf kingdom’s growing influence in the Arab world. “The previous cautious diplomatic stance of older leading members of the royal family is being replaced by an impulsive policy of intervention,” the German Intelligence Service, known by its German acronym BND, said in a memo distributed to journalists. How 'bout RBC? - "Saudi Arabia has ... strategically placed the ball back in the court of their regional archrival, Iran, and by extension, Iraq..It almost appears that Saudi Arabia has taken a page from the Frank Underwood playbook when it comes to managing the cartel relations." How 'bout Brookings? - "The handling of these three encounters among wary adversaries underscores trends already evident in Saudi foreign policy: the increasing centrality of Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s deputy crown prince and defense minister, in shaping Saudi strategy, and the audacity—even incaution—with which he approaches the strategic schism between the kingdom and Iran. " Let's be honest - when energy, economic and military policy are in the hands of one guy - and when the f'n Brookings Institution suggests that guy is the crazy one compared to Iran - things are about to get worse, not better.One former senior U.S. military officer who recently met with the prince says the royal told him he’s ready to let women drive but is waiting for the right moment to confront the conservative religious establishment, which dominates social and religious life.
So this is a 32-year-old guy reviled throughout the royal family as a ruthless power-grabber who is buying high and selling low. It basically comes down to "we want to sell stuff because that's the only way we can support the lifestyles to which we've become accustomed." Two quotes from the article:This winter, many Saudis took to Twitter, their favored means of uncensored discourse, to vent about a jump of as much as 1,000 percent in water bills and to complain about the prospect of Saudi Aramco, the nation’s patrimony, being sold off to finance the investment fantasies of a royal neophyte.
The evening of March 30 is spent on standby; the word comes at 8:30 p.m. Three Mercedes-Benzes arrive. Even headed to an interview about thrift, there’s no escaping decadence: The cars appear brand-new, with seats wrapped in plastic and safety belts that have never been used.