In response to an FT View on 22nd June 2017, entitled 'A Saudi Prince comes close to absolute power'
“After King Salman ascended the Saudi throne in 2015, he handed most of the keys to the kingdom to Mohammed bin Salman. His untried but dynamic 31-year-old son was made overlord of the economy and oil industry as well as defence and foreign policy chief. This week the king deposed his nephew Mohammed bin Nayef and made MbS, as he is widely known, crown prince. Once the power behind the throne, MbS is now indisputably the power. This carries risks…
‘Mr Everything’, as he is also nicknamed, will have absolute power — but there will be no one to share the pressure when crises strike. That is certainly risky, and it may become scary”
Aw diddums. What a poor guy. How much more scary it must be for him than for the Saudi citizens who disappear without trace, the women who get stoned, or the folks who get their heads chopped off… not to mention the wives and infants of the Yemenis you so compassionately describe as a ‘rag-tag of Houthi rebels’…dying from the impact of British and American made shells, naval block induced starvation, and a cholera outbreak the UN describes as 'the world's worse humanitarian disaster'
Saudi Arabia is a marriage of convenience between a family oil business and a fundamentalist cult, put in place by the British, supported by the US, and kept there by us both by virtue of its importance to the hegemony of the greenback.
And coverage such as this editorial is a pathetic excuse for journalism.
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I think perhaps Mohammad bin Salman’s mum must have been following the comments:
“I lived there and never heard of women being stoned. You're confusing with Iran. Neither did I hear of people disappear”
I was forced to admit my confusion:
‘Sure, I'm confusing Saudi with Iran. It's easy to confuse a country where women have to be driven around by a male relative, with one where young kids party in the street and use their iPhones to let the world know how ecstatic they are that the reformer they just voted for beat the hardliner in a presidential election. I must also be confused about the 9/11 guys - they all came from Iran right?’
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My wife says I shouldn’t resort to sarcasm with other posters. She’s probably right - clearly, I’m taking things far too personally…time for a break.
Have a good weekend.
MarkGB