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  • Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed

  • bin Salman isn't waiting for his

  • turn at the throne to take his country

  • in a radically different direction.

  • The 32 year old prince is distancing

  • himself from hardline Islam

  • progressing women's rights

  • and looking past oil for income.

  • But not since the reign of the country's founder

  • has this much power been in one man's

  • hands.

  • Here's a man who identifies

  • himself as the leader of this country.

  • Even though his father still remains king

  • this is the story of a Saudi millennial

  • whose progressive yet autocratic tendencies

  • are sending shock waves through the entire

  • region.

  • Mohammad bin Salman also known as

  • MBS hasn't always been in

  • line for the Saudi throne.

  • For decades the throne has been passed

  • from elderly brother to a slightly less

  • elderly brother.

  • All sons of the founder of Saudi Arabia.

  • But MBS is set to buck

  • that trend.

  • His relationship

  • with his father has put him in a position

  • that has allowed him to leapfrog

  • other members of his immediate

  • family because of the trust of his father

  • seemingly has in him

  • that close bond was years in the

  • making.

  • Unlike his brothers the prince was educated

  • in Saudi Arabia.

  • He was by his father's side

  • through most of most of his childhood

  • and so he understands how

  • the royal family works.

  • From an insider's playbook

  • a few years after graduating from King

  • Saud University the prince went to

  • work for his father then the governor

  • of Riyadh in 2011.

  • His father was named defense minister.

  • But MBS was initially barred from entering

  • the ministry because of rumors that he was

  • disruptive and power hungry.

  • Gradually the prince worked his way back

  • into the then kings good graces

  • and he was assigned to Ministry of Defence

  • where he brought in western consulting firms

  • to streamline bureaucratic inefficiencies.

  • In 2015 his father became

  • king and gave his favorite son unprecedented

  • control over the majority of government.

  • The Prince became known as Mr.

  • Everything.

  • Finally in the summer of 2017

  • the king named him crown prince

  • the first in line bypassing his

  • uncle one of many older

  • and more experienced statesmen.

  • He would describe himself as

  • the first Saudi

  • leader of this stature

  • raised in the Internet

  • age

  • and as someone who grew

  • up playing video games.

  • Peter Waldman writes about the Middle East

  • interviewed the prince for Businessweek

  • he compares himself to the

  • Silicon Valley entrepreneurs

  • and says I'm going to take my state

  • in a kind of visionary

  • direction.

  • In 2016 the prince launched

  • Vision 2030 his plan

  • to transform Saudi Arabia by

  • weaning the nation off of oil

  • and liberalizing society.

  • He's lifted the prohibition on women

  • driving. He's introduced public

  • entertainment such as concerts

  • and he's allowed cinemas to

  • open.

  • The prince also plans to fulfill what

  • he calls different dreams

  • for a post carbon future

  • a major piece of that plan is to sell

  • shares in a state owned oil company

  • Saudi Aramco which could create

  • the biggest IPO in history.

  • The reaction to the Aramco IPO

  • has been one

  • of them

  • and I think a bit of shock depending on where you're

  • looking at it.

  • For years the kingdom has relied on petroleum

  • for 90 percent of the state budget.

  • Almost all of its export earnings

  • and more than half of its gross domestic

  • product.

  • They brought in huge oil revenues

  • and spent it for their own

  • survival as a royal

  • family in terms of subsidising

  • lifestyles among Saudis

  • so they wouldn't push back

  • against this very autocratic

  • family.

  • The collapse of oil prices from one hundred forty

  • dollars a barrel to the 30s in 2016

  • caused the IMF to declare that the country

  • would be bankrupt by 2020 if

  • it carried on spending as much as it does.

  • What this 32 year old prince

  • has said very clearly is

  • we can no longer rely on oil

  • to fund our lifestyles.

  • We have to begin to contribute

  • on a personal level to work

  • to be entrepreneurial to find

  • investments to find businesses

  • like a normal state.

  • The crown prince introduced taxes

  • slashed handouts

  • and is trying to make Saudis actually

  • pay for the energy they consume.

  • The prince also heads an anti-corruption

  • commission and in the fall of 2017

  • he carried out an unprecedented purge

  • of the Saudi elite arresting

  • four ministers 11 princes

  • and countless businessmen.

  • Most were freed after returning what were

  • alleged to be ill gotten gains

  • by taking on his cousins in

  • the royal family.

  • He's sending a signal that

  • he is dead serious about

  • changing the Saudi system.

  • However it has not apply to himself

  • thus far

  • and I think his own personal

  • excesses undermine

  • the signal he's trying to send.

  • While his approach may seem unforgiving

  • Mbius is shaping the Middle East

  • in ways no one could really have ever

  • imagined

  • and being so young he's likely to

  • hold power for over a half century

  • meaning there will be continuity of government

  • but without the checks

  • and balances needed to prevent a dictatorship.

  • Saudi Arabia is a police state

  • from top to bottom

  • and it will continue to be for

  • the foreseeable future.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed

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