MBS: The Rise to Power of Mohammed bin Salman — a palace coup | Financial Times:
Barring accident or assassination, Mohammed bin Salman is destined to become king of Saudi Arabia, the first monarch of the third generation to rule the country founded by his grandfather Ibn Saud in 1932. At only 34, Crown Prince Mohammed — often known by his initials MBS — is already a deeply divisive figure.
He has won praise from supporters, including much of the country’s youth, as a long-awaited game-changer. His far-reaching plans — known as Vision 2030 — promise a future that will free the kingdom both from dependence on oil and the stifling effects of religious ultraconservatism. But critics and opponents see him as harbinger of a new Saudi nationalism, an accessory to murder and a ruthless dictator in the making whose fanatical hatred of Iran has split the consensus of Gulf states, boycotting Qatar and creating a humanitarian disaster in Yemen.
In this engaging account, Ben Hubbard shows both sides of the story, bringing his narrative alive with a host of insights, conversations, anecdotes and details. We learn how, as a young prince, Mohammed forged bonds with other teenagers by renting a fleet of jet skis for them. By royal Saudi standards, the family was not especially wealthy. Before becoming king, Mohammed’s father Salman, governor of Riyadh, had no personal “fortune”, unlike other princes who became hugely rich on commissions.
Part of Prince Mohammed’s motivation, Hubbard suggests, may be driven by his envy of wealthier cousins. Hence the lavish spending on Bugattis, super yachts and an ersatz “Louis XIV” palace in the Paris suburbs, along with the milking of royal princes and wealthy merchants who were incarcerated in the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh until they paid up after admitting “corruption”. Up until his mid-twenties, “there was little reason to expect that he would become more than a middling prince who dabbled in business and pitched up abroad now and then for a fancy vacation”.
Barring accident or assassination, Mohammed bin Salman is destined to become king of Saudi Arabia, the first monarch of the third generation to rule the country founded by his grandfather Ibn Saud in 1932. At only 34, Crown Prince Mohammed — often known by his initials MBS — is already a deeply divisive figure.
He has won praise from supporters, including much of the country’s youth, as a long-awaited game-changer. His far-reaching plans — known as Vision 2030 — promise a future that will free the kingdom both from dependence on oil and the stifling effects of religious ultraconservatism. But critics and opponents see him as harbinger of a new Saudi nationalism, an accessory to murder and a ruthless dictator in the making whose fanatical hatred of Iran has split the consensus of Gulf states, boycotting Qatar and creating a humanitarian disaster in Yemen.
In this engaging account, Ben Hubbard shows both sides of the story, bringing his narrative alive with a host of insights, conversations, anecdotes and details. We learn how, as a young prince, Mohammed forged bonds with other teenagers by renting a fleet of jet skis for them. By royal Saudi standards, the family was not especially wealthy. Before becoming king, Mohammed’s father Salman, governor of Riyadh, had no personal “fortune”, unlike other princes who became hugely rich on commissions.
Part of Prince Mohammed’s motivation, Hubbard suggests, may be driven by his envy of wealthier cousins. Hence the lavish spending on Bugattis, super yachts and an ersatz “Louis XIV” palace in the Paris suburbs, along with the milking of royal princes and wealthy merchants who were incarcerated in the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh until they paid up after admitting “corruption”. Up until his mid-twenties, “there was little reason to expect that he would become more than a middling prince who dabbled in business and pitched up abroad now and then for a fancy vacation”.
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