Posted on 11/22/2017 1:51:45 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Saudis Are Hoping Mohammed bin Salman Will Drain the Swamp
A road trip among ordinary Saudis revealed high hopes, and hardly any worries, about the country's new political era.
BY STEVEN A. COOK | NOVEMBER 21, 2017, 12:46 PM
We must be doing 80 miles per hour on a rutted road outside the northwestern Saudi town of Ula. It is late and I am tired, but Ive got one eye on the road and one eye on the dashboard indicator light signaling that the Chevy Tahoe in which I am traveling has low tire pressure. What would happen if this thing rolled over? Do I remember how to say, Im allergic to aspirin in Arabic?
Abu Najib our driver, whose name, like all of those in this article, has been changed does not seem concerned. He just keeps weaving from one side of the road to the other, avoiding ruts and bumps. When we met 25 minutes ago, he offered a lame handshake and seemed unnaturally shy for a guy built like a tank. I break the ice when he quietly asks me my name and I deadpan, Mohammed bin Salman. He laughs, and for the next two days, Abu Najib, his buddy Mohammed, and I are in a running dialogue.
I am on a road trip through Saudi Arabia with six Americans that will take us to Jeddah, Ula, Hail, Riyadh, and Dammam before it is all over. Along for the ride with me are two retired professors, a publisher, a former pharmaceutical executive who also was once a successful local politician, a real estate developer, and a retired financial services executive.
(Excerpt) Read more at foreignpolicy.com ...
Need something else entirely to drain that swamp.
Thanks TigerLikesRooster.
Which Saudis are hoping?
The events unfolding in Saudi Arabia get zero airtime on the U.S. MSM. No surprise with all their focus being on Trump-hate.
I have the suspicion all the corruption being exposed in Saudi Arabia will inevitably point back to certain politicians in this country who are fully invested in The Swamp. Then it’s going to get very interesting.
1) Lobby enviros to suppress fracking industry.
2) Lobby for designating (radical) Muslims as a new victim group, promoting radical Islam.
Bushes were on their pocket, too. And probably many more.
This is a big development. Trump's first successful hit on the Swamp did not happen in U.S. but in Saudi.
This is a big development. Trump’s first successful hit on the Swamp did not happen in U.S. but in Saudi.
Yup. The dominoes are beginning to topple.
No matter what happens, Sows will be Sows.
The only way to drain the Saudi swamp is to stop subsidizing radical Wahhabi clerics with oil money, and to imprison or kill the most vocal and powerful ones. Without the influence of the clerics, Saudi Arabia could become a semi-normal country like Jordan under King Adbullah.
Mohammed bin Salman has the opportunity to become an Arab version of Ataturk, something which would have been unthinkable over the past three administrations.
Thanks
Whenever I look for reform, I am relieved when I learn that the reformer’s name is MOOhammed.
We'll have to see what bin Salman's real agenda is. His arrests and purges could be driven more by a desire to eliminate rival factions and consolidate power than by a desire to secularize Saudi Arabia. On the other hand, he may very well want to try to take Saudi Arabia out of the Dark Ages through secularization. Secular autocrats not beholden to clerics are the best you can hope for in the Middle East.
anyone here following Thomas Wictor over on twitter?
He’s been closely following events in Saudi Arabia for some time. If he’s right about what is going on in KSA, the Gulf Cooperation Council and Israel there is a major historical change occurring and the MSM is oblivious to it all.
“there is a major historical change occurring”
Sure looks like it.
Although it takes a very strong leader to do what the new Crown Prince (MBS) is doing, most of it needed to be done anyhow - the tides of history demand change.
Oil revenues are no longer able to pay for everything anymore, and likely never will be again. The Saudi economy must diversify for real. Big budget adjustments are needed every year - there is no slack left for incremental changes.
Iran is rising militarily, encircling Saudi Arabia rapidly and shooting is ongoing. They desperately need to change that.
The younger generation in Saudi Arabia has very different attitudes from the older, and there are a lot more of them than the older generation. They have mostly seen the outside world, and have Internet.
The Country can’t sustain lavish allowances for a Royal Family of thousands of Princes and Princesses, as their number explodes with each generation. That system has to change, at least to a limited direct line.
Wahabbism has turned into a truly horrific global monster (ISIS, al Queda, etc.) that is increasingly blowing back on the Saudi sponsors. If they are not part of the solution, they risk being destroyed as part of the problem.
Nothing goes on forever, and major historical trends in Saudi Arabia have run their course. An historic change is called for.
You are correct. But even in the worst case scenario, one gang of thugs smashing another such gang is not necessarily a bad thing.
The proposed city/region/zone of Neom is the Saudi bid to modernize and to replace their dependency on oil; I think young Salman is in favor of this:
Salman is also rumored to be putting an end to Wahhabism, at least to it’s role in Saudi Arabia. He’s said to want a pluralistic humane culture- I guess that will be put to the test if and when someone wants to open a Christian church or a synagogue somewhere in KSA.
Bizarrely enough Obama may well have instigated the reform movement in KSA and the Gulf Cooperation Council, and their relationship with Israel- they decided that they could not trust the United States if we are led by Obama or someone like him. So with the belief that Iran is a threat to their very survival, KSA, Israel and the GCC began collaborating and have developed into a formidable military force. The destruction of ISIS in Mosul and Raqqa was done by them. If this information is accurate their next target will be Hezbollah in Lebanon. And if any of this is being reported in the MSM I don’t know of it.
Not oblivious. Ignoring it.
They’re on the wrong side of all of it as Islamic apologists and supporters. Carter started all this crap. Not really sure what Reagan did or didn’t do. But since Bush #1 to obama, not a damn thing was done except to make the place more chaotic, dangerous and out of control. For obama, it seems like it was a perfect opportunity to show his outright support for all of it and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Pres Trump shows up and in less than one year, is setting up a coalition to help bring stability to the region. Thrown in what MBS is doing and these tow guys and the rest of the coalition are doing more than any of the previous administrations, combined.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.