The incredible influence of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
Trump holds up a chart of military sales to Saudi Arabia during an Oval Office meeting with Mohammed bin Salman. Photo: Kevin Dietsch / Pool via Getty Images
As Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman continues his grand tour of the U.S., The New Yorker's Dexter Filkins delivers a paragraph in "A Saudi Prince’s Quest to Remake the Middle East" that could have a whole book written about it:
"[I]n the months that followed [Trump's May 2017 summit in Riyadh], a series of dramatic events suggested that the attendees had quietly made a number of major decisions. Trump declared that the U.S. would move its Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to East Jerusalem ... M.B.S. leapfrogged over [his cousin Mohammed] bin Nayef to become crown prince. And the Gulf monarchies, led by Saudi Arabia, entered an open confrontation with Qatar."
The crown prince's "purges of rivals, and his creation of what amounted to a cult of personality, appeared ... to leave the country’s institutions enfeebled. ... Still, his supporters in both Washington and Riyadh feel that, whatever his faults, the alternative would be worse."
Why it matters: "The appointments of Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State and John Bolton as national-security adviser presage an even more hawkish era, in which there will be few constraints on M.B.S.’s regional ambitions."
P.S. Hollywood gives M.B.S. the royal treatment, per L.A. Times:
"The royal heir apparent, who learned English by watching films as a child, is expected to dine at producer Brian Grazer’s Santa Monica home, attend an event at Rupert Murdoch’s Bel-Air estate and meet with show business power players, including talent agency boss Ari Emanuel and Walt Disney Co. chief Bob Iger."
