does MBS hold all the cards?

a new Middle East?

Two stories appeared this Friday on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) that strike me as noteworthy, a classic case of actions creating consequences that can be really complicated, if not downright untenable.

We should recall the controversies about the ambitious de facto Saudi ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS). Many people still blame him directly as the person who ordered members of his staff to assassinate—by chain saw dismemberment—of a regime critic, Jamal Khashoggi, four and a half years ago in Istanbul. MBS assured the Trump administration the allegations were false but he is definitely a bete noire for many in the United States over that incident alone.

The scope of his ambitions also prove troublesome for many. Originally hailed as a reformer because of actions which appeared somewhat liberating for long-restricted Saudi women, his now more than decade running the nation things no longer seem advancing as steadily. More importantly in international affairs, MBS has pursued a devastating proxy war against Iran’s allies in neighbouring Yemen.

The Kingdom’s rulers, entrusted as the protectors of the two holy sites (Mecca and Medina), represent a focal point for Sunni Islam. With the peninsula long home for radicalised forces fearing the religion’s eroding purity, the Royal Family tries balancing the demands of the Wahhabi fundamentalists with the de facto lavish (perhaps decadent) lifestyle of the elite in society. Criticism of the al-Saud’s bringing