Two weeks ago, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman carried out a brutal crackdown on his political opponents, arresting dozens of high-ranking relatives, kidnapping the prime minister of Lebanon, and seeing eight of his political rivals die in a convenient helicopter crash. The ‘consolidation of power’ by the de facto Saudi ruler comes as his government ramps up its siege of Yemen and gets even closer to its US sponsor, thanks to Trump’s dopey love affair with – and direct assistance of – the regime.
***
The cynical plan has been met, in some media quarters, with condemnation, but for many in the Western press, Mohammed’s self-serving power grab is the action of a bold ‘reformer,’ a roguish bad boy doing the messy but essential work of ‘reforming’ the kingdom – the ‘anti-corruption’ pretext of the purge largely repeated without qualification.
This post was published at Zero Hedge on Nov 21, 2017.
Recent Comments