Bin Salman as A Crown Prince: Adventurer in A Chaotic Kingdom!

Mohammad  Bin Salman has become deputy King of his father Salman after the ousting of Mohammad Bin Nayef, and stripping him of all his positions and deposing him out of power.

The major development in Saudi internal politics is hardly internal. It is an established fact in the kingdom that a king to be, should first take the blessings of the White House, and after that comes the consent of the royal  family. As such goes also the story of MBS.

It was during the March visit to Washington and with the heavy lobbying، grooming and mediation of Emirates strongman Mohammad Bin Zayid that Bin Salman has had the opportunity to finalize a strategic deal with the White House to become the acting King of Saudi Arabia after his sick father Salman.

Bin Salman has emerged to be the strongest man in Saudi Arabia due  his father sickness though he is only 31 years old.

All the levers of power are now in the hands of a young, inexperienced and risk-taking man, who in his short time in power as defense minister has established a reputation for recklessness and irresponsibility.

He launched a war against Yemen and went in a tourist visit to the Maldives. When the White House wanted him it took days to find him.

Each file bin Salman has handled found its way into total failure.

The war against Yemen reached a deadlock, Riyadh is engulfed in a vicious cycle and cannot make any breakthrough and has turned to be a war of attrition.

The war against Syria, which Saudi Arabia took part in, has equally come to a failure as the Syrian government and its allies have been able to stand steadfast and gain major successes in battlefields and politics.

The Saudi-backed war against Iraq has failed completely to achieve any of its goals and the Iraqis have been able to liberate most of the territories controlled by Daesh (Arabic acronym for ISIL Takfiri group).

Even his last siege and crackdown against Qatar has turned to the latter’s favor and presented Doha as a victim of Bin Salman’s childish and reactionary policies.

On the economic level,  the results he yielded are no better. He made drastic pay cuts to government employees, warning the country would be bankrupt in five years. Then he reversed the cuts, claiming financial stability had been created. Then he committed himself to up to $500bn of military purchases from America. This all came at a time when the oil prices have come to its lowest  level in years.

The vision 2030 of Bin Salman has proved so far to be an amateurish short- sighted one. It is not anticipated at all that his economic plans would do his country any good.

The young crown prince is playing all  his cards at one time, counting on the American help to sustain his power. History lessons would not last long or fall on hearing ears when it comes to dynasties. Counting on USA did not help Iran’s shah to stay in power when the Islamic revolution erupted back in 1979. Iran was then the number one US-backed state in the Gulf. Would the US care more for the Saudi sinking ship under Bin Salman? Only the future would answer such question. Most probably the answer is not going to be a good one for Riyadh.

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