Mohammed bin Salman: The Icarus of Saudi Arabia? 9781685851057

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Mohammed bin Salman

Mohammed bin Salman The Icarus of Saudi Arabia?

David B. Ottaway

b o u l d e r l o n d o n

Published in the United States of America in 2021 by Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc. 1800 30th Street, Boulder, Colorado 80301 www.rienner.com

and in the United Kingdom by Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc. Gray’s Inn House, 127 Clerkenwell Road, London EC1 5DB www.eurospanbookstore.com/rienner

© 2021 by Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Ottaway, David, author. Title: Mohammed bin Salman : the Icarus of Saudi Arabia? / David B. Ottaway. Description: Boulder, Colorado : Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc., 2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “Sheds light on the conundrums at the heart of any attempt to understand Saudi Arabia—and the man who is poised to rule the country for decades to come”— Provided by publisher. Identifiers: LCCN 2021015855 | ISBN 9781626379787 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781626379800 (paperback) Subjects: LCSH: Āl Saʻūd, Muḥammad bin Salmān bin ʻAbd al-ʻAzīz, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, 1985– | Saudi Arabia—Politics and government—21st century. Classification: LCC DS244.526.A4553 O88 2021 | DDC 953.805/4092 [B]—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021015855

British Cataloguing in Publication Data A Cataloguing in Publication record for this book is available from the British Library.

Printed and bound in the United States of America

The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials Z39.48-1992.

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Contents

Acknowledgments

vii

1 The Conundrums of Saudi Arabia

2 Mohammed bin Salman’s Meteoric Rise to Power

Part 1 The Old Order Crumbles

1

13

3 Upending the House of Saud

29

5 King Salman: The Daedalus of Saudi Arabia

61

4 King Abdullah: The Surprise Reformer

Part 2 The New Saudi Arabia

6 The Kingdom of Mohammed bin Salman 7 The Fourth Industrial Revolution

8 “Who Will Rid Me of This Troublesome Journalist?”

9 The Quest for Great Power Status

10 The Saudi-US Relationship: Too Damaged to Repair?

43

75 95

113

139 165

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Contents

Part 3 Conclusion

11 Prospects for Reform . . . and Repression

199

A Brief Bibliography Index About the Book

219 221 231

Acknowledgments

This book was written at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC, where I have been a Middle East fellow since 2006. I want to thank in particular the center’s stellar library staff, led by Janet Spikes, for all the help it provided before and during the Covid-19 pandemic, which broke out as I was beginning the writing process. A very special thanks goes to John Loessberg, my extremely competent and dedicated research assistant, who helped me throughout this endeavor. I would like to thank the many Saudis who over the years have provided me with their views and assessments of events in interviews and private conversations that were invaluable to understanding the complexities and history of the Saudi kingdom. Chief among them was Jamal Khashoggi, the eminent Saudi journalist and commentator. He was tragically and brutally murdered on October 2, 2018, by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s infamous Tiger Squad inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. His assassination and the arrest of numerous other Saudis for speaking to foreigners have led me to forgo identifying by name so many Saudis whom I would have liked to thank profusely and personally.

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