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Anti-corruption body says 674 people have been investigated and 298 face charges
Saudi Arabia’s rash but ruthless 34-year-old heir looks out of his depth
...“Sometimes our sport is very narrow minded,” said Mr Hearn, the mud-brick remains of the ruling al-Saud family’s ancestral home providing the backdrop to the setting....
...“MBN was the closest partner the US has had in fighting al-Qaeda, anywhere around the world, period,” said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA analyst who worked on Saudi Arabia for decades....
...The al-Saud, understanding that over-reach and family rivalries brought down the first two Saudi kingdoms in the 19th century, have learnt to respect caution and revere consensus....
...The problem is that the very characteristics that make Prince Muhammad the great reformist hope also risk backfiring....
...It hints at continued turmoil and intrigue in the House of Saud in the wake of reports that Mohammed bin Nayef has been kept under house arrest....
...likely to alarm royals concerned about Prince Mohammed leapfrogging ahead Mohammed bin Nayaf, 57, a far more experienced operator who had earned respect at home and abroad for leading the fight against al-Qaeda...
...But the move to replace him risks triggering divisions within the ranks of the ruling al-Saud family, given the private concerns among some family members about the rise of the inexperienced Prince Mohammed...
...Saud....
...Its future ruler is rewriting a social contract whereby Saudis forgo political rights and offer fealty to the House of Saud in return for public sector jobs and cradle-to-grave, oil-funded welfare....
...Muhammad bin Nayef, the previous crown prince, had only been heir apparent since April 2015, when King Salman relieved his own younger half-brother from the position....
...The most dramatic shake-up in the House of Saud in decades would have required at least a nod from the White House, the Saudis’ biggest ally and protector. One can only assume that Mr Trump obliged....
...This year, MbS has dominated, eclipsing MbN (Muhammad bin Nayef, the Saudi crown prince), MbZ (Abu Dhabi crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed) and MbR (Dubai ruler Mohammed bin Rashid)....
...as a throwback to an earlier era, but it hinged on a very modern method of communication: a messaging group between the smartphones of Saudi Arabia’s delegation in Vienna and Prince Mohammed bin Salman al-Saud...
...The diplomatic break with Iran, and rupture with Lebanon, came after the Saudi execution in January of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a dissident Shia cleric....
...Father of two daughters, he presents no dynastic competition to other members of al-Saud. If he reigns, he cannot pass the throne to his progeny....
...Wahhabis allied to the al-Sauds, ancestors of today’s Saudi ruling family, set upon far-flung shrines in Mecca and Medina in the early 1800s, as well as the holy Shia cities of Najaf and Karbala in Iraq....
...Local companies have taken out giant billboards pledging allegiance to the “decisive and determined” King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, while ordinary Saudis have taken to social media to show their support...
...“For me it’s business as usual,” says Abdallah Muhammad al-Amri, a social media entrepreneur....
...For example, Hanan al-Shaykh writes eloquently on woman’s sexuality and shame, influenced by a strict Shi’a upbringing in Lebanon, while Cairo-based journalist Shereen El Feki’s offers a more light-hearted...
...An especially puritanical and uncompromising version of this belief can be traced back to the 18th-century revivalist Muhammad ibn Abd-al Wahhab, whose alliance with the Saud dynasty in north-eastern Arabia...
...King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud and his supremely ambitious son Prince Muhammad bin Salman – who at the age of 30 is now not just deputy crown prince, chief of the Royal Court and chairman of the Council...
...From Mr Mohammed bin Nawaf Al Saud....
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