The Millennial’s Palace Coup in Saudi Arabia: How Dangerous?
June 21, 2017
The epic battle in the Trump White House between Jared Kushner, the Orthodox Jewish son-in-law, and Steve Bannon, the alt-NeoNazi White House strategist, is hard to top.
But Saudi Arabia just topped it?
Saudi Arabia just topped it.
King Salman just fired the crown prince and made his son, Muhammad bin Salman, heir apparent.
the new crown prince is a foreign policy adventurer and hard liner who said just last month that there can be no compromise with Iran.
The octogenarian King Salman acceded to the throne in January of 2015. He has made several changes in his cabinet since then, but by last year the two most important figures in it were Muhammad bin Naif, 57, his nephew and the crown prince, and Muhammad bin Salman, 32, his son.
Muhammad bin Naif had become the minister of the interior, a position his father had also filled at one point, and was known as master of the deep state. He had taken the lead in the war on terror in 2003-2006 when al-Qaeda launched a concerted attempt to undermine the kingdom through terrorism. He was known for his iron fist policy and for filling jails with suspects. US CIA director Mike Pompeo recently gave him an award.
