Thoughts about my fist visit to the Kingdom, one of the most fascinating—and optimistic—places in the world. And, for the Right in America, there's much to learn from the new Saudi national project.
Wow. Eye opening article. This deep and fast of a change seems unlikely and potentially destabilizing. Is this solely MBS driven? Any signs of real push back from the prior establishment?
You tweeted about your trip a bit ago and one of your tweets was in Arabic. That I follow you on Twitter was enough for the algorithm to start showing me lots of tweets entirely in Arabic by people that only tweet in Arabic. Pretty funny. Had to click lots and lots of “not interested in this tweet” before it stopped.
Just thought I’d share in case you thought your trip didn’t cause any trouble. ;)
I suppose the question is, can these reforms outlast the ruler? Or could (God forbid) a coup or worse put an end to all this and return Saudi society to its pre-MBS Islamism?
I think it’s very clear what MBS is doing--including some of the crackdowns on judges recently: he wants to be the guy who decides the pace of reform. It might not be pretty from the outside, especially compared to the west-but it’s effective.
This is amazing!
Thank you. You’re sweet.
Wow. Eye opening article. This deep and fast of a change seems unlikely and potentially destabilizing. Is this solely MBS driven? Any signs of real push back from the prior establishment?
It won’t be destabilizing, because MBS’ opening act was ensuring that he will have the authority to do his job.
You tweeted about your trip a bit ago and one of your tweets was in Arabic. That I follow you on Twitter was enough for the algorithm to start showing me lots of tweets entirely in Arabic by people that only tweet in Arabic. Pretty funny. Had to click lots and lots of “not interested in this tweet” before it stopped.
Just thought I’d share in case you thought your trip didn’t cause any trouble. ;)
Really? That’s wild. Thank you for sticking with it and reading.
I suppose the question is, can these reforms outlast the ruler? Or could (God forbid) a coup or worse put an end to all this and return Saudi society to its pre-MBS Islamism?
Authority yes. Enough popular support from the old guard? That’s what I’m wondering.
I think it’s very clear what MBS is doing--including some of the crackdowns on judges recently: he wants to be the guy who decides the pace of reform. It might not be pretty from the outside, especially compared to the west-but it’s effective.