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posted by martyb on Monday November 06 2017, @04:01PM   Printer-friendly
from the cleaning-house dept.

Something is definitely going on in Saudi Arabia:

Saudi authorities arrested at least 11 princes, several current ministers and dozens of former ministers in a sweeping move reportedly designed to consolidate power for the son of King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud. According to media reports citing Saudi-owned television network Al Arabiya, an anti-corruption committee ordered the arrests hours after King Salman directed the creation of the committee, headed by his favorite son and adviser, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The committee was established by the royal decree, The Associated Press reports, "due to the propensity of some people for abuse, putting their personal interest above public interest, and stealing public funds." Billionaire investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is among those detained, The Wall Street Journal reports. Alwaleed holds stakes in some of the world's major companies, including Apple and Twitter.

Remember Prince Alwaleed? Bitcoin could outlive him.

It's unclear what those arrested are accused of doing, but Al-Arabiya reported that new investigations into the 2009 Jeddah floods and 2012 MERS virus outbreak have been launched.

Separately, the heads of the Saudi National Guard and Saudi Royal Navy have also been replaced.

BBC notes that the reform faction is in control here:

BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says Prince Mohammed is moving to consolidate his growing power while spearheading a reform programme. [...] Prince Mohammed recently said the return of "moderate Islam" was key to his plans to modernise Saudi Arabia. Addressing an economic conference in Riyadh, he vowed to "eradicate the remnants of extremism very soon". Last year, Prince Mohammed unveiled a wide-ranging plan to bring social and economic change to the oil-dependent kingdom.

Some Soylentils have been skeptical of Saudi Arabia's recent moves towards liberalization (some listed below). Has this apparent purge of internal political opposition changed your mind about the viability of these reforms?

Also at NYT and Recode, which notes that the arrest of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is a potential setback for Saudi Arabia's tech ambitions (Alwaleed has had stakes in Apple, Twitter, and Lyft).

Previously: SoftBank May Sell 25% of ARM to Vision Fund; Chairman Meets With Saudi King
Saudi Arabia, UAE to Donate to Women Entrepreneurs Fund
Saudi Arabia to Lift Ban on Online VoIP and Video Calling Services
Saudi Arabia Will Lift Ban on Women Drivers Next Year
Saudi Arabia Planning $500 Billion Megacity and Business Zone
Robot Granted "Citizenship" in Saudi Arabia, Sparking Backlash
Saudi Arabia Announced Plans to Extract Uranium for Domestic Nuclear Power Program


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by HiThere on Monday November 06 2017, @05:58PM (1 child)

    by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Monday November 06 2017, @05:58PM (#593201) Journal

    Sorry, but when there's a lot of power concentrated together in one place, the elimination of potential rivals to the top post isn't exactly "liberalism". It's being portrayed as such, and that's a good PR move, and may indicate the potential for an "enlightened monarch", but the politics looks like "get rid of my rivals for power".

    As to what it actually means, I'm going to wait for actual changes before deciding. This isn't exactly either a hopeful or a disastrous sign. To me this is a sign that normal monarchy politics is going on. Read your MacBeth and understand that that was a historical novel. The actual events took place over a span of around 20 years, but it's a page from Scots history. Richard III is a play that Shakespeare wrote to whitewash a particularly nasty piece of political maneuvering that had taken place a generation or so earlier. Etc. (Nobody really knows what Richard III looked like, or whether he was particularly vile. He could have been, or that could just have been propaganda.) Even regicide by the crown prince isn't that uncommon. And it doesn't mean that the new monarch will be either good or bad as far as his actions towards the populace of the country...though if he's blatant it means he'll be needing to put down a bit of extra unrest.

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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday November 06 2017, @06:08PM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday November 06 2017, @06:08PM (#593209) Journal

    Sorry, but when there's a lot of power concentrated together in one place, the elimination of potential rivals to the top post isn't exactly "liberalism".

    Nor did I say it was. My view is that the actual liberalization, things like allowing women to drive, is more likely to stick if it's being done in conjunction with a successful transfer of power to the next generation of rulers.