Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Where Is Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman?

Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s deputy crown prince, attends a cabinet meeting in Riyadh to approve a broad reform plan known as Vision 2030. Saudi Press Agency via Reuters

Damian Reilly, Spectator: Are reports of Mohammed bin Salman’s death greatly exaggerated?

Has Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman been assassinated, had a breakdown, or gone into hiding? Or is that just wild internet conjecture? I ask only because he has barely been seen in public since prolonged heavy gunfire was heard at the royal palace in Riyadh in the middle of the night on April 21.

At the time Saudi state media dismissed reports on Twitter and elsewhere that the shots were the sound of a coup taking place, insisting instead the semi-automatic gunfire was merely aimed at a recreational drone that had flown too close to the palace walls.

In this age of fake news and heavy Arab media censorship it’s hard to know who to trust, but what seems certain is that the Crown Prince, previously ubiquitous as the international focal point of a cultural revolution in the kingdom, seems suddenly to have vanished.

Social media is ablaze with rumours of the young ruler’s murder. Users are sharing reports of a supposedly secret intelligence dossier that states MBS, as the Crown Prince is known, has been shot twice.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: I have been reading the same rumors. He is dead, wounded, under house arrest, demoted, or in hiding. What's my take. If something serious had happened we would have known about it within a few days. My guess is that he is either busy, or he has decided (or been told by the King) to stay low key.

1 comment:

jimbrown said...

Why were the women's driving groups arrested? On espionage no less. Something is amiss.