Arab Spring In New Saudi Arabia! Thank You, Our Crown Prince
29 November 2017By Dr. Khaled M.
Batarfi
THE Lebanese journalist exclaimed: "You have occupied the media world,
Saudis!" Most headlines in newspapers, TV channels and radio stations, beside
the social media, have been allocated to you for two years now. Take, for
example, these three mega issues raised in one day: The war on corruption, the
Iranian missile on Riyadh, and the Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri's
resignation, being announced in Saudi Arabia!"
"I have postponed my vacation, repeatedly, because of you guys! Finally I am
allowed to take it next week. Could you please take some rest and let me have
my much-awaited and needed break," she added, laughing.
She called again, less than 48 hours later, to ask for my comments on Crown
Prince Muhammad Bin Salman's interview with The New York Times! I joked: It
seems your vacation will be postponed, once more!
The NYT's famous writer, Thomas Friedman, was right when he commented on his
meeting with the Prince that for the first time an Arab leader wore him out.
After being flooded for four hours by information and ideas, he felt unable to
continue!
The new Saudi Arabia is witnessing a successful Arab spring because, as the
Prince explained, the change began from the top. The leadership took the
initiative to reform the system, reshape the government and fight corruption
starting from the elite downward. The Arab revolutions have failed because
they arose from the bottom up.
I would add that this is not new. It started with the first Saudi state, three
centuries ago, to unite the country, reform the regime and develop society
under the reign of Imam Muhammad Bin Saud. The same occurred in the second and
third Saudi state, during the reign of King Abdulaziz, who placed it on the
path of development at the turn of the twentieth century. Today, under the
rule of the seventh king, of the third state, King Salman, and his heir, Crown
Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, the fourth Saudi state is being built. Radical
reforms continue the march of the nation to join the Superpower Club of the
second millennium.
The interview of MBS (as the crown prince is now known in the international
media) included several issues. The most important was the chronic disease,
corruption, which had to be treated promptly and effectively, if the Kingdom
wished to stay in the league of the world's top 20 economies (G20), and to
successfully implement its Vision 2030.
The depletion of resources by 10 percent per year for four decades has been
accompanied by fraudulent projects, faulty plans, under incompetent
management, supervision and implementation. All the above has been
demonstrated by Jeddah floods that have been drowning us over and over again
in the last 50 years, up to the recent disasters of 2010, 2014 and 2015. The
first project for the disposal of rainwater and floods was announced after the
1970 flood, and has been included in the first five-year development plan, and
every development plan since. However, according to Jeddah Municipality, only
18 percent of this project was completed, most of which are dilapidated,
despite all the billions of riyals spent over the last five decades.
What I liked most in the interview is how the Crown Prince, as usual, called
things, events and people by their real names. Apart from corruption, he
described Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as the world's new
Hitler. It is an apt description. Adolf Hitler, too, led an aggressive,
expansionist war to achieve world domination. He was driven by Aryan racism
and Nazi ideology that eventually destroyed much of the world and his country.
He also called for death to Jews and the rest of his enemies. The policy of
containment and appeasement failed, forcing Europe and its allies to confront
him after he became stronger and more dangerous.
Today, history is repeating itself with Iran and its Safavid dictator. The
world has offered the Grand Mullah a profitable nuclear agreement. US
President Barack Obama turned a blind eye to Iran's sponsorship of terrorism
and destructive behavior. Europe is falling over itself to make profitable
business deals with the rogue nation. If this policy does not change soon, we
will pay a hefty price after the mullahs complete their nuclear program few
years down the road, besides the present nuclear-carrying missile project. The
Revolutionary Guards are already threatening Europe with their new,
longer-range ballistic missiles, exactly as their North Korean partners are
threatening their neighbors and the United States.
Thank you, our Crown Prince. We have been thrilled with your vision and
determination to complete the historic project of the Fourth Saudi State
without hesitation, reluctance or postponement.
— Dr. Khaled M. Batarfi is a Saudi writer based in Jeddah. He can be
reached at kbatarfi@gmail.com. Follow him at Twitter:@kbatarfi
©
EsinIslam.Com
Add Comments