Crescent International
Mohammed bin Salman’s (MbS) recent interview on state-owned Rotana television reaffirmed many realities about the Saudi regime which seem to be obvious to everyone except the Saudis.
The social media concentrated primarily on MbS’s involuntary bodily movements.
They raised questions about his physical wellbeing and possible addiction issues.
His generic statements, however, sounded more like slogans and were aimed at concealing the country’s real situation.
They revealed a lot more than meets the eye.
It should be kept in mind that MbS’ interview was directed mainly at the domestic audience.
His statements about socio-economic goals, disconnected from the country’s economic reality, were aimed at convincing the domestic audience, not outsiders.
For a regime so dependent on external props for survival, this propaganda strategy highlights the reality that the ruling caste considers its own citizens as simpletons.
Among MbS’ most significant statements were his foreign policy-related proclamations.
He said he wants to develop close ties with Russia and China, end his humiliating war in Yemen and reduce tensions with Islamic Iran.
The statement about China and Russia were clearly aimed at the US regime to blackmail it with a potential redirection of Riyadh’s political compass towards Beijing and Moscow.
The experiences of Saddam Husain, Hosni Mubarak and Muammar Qadhafi show that the US does not look kindly upon its vassals that try to chart their own rules for political subservience.
The While House will certainly smack the Saudis back into orderly subservience.
MbS’ Yemen statement shows that he and his clique have totally lost touch with reality.
The war in Yemen is in the phase where the Yemeni side will determine how, when and where it ends.
The Saudis no longer determine the crucial parameters of the ongoing war in Yemen.
Yousef Mawry, a Yemeni American journalist with 10 years’ experience in the field, had predicted since the start of Saudi aggression in March 2015 that the AnsarAllah movement will take the war into the dark kingdom and its strategic ideological priority is the liberation of Makkah and Madinah from Saudi clutches.
Some people dismissed Mawry’s statements as illusionary especially those that followed him on his Facebook page.
Four years later, as the Yemenis successfully took the fight into Saudi territory, more people are now paying attention to his seasoned analysis on Yemen.
MbS’ conciliatory statement towards Iran essentially represents the raising of the white flag.
The Saudi despots have not given up on their agenda of being Israel’s and US’ regional destabilizers.
This is something Iran and its regional allies understand well.
While Tehran will engage Riyadh politically, Iran is not going to reduce pressure on the region’s principal destabilizer.
Regional developments are evolving against the Saudi regime’s desires.
This is something Yusuf bin Alawi, former Omani foreign minister and a veteran of Arab affairs, noted last week.
As reported in Middle East Eye, Alawi stated that “perhaps, one spring in our Arab region is not enough, because nothing changed.”
Islamic leadership in Tehran understands well that it managed to force the Saudis to raise the white flag through steadfast resistance to its designs, not by playing ball with it.
While MbS might have hoped to smooth his regime’s political and economic mishaps by conducting a choreographed interview, his low-level education and crude persona unmasked the weaknesses of the regime to its core.
Those who have suffered from Riyadh’s mischiefs for decades will take notice and continue to corner the wounded beast.
