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Transcript: Interview with Muhammad bin Salman
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I think this is a fresh start for new Saudi Arabia, and I think Mohmaod bin Salman is very serious. At least he does whatever he say. I don't really understand what the west want from us. I always see people monk us for not having new bloods in Saudi leadership, and when postive and passionate leaders came to office he is labled as naive !! The west always says we depend on USA forces to defend us, yet KSA ware able to defeat Alqiadh and destroy 90% of Iran-base huthoi militia missiles ! The west says KSA support terrorism and ISIS and their idology, but KSA was and is willing to engage to any efforts or alliance to defeat extreme militia !! Anyways, probably the time came to be more active in the region, and young Saudis including myself are looking forward for better Saudi Arabia.
This guy, the unelected Prince whose Daddy is the King, must be a strong candidate for the most dangerous man on Earth.
Let's see-in the job 5 minutes when the Saudis attack Yemen, that sad state now far worse off and further still from a political solution.
Now continue with hanging a prominent cleric who represented political and religious opposition to the lovely Al Saud Royal family, knowing full well that this will stir up trouble wherever Shia are in numbers-even as far as India.
It's difficult to see any good outcome given this guys lack of experience-the Saudi "army"-which is actually composed of many many peoples from around the region, has never been tested in battle, and is now currently led by a rich brat whose gung-ho approach can only spell trouble.
Convert your car to run on horse manure, there is plenty of it to be had for free from the Western media as they brown nose the Saudis.
The Economist is a pompous self-aggrandizing propaganda machine that has no standards other than the double standards. This article is just one of those cases when it is impossible to tell the difference between the Economist and a White House PR agency. Look how cynical is the closing reply from Minton Beddoes to this Prince Charming.
you all "idiots" you don not getting the full picture,we are fighting among themselves whether Shia or Sunni and who is benefiting and escalating,it is this corrupted regime;it is their interest to heighten the tension between Shia and SUNNI and Saudi men can not stand up this corrupted regime ,they have been mentally abuse for years by this outlaw family,may be one day Saudi women will step up to the plate and take men's role;they have no choice.
The interview is grotesque: Mo Salman is just an obnoxious young man preening himself. His frequent use of the first person possessive is indeed revealing, and revolting as well!
In Saudi, sperm creates opportunities, and not talent, hardworking, and experience. This confused man is created from "sperm of a KING".
All you Saudi Haters, remember this:
1. Saudis defeated the Axis (WWII) because of Saudi oil.
2. Saudis defeated the Nasserists in the 1960s (in Yemen and elsewhere).
3. Saudis defeated the Soviets (in Afghanistan).
4. Saudis defeated Saddam (in Kuwait). Saddam met his miserable end because he refused to co-operate with Saudis.
5. Gaddafi met his miserable end because he refused to co-operate with Saudis.
6. Bashar Al-wahsh (beast) will meet his miserable end and Saudis will dismantle Khomeinism after taking over Syria.
5. The final showdown will be with IsraHell.
Saudis are guardians of the two holy mosques, don't mess with them.
Don't forget Saudis also defeated Ikhwaan (Muslim Brotherhood) in Egypt and elsewhere in 2011.
All Saudis internal enemies have been eliminated now. Only left are external enemies. Khomenisim will become history soon after their artificial crescent is crushed in Syria. They are already defeated in Yemen.
Also Khomenism which uses diplomatic ties to create their own cells in sovereign countries has been crushed by Saudis in Nigeria, East Africa.
It seems Saudis are running the world! People in North Korea think the same about their leader ;) In every dictatorship, people exaggerate about their leaders. Why? It is because dictators run their media (and not the world!)
It seems Saudis are running the world! People in North Korea thinks the same about their leader ;) It is because dictators run their media, and not the world!
this family will meet the same fate with "shah"
Saudi Arabia is the core of Islam which gathers all enemies of Islam to fight it.
With Allah's blessing, no one can destroy the core of Islam.
Saudi arabia has been the core of Islam, but not the corrupted dictators of Saudi Kingdom. I don't think Prophet Mohamed was living in palaces like Saudi Kings. I don't think Prophet Mohamad was reserving French beaches for himself!
Wow, the Saudis are everywhere! LOL
As a citizen of the state of two holy mosques.This kid has nothing to do with my country . Sooner or later we will get him jailed that he deserves. He is acting as if he is a legitimate president not to mention he does not feel ashamed of that even more he is promoting himself outsourcing what a shame why do not he did so by going to local mainstream inside Saudi Arabia because he knows people will at any circumstances unveil his ignorance and visionary even by leaks or something.
I suspect that you are saudi. In fact I'm sure that u r an Iranian servant
I did not say I am a Saudi nor an Iranian read carefully next time.
This so called visionary, a clueless kid who at the age of ~30 is far too young and inexperienced to reform the country's economy properly, led it to war and even worst shape the politics of the region. He is a kid! A bunch of Mckinsey consultants gave him a few ideas on how to reduce the deficit but that is about it. Reshaping the economy, the whole society needs to change and focus and this will take decades.
As for the social standard of the country, the poor dont count, the Shia dont count and the mid/upper classes are effectively being bribed by the Saudis (the royal family, not the citizens!). This clown accepts criticism but kills anything against the authority of the Sauds.
Nothing will change because the system works only like this. If something changes the system will collapse.
If you don't know yet 30~ people are leading the world. and he is minister of defense Saudi main leader is King Salman. whoever the leader the guidebook for all muslim countries is the Holy Quran.
you say shia & poor class aren't counted. I'd like to tell you that all Saudis have similar rights. Free higher education and scholarships with monthly stipend for students, free health care and no income or wealth taxes. Saudi Arabia gives all citizens the opportunity to become reach.
What a cringe-worthy interview. The kid is defense minister and deputy crown prince of a dictatorship and personally responsible for the deaths of thousands of civilians in neighboring Yemen. Why sit down with such a ghastly human specimen and entertain his responses as if he's Otto von Bismarck?
Iran was successful training militant to control and take over some parts of middle east such as Lebanon which is taken by khomaini militants herzballah and yemen was taken by hothies who controlled the country with Iran support and training to force the elected president out of the country. No sunni muslim will stand and watch Iran spreading terrorist to take control and kill sunnies like what's happening now by Iran in Iran, Lebanon, Iraq and Syria.
For the war against hothies in yemen no civilians were targeted by Saudi army It's supporting the civilians against hotly militants. and now the true yemeni government and army are in control of 80% of yemen alhamdlelah
"elected president" of Yemen? Are you insane? For your information, Al Hadi was the only candidate!!! Is it all you know about a country that you are fighting with?
"Iran spreading terrorist"? For your information, ISIL, Taliban, and Al Qaida, Al Shabab, Al Nosra, Boko Haram are all Sunni terrorist groups. Taliban was recognized only by Saudi and Pakistan. Almost all 9/11 terrorists were Sunni Saudi citizens! Remember??!!!
"For the war against hothies in yemen no civilians were targeted by Saudi army"? Do you read news? Have you googled how many civilians have been killed by Saudi's air strike? Read UN reports!
Get educated then talk!
I would ask you question
ISIS is a Sunni terrorist group why is ISIS attack Saudi Arabia and did not attach Iran?????????
Do you know that all the leader of Al Qaida and their families were lived in Iran since 2003?Why?
In Yemen, there is a city called Taiz which is under severe siege by Hothii militia which kill them with weapons and cut food and water supply.
finally big question should be asked
how many Sunni were killed in Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen by Iran intervention And by their militias?
1- Did you search how many Yemenis have been liked by Saudi air strikes? Did you check the news? Did you check UN reports? Do it once! It helps you lose your confidence to Saudis propaganda and see the realities on the ground. (If you feel UN is also running by Iran, then I cannot anything for you).
2- Where are al Qaida leaders? Well that may not be that difficult! Where was Ben Ladin? He was killed by Americans in "PAKISTAN" , a Saudi ally. It was not Iran! Where do US drones look for Al Qaida leaders? In Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen.
3- Another fact is that El Qaida was officially hosted by Taliban in Afghanistan. Who recognized Taliban in Afghanistan? Only Saudi and Pakistan. Taliban killed all Iranian diplomats in Mazar Sharif! I hope I answered your questions about Al Qaida, its leaders, and its supporters , and their locations! Whoever says that El Qaida leaders are in Iran, ask for evidence!
3- About your big question: many many muslims have been killed by terrorists and dictators. Do you want to call all of it by Iranian militia??? Let me help you with that. In many of these places, Iran has nothing to do. For example in Libya, terrorists are killing people in daily basis. In Egypt, Sisi, a Saudi ally, in one day, killed more than 800 of his citizens. Boko Haram is stealing girls in Africa. In 9/11, many Americans have been killed by some Saudi radicals. It seems to me than when ISIL kills people in Iraq and Syria and when Saudis kill civilians in Yemen, you still count them as Iranian militia. For example, search how many Shia mosques have been exploded in Iraq and Pakistan and even in Saudi. The groups that officially take the responsibility are also clear.
5- Radicalism is like a virus within Sunnis. It is not hard to see it, it is not Iranian or American propaganda, it is the reality! And many connects the rise of radicalism with Wahhabism in Saudi. Do you see any connection with Wahhabism and radicalism?
I believe in his vision. Saudi Arabia spent hundereds of bilions on education. This 70% percent including P Mohammed is highly educated generation who will inshallah improve Saudi economy, education, leadership and power
Don't you want an elected government rather than a dictator "ebn" (son of) a dictator "ebn" a dictator? Wouldn't these young educated generation like to choose their leaders?
"hundereds of bilions on education" - and yet more should have been spent, apparently.
"inshallah" is about all you've got when it comes to improving the Saudi economy. The locals have little to no interest in playing a part. Elsewhere someone mentioned the absence from the transcript of any reference to technology or science: everyone really is too busy with "inshallah" and "bukarah" (tomorrow).
This place doesn't have a future and its population of youthful, ignorant, angry males (many females are aborted since sons are prized) will play its part in dragging the whole region down.
thank you for mentioning the spelling mistake.
LOL why so sad we say "Inshallah" then we do all our efforts to make it happen. Having believe is a good thing.
and you are wrong males and females are working hard. learning and inventing. any improvement needs more work but we can do it "inshallah"
No. I'm Saudi and I don't see them as dictators.
we don't need to elect anyone and play the game of voting then the people with money will lead like wealthy jews leading US.
Muslims only wants a leader who respect islam and Holy Quran and give them their rights. we are currently very satisfied as muslims living in muslim country having free health care and higher education with no income taxes.
Muslims don't have a good track record of electing democrats. For now, Saudi Arabia probably needs to increase elections gradually, but a revolution would surely sweep extremists into power. The current Saudi government is much too conservative, but it is at least governed by technocrats, not religious nutters.
Your optimism is touching, but its foundation is powder-puff. The only real studying that's being done is of the quran, with people trying to interpret and re-interpret someone's self-centred mutterings from the Middle Ages. Science is built on free thought and expression and these simply can't be allowed with Islam.
Why should anyone strive to get ahead in somewhere like KSA? They'll only be overlooked every time while the boss's sons, nephews or friends are promoted instead.
I believe KSA is too conservative and corrupt a place to be able to adjust. Furthermore, Fahad (blind-drunk through most of the 80s & regularly dried out at Riyadh's Military Hospital) started the aggressive exporting of Wahabi-style Islam, rather than building up non-oil industries. Those idle, ignorant, angry, young population of indoctrinated Saudi males are a powder keg waiting for a spark: we can only hope that they stay too busy studying the quran to take up arms against us.
The sooner the world becomes more reliant on locally sourced energy sources and the sooner the blood oil stops flowing the better. One day the Saudi's may be trading one barrel of water for one barrel of oil. Although the middle east may be uninhabitable by then with souring temperatures.
The Prince is actually being what he is: part of the Saud family. With all the charm and all the flaws that come along with it.
What is amazing though is the way the Economist approach him. You can almost feel the smooching... How is he different from Bashar Assad? Which one of them is a bloodthirsty dictator and which one is a reforming nation builder?
The worst one is probably the one that massacres innocent people all the time. The Saudis do bad stuff sometimes, but they are a far cry from the Assad, who uses chemical weapons against his people.
The proof of Assad's use of chemical weapons against civilians will probably not stand in any unbiased court. Besides it was exactly the Saudis who instigated the violent uprising against Assad (out of a fear of the spread of Iran's influence through what they call the Shia crescent) that led to the worst kind of atrocities committed largely by the side they had supported from the very start. See what they do in Yemen, how discriminate they are in separating civilians from the Houthi rebels, and try to imagine what the Saud regime would have done had it been threatened at home by an uprising as powerful and as much supported by hostile foreign powers as the one they support in Syria.
Luckily I am no court of law and I can think for myself. There is ample evidence and those people didn't kill themselves, nor did the resistance get their hands on chemical weapons.
no chemical weapons were used in yemen. you should know that shiit militia (houthis) don't car about other civilians they do whatever to satisfy their evil leader khomaini
What charms?
Syria
Syria
I am really proud to be a Saudi citizen, prince Mohammed proved that he is the right man in the right place in the right time. Prince mohammed is a visionary, ambitious, and with his great values he will lead the nation to a new higher levels
So many softball questions.
Anyway, you claim to have interviewed "His Royal Highness" for five hours. But unless he spoke more slowly than Diane Rehm, there is no way that this is the entire interview transcript.
Only in a corrupted government, a 32-year man with zero experience can take control of military and economy in a big country, ONLY because he is the son of the king. What a joke?!!!
On the contrary, in a republic that is corruption, in a kingdom, that is how it works. Now whether kingship is a good system of governance that is another issue....
Guest-nimsonj you're being naïve. Why blame the 'system' that is in place in the kingdom SA? After all the monarchy is the biggest client of the West for political and military purposes in the region. Remember the history's biggest military deal Barack Obama concluded with the SA the other year that greatly helped the Military-Industrial Complex in the USA to come out of recession? Try to read between the words of the Economist question (or tribute), "This is a Thatcher revolution for Saudi Arabia?" you'll then understand the West's objective vis-a-vis Saudi Arabia. Competence or, for that matter, "only because he is the son of the king" doesn't matter as long as the kingdom stays course!
Nah, it's still corruption, just institutionalized.
This is an excellent interview. Prince Mohammed appears to be an excellent and educated leader, and if he continues to lead, Saudi arabia my be able to extricate itself from the major structural problems it has built up for itself.
These major structural problems are overall:
1. The control of Saudi by the Royal Family, the "thousand and one princes". A few good, but most bad, especially the older generation.
2. The excessive influence of the Wahabbite sect. This sect has among other things have influenced the Saudi princes to support extreme Islam throughout the world, and even terrorism.
This leads us on to the execution of the Shiite cleric and his followers. Accused of "terrorism". There was no proof found that he instigated and advocated terrorism. He was just building peaceful opposition to the regime, in the West a legitimate activity.
But what is worst - this execution was extremely foolish. What was the motive? Mad religious zealotry? Hope that it would increase the oil price? Prevent Iran's sanctions being lifted?
However
1. Iran has the air power to massacre the Saudi Air Force, and turn the major cities into rubble.
2. The US will no longer unequivocally support Saudi Arabia against Iran. It is desperate to keep the Straits of Hormuz open, and more importantly, prevent Iran fall into the orbit of Russia. There is also the accumulated actions of your Wahabbite extremists that have pissed off sections of the US senior policy makers. Their sympathies, if any, are shifting to the Shiites who have not been so troublesome to the US.
The executtion of these Shiites was a gross miscalculation. Saudi is on its own, and is in a very weak position. Lets hope things don't get worse.
please just let me know what the kind of air power Iran has, they are still trying to fix their tom cats f-14 from the 70's and the have the highest military planes accident rates in recent history...if you mentioned Iran's missile power I may understand, they actually have the power to attack cities, but pin-point targeting they are incapable of, at all.
Sounds more like a 'Der Perfesser' from Tehran.
> Prince Mohammed appears to be an excellent and educated leader...
Your assessment ought to consider his failures in Yemen and Syria give that, you know, he's the defense minister and de factor ruler and all.
Khominisim is a weak idea as Communism it will collapse soon and by the hands of Sunni people.
Saudi doesn't wait the US to help, It can fix Iranian problems with the new Islamic collision if Iran continues to support the terrorist militia.
Iran took delivery a few years ago of about 100 Russian Su-24's. I believe that they have the latest SU-30's on order. It is not clear if any have been delivered.
Now what is a Sukhoi 24? It is a fighter plane that is vastly superior to the US F-15 or indeed any planned replacement. It is faster, vastly more manoueverable due to its reverse thrust engines, a range at least 30% greater than the F-15(it can reach Israel and back and fly around for some 20 minutes), and finally it has superior armanents (laser guided missiles that can penetrate any electronic defence - the US still does not have these).
So, Saudi Arabia does not stand a chance. Its airforce will be rapidly be turned into floating silver paper (F-15s included) and then the Su-24s will turn on the ground forces and the cities.
I know people do not like to hear this. It is clear the the Saudi sheiks, princes etc. did not understand this when they made the foolish decision to antagonize Iran. It is one thing to use the (very limited capability) Saudi forces to attack Yemen, but it is exteremely foolish, even suicidal, for Saudi Arabia to antagonise Iran.
While I have no access to the decisions of the US State Department, it looks more and more likely that US military and diplomatic support against Iran is not now automatic.
No, I am not from Iran. Or anywhere in the Middle East. But I am from a country that has a direct interest in peace in the Middle East, and a lot of direct oversight and interest in that area.
Never worked for Saddam nor Milosevic, never will work for Iran. The Houthi's in Yemen couldn't stand a chance with the American gear with SA even that they got some Mig-29 (that actually SA paid for!).
The Russian crap is Russian crap, they never got the technology to manufacture advanced weapons, ever. They will make stuff that fly, that sound loud, and might look cool, but never ever effective. I will give the F-15's and the Tornados of Saudi Arabia 2 weeks to eradicate the Iranian Air force with something like 1:12 loss ratio.
The issue is not even SA or Iran, it is just that SA uses western weapons that they overpaid for it, as simple as this.
Oh! Oh! Pschologists have a name for this sort of raving overconfidence. You are the sort of guy who can be told to jump over the top and charge machine guns. Useful but...
The US and at least one of its major allies have conducted 'war game' analyses of the capabilities of the SU24. This happened a few years ago. The result of the US war game induced the US to temporarily withdaraw its fleet from the Gulf. There was then an under the table agreement with Iran and the US fleet returned and negotiations started. Don't understimate Russian capability. Their planes are now vastly superior. The Russians have now developed effective cruise missiles. If the Iranians get hold of those, its all over rover for the balance of power in the Middle East.
The sanctions are going to go fast. The US is desperate that Iran does not turn more to Russia.
I am not sure how the Economist comes up with this glorious cover story of a new modern Saudi Arabia based on this interview. He seems to be quite the romantic - in love with Churchill and Thatcher and his government is without no good reason whatsoever killing their own oil revenues - good for us!
For the economy nothing groundbreaking is proposed: Uranium mining and religious tourism are surely not going to replace the enormous petroleum industry. I thought Saudi Arabia was already doing some steps in the right direction through e.g. chemical plants etc., but the guy doesn't even acknowledge that. What KSA would really need would be a knowledge-based economy but I am not sure how that could be achieved when Saudi students are mostly spending their time studying the Quran instead of science or finance.
From a societal point of view it is very clear that this guy is an unashamed dictator. He can consider himself lucky that Saudi Arabians are largely unenlightened and so his family will probably still call the shots for a few decades and centuries. But clearly he is not proposing any meaningful reforms. You can't really blame him that much for being a monarch though, he was just lucky and I am sure that the vast majority of people - if put in his shoes - would also choose to lead this country with the means of some force.
On the positive side he seems to be very uninterested in a war with Iran (which he would surely lose if the US did not step in big time) so that's good.
Your point about building a knowledge-economy is spot-on. What worries me in the prince's answers is his disregard toward the relationship between a free economy and a free-spirited society. One cannot have a productive and creative economy with a rigid absolutism ans stagnant religious conservatism, because such system kills the spirit of innovation and circumvent outside investment. Plus, The issue of education is absent in this "blueprint". As you said,you cannot revive the economy with a mentality shaped primarily by studying the Quran! We need scientists, engineers, artist, and creative designers, but I do not see this happening with the current religious dominance over the education system.
Hopefully, he will discover those facts once he see the lack of good results, and maybe he will be pushed to reconsider.
What Muslim country has created a knowledge based economy? Name one please. You can't because no Muslim country is truly industrialized. The closest have been Malaysia, Turkey and Iran and none of them have really succeeded.
Countries like India and even Iran graduates many engineers each year. Yet they can't make what South Korea or Taiwan can make, for example. So simply having more scientists and engineers are clearly not enough. These Indian, Iranian, or Egyptian engineers usually have to leave their country that results in a brain drain; they then end up making American, Japanese or European tech firms richer. So in my opinion what is more important is organizational technology, empowering competent people, finance and cheap credit made available to people who can get things done and more rule of law. The right social conditions, in other words.
People are way too harsh on Saudis when it comes to economical matters. They have played their hand well to the best of their abilities in my view.
I agree with you fully....religious dominance over the education system will not allow for socio-economic growth.
You got it wrong so many students of Saudi are studying abroad, sorry they choose only US or UK.
And. Then. What.
They return home to their corrupt and failing state and only get ahead if they have relatives in high places. Obviously, almost all those relatives will be male, as will the students.
So they are not studying just Quran as was stated wrongly above. Many of students are being paid by KSA government.
Whatever insights and advances they made in their studies in the West are soon discarded as they revert to type in the homeland.
Furthermore, the vast, overwhelming majority of students *are* just studying the quran. The real work is being done by ex-pats, just like it always has been.
There's a whole "non-job scheme" to keep the population busy that's financed by the Saudi government. It will completely collapse in on itself in due course because KSA is too conservative to change in time. One man, two wives, 8+ children: utterly unsustainable.
Having cousins marry one generation after another is not a good way to maintain a population.
I am surprised how much the economist was carefully to ask questions. You are in business too!
Wow, amazing article. Very refreshing to read an interview with an unashamed dictator. Few interesting points:
1) it is amazing how he speaks about Saudi Arabia (its borders, economy, society) as if it is his personal property:
"I have surface-to-surface missiles right now on my borders..."
----
"At the same time I have reserves now, ten million jobs that are being occupied by non-Saudi employees that I can resort to at any time of my choosing. But I don’t want to pressure the private sector, unless this is the last resort." (nice way how to attract private investors, by the way)
----
"A large portion of my productive factors are unutilised. And I have population growth reaching very scary figures."
----
Can you imagine any politician in a democratic country speaking about HIS (or HER) borders, HIS/HER missiles, HIS/HER economy or population growth??
2) Sure, optimism and leadership is something I would expect from a politician. But his grandiose idealism reminds me communists in my country several decades ago (I come from the Czech Rep). "Everyone will be happy", "Classless society", "turn the desert into blossoming garden"...
3) Unable to innovate and diversify economy. What did he offer? More pilgrims and more mining industry. And selling state assets (land around religious sites). They are simply milking what Allah gave to them (Mekka, oil and uranium), without any innovation, creativity or value added. He not even once mentioned "technology", "research" or "trade". His "solution" of adding just another mining industry (we will extract not only oil, but also uranium) is definitely NOT a recipe how to build a diversified, high-value economy. Mining as a solution to unemployment?? How many workers do you need to operate a uranium mine (or an oil well) these days? 100? 1000? Moreover, I do not think that all those Saudi women (and men), who are "not used to working" are dreaming about working in a uranium mine...
4) And his invitation of critisism? Again nothing new for anyone experiencing communist dictatorship in Europe: "Of course we welcome construtive criticism!" .... "But we will punish anyone who sows tensions in our harmonious society"... "Moreover, if someone from outside tries to intervene in our domestic matter, it's complete anathema." "Don't you dare to criticise what I do with my own citizens!"
While he may be fluent in English, it is very much a second language for him. He still thinks in Arabic, a very different language structure than English. So read it accordingly, not through a narrow lens projecting your own agenda on to syntax.
We know? Been there done that. Paying the price. I believe if I was not married to a western expat. I would have been jailed for the proof I posses.
Arabic has a "very different language structure than English"?
Really? So there is no Arabic word for "state borders", so when the prince wants to speak about borders in Arabic, he must say "my borders"?
But you are probably right. The official name of the country is "the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia". So it is already in the name: the country is owned by the Sauds. Quite literally, it is HIS country.
Proof of what?
This guy is basically a liberal. What I take from this interview is how strong influence West actually has over the World, how values of the West became a new normal, how heading into that direction has become a "progress".
Some old fashioned, conservative monarch, like the ones Europe had after the Napoleonic Wars would dismiss all of that without excuses.
He is weak or he truly believes it. Change is coming to Saudi Arabia. Bloody one?