There’s an interesting interview within the New York Times written by Thomas Friedman who interviews Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about the current changes taking place within Saudi Arabia and MbS’s intense drive to modernize and engage.  The article is well worth reading.
CTH would be remiss if we didn’t draw attention to the level of jaw-dropping weasel linguistics that Friedman uses to jump on the MbS bandwagon.  If you have never read Friedman’s interviews of President Obama –EXAMPLE HERE– you might not see it.
However, if you have watched the decade of fawning idolatry expressed by Friedman toward the Chicago lightbringer you’ll immediately notice the tell-tale signs of a pontificating liberal [shallow-minded simpleton] attempting to retain relevance by claiming proximity toward perspectives that are 180 degrees away from his previous prose.
There’s a particular level of inauthentic weaselistics that goes beyond the normal level of liberal snobbery.  If you’ve ever experienced the shallow pinky-raised elites, group-talking about their sensitive wine palates while the Sommelier tricks them with $10 vino; or if you’ve heard stories of the cloistered-clutch waxing philosophically at art exhibitions which were actually switched for Kindergarten scribbles… well, then you know Friedman’s tribe.
In real terms there’s a level of profound irony within this interview.  The changes within Saudi Arabia are directly supported by a U.S. president empowering Saudi Arabia to manifest its own destiny.
President Trump has reshaped mid-east policy, and formed a strong coalition, based on a partnership among co-equals.  This is not about the U.S., this change is about Saudi Arabia.
That Trumpian outlook is a complete reverse of the Bush/Obama Doctrine of forcing their personal definition of ‘Western values‘ to provide support.   Yet Friedman can’t even see that paradigm shift; his ideology is so mired in selfishness it is invisible to him.


Just like Teh One espousing best foreign policy from a position of his personal view on the matter, hence Obama’s use of: “I this” and “I that”, everything is about them.  Even serious and consequential international geopolitical shifts are expressed by these elitist news-scribes through the prism of prideful self relevance:

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — I never thought I’d live long enough to write this sentence: The most significant reform process underway anywhere in the Middle East today is in Saudi Arabia. Yes, you read that right. Though I came here at the start of Saudi winter, I found the country going through its own Arab Spring, Saudi style.

Unlike the other Arab Springs — all of which emerged bottom up and failed miserably, except in Tunisia — this one is led from the top down by the country’s 32-year-old crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and, if it succeeds, it will not only change the character of Saudi Arabia but the tone and tenor of Islam across the globe. Only a fool would predict its success — but only a fool would not root for it.

To better understand it I flew to Riyadh to interview the crown prince, known as “M.B.S.,” who had not spoken about the extraordinary events here of early November, when his government arrested scores of Saudi princes and businessmen on charges of corruption and threw them into a makeshift gilded jail — the Riyadh Ritz Carlton — until they agreed to surrender their ill-gotten gains. You don’t see that every day.

We met at night at his family’s ornate adobe-walled palace in Ouja, north of Riyadh. M.B.S. spoke in English, while his brother, Prince Khalid, the new Saudi ambassador to the U.S., and several senior ministers shared different lamb dishes and spiced the conversation. After nearly four hours together, I surrendered at 1:15 a.m. to M.B.S.’s youth, pointing out that I was exactly twice his age. It’s been a long, long time, though, since any Arab leader wore me out with a fire hose of new ideas about transforming his country.

We started with the obvious question: What’s happening at the Ritz?  (read more)

Share