Saudi Arabia’s powerful Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman will be welcomed to the White House by US president Donald Trump on Tuesday ahead of three days of meetings with officials and Congressional leaders from both parties.
During this stage of his two-and-a-half-week visit, marking 75 years of the US-Saudi oil-based partnership, the focus will be on the Saudi-led war on Yemen, Saudi arms purchases from the US, and regional politics.
The prince is set to tour the country, meeting captains of business and industry, including Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Apple chief Tim Cook. While in Los Angeles, the prince is expected to seek investment from film moguls in the kingdom’s nascent entertainment sector.
King Salman's favourite son proclaimed heir to the throne in June, prince Mohamed, 32, arrived with heavy religio-cultural and political baggage. His visit was heralded by an interview on the popular CBS 60 minutes programme with the aim of lightening the weight of this baggage.
He disavowed Saudi citizen Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda’s founder who, the prince said, had mounted his 2001 attacks on New York and Washington to create division between the US and the West.
Prince Mohamed repeated the fiction that the narrow, puritan, misogynistic practices of the Sunni Saudi regime were imposed in 1979 only after the challenge mounted by Shia Iran’s Islamic Republic.
In reality, the House of Saud’s formed an alliance in the 18th century with ultra-conservative preacher Mohamed bin al-Wahhab with the aim of conquering the Arabian peninsula and purging “distortions” of Islam. This partnership remains the bedrock of the kingdom although the prince has imprisoned reactionary clerics, reined in religious police and reduced restrictions.
Tough Measures
While prince Mohamed proclaimed all Saudis equal, women remain under the guardianship of male relatives and cannot marry, divorce, seek medical treatment and education, and travel without permission. Reforms have been cosmetic. Women can attend sporting events, go to cinemas, and join the military and, in June, drive.
He blamed the war in Yemen – where Saudi airstrikes and blockades have killed thousands – on Iran’s alleged support for Shia Houthi rebels who continue to rule the capital Sanaa and the north.
Potential investors are likely to be leery of the prince’s detention at a luxury hotel and shake-down of rich royals, ministers and businessmen to the tune of $100 billion. He explained tough measures were “extremely necessary” although many were subjected to intimidation and abuse to force them to hand over assets.
“If things go their normal ways,” he said he is expected to ascend to the throne and, perhaps, rule for 50 years.
He will exude charm and confidence during his tour but he is a hard man, determined to rule unopposed. Before being named heir, he removed two rivals and he has, reportedly, denied his mother access to his 82-year old father because she opposes the prince’s power grab at the expense of other senior branches of the family.
