The current world tour of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (known as MBS) – he is attending the G20 summit in Buenos Aires this weekend – highlights the truth of the old saying “money talks”. It would be a wonder if the torrent of global criticism achieves anything, for truth to tell, few governments, and certainly not any in the Arab world, have much time for whistleblowers like the US-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi who was allegedly planning to write his memoirs when he was murdered.
Neji Bghouri, president of the journalists’ syndicate in Tunisia which MBS visited on Tuesday, might grumble, “The blood of Khashoggi has not dried yet, the murderer bin Salman is not welcome in Tunisia, the country of democratic transition.” But Nourredine Ben Ticha, adviser to Tunisia’s president, Beji Caid Essebsi, set the stage by welcoming MBS because “Saudi Arabia has an important role in the Arab region.” Not just the Arab region.
Nothing is more revealing than Donald Trump’s prevarication over Khashoggi’s killing. Riyadh’s version of what happened has changed drastically several times, but the tone and tenor of Mr Trump’s comments have always supported MBS. Despite denying any “financial interests in Saudi Arabia”, he boasted in the past of making “a lot of money with them.” He has sold apartments and a yacht for millions of dollars to Saudis whose custom offset, to some extent, lower bookings in his New York and Chicago properties since he became President.
Adam Schiff, a leading Democrat Congressman, has vowed to investigate his Saudi financial ties. “Is his personal financial interest driving US policy in the Gulf?” Mr Schiff asks. Suspicions of personal gain also taint Mr Trump’s attitude to Russia. Apart from this pecuniary interest, MBS is a kindred spirit and ally of the President and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
That also explains why Mr Trump seems anxious to make protecting MBS look like safeguarding US national interests. While Canada, the European Union, France and Germany demanded a transparent investigation into Khashoggi’s murder, Mr Trump linked it with American exports and jobs. Both linkages seem dubious.
Mr Trump’s repeated claim of selling $110 billion worth of new arms to Riyadh (providing only a broad description of the equipment in question without a breakdown of what is actually offered for how much) are “just not true,” says Bruce Riedel, a former CIA and defence department official. According to the Pentagon, Saudi Arabia has signed “letters of offer and acceptance” for only $14.5 billion, including helicopters, tanks, ships, weapons and training.
The employment numbers are a moveable feast. It started as 40,000 jobs and ended as a million. In between, the President spoke of 500,000 to 600,000 jobs, claiming that Saudi purchases have the capacity of “potentially supporting tens of thousands of new jobs in the US.” If true, this would be a serious matter for the US economy. But is it true? American commentators accuse the president of inflating figures while the State Department estimates that far fewer US jobs are at risk.
Obviously, MBS cannot be judged out of hand. Justice demands he should be deemed innocent until proved otherwise. But the CIA — Indira Gandhi’s notorious “Foreign Hand” – believes the order to kill Khashoggi was his. Naturally, Riyadh rejects this. “The CIA is not necessarily the highest standard of veracity or accuracy in assessing situations” says Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former Saudi intelligence chief and ex-ambassador to the US, citing the agency’s conclusion in 2003 that Iraq possessed chemical weapons. Ironically, Saudis fully supported (and paid for) Iraq’s invasion not because of any nonsense about nuclear weapons but because Saddam Hussain’s secular revolutionary regime challenged their domination.
Mr Trump’s failure as a responsible world leader lies in not seriously examining the CIA’s charge-sheet. Ignoring its findings, he claimed in a White House statement that no matter how wrong Khashoggi’s killing was and no matter where the blame lay, criticising the Saudis would mean alienating a staunch strategic ally against Iran, risking fuel supplies from the world’s biggest petroleum deposits, billions of dollars in arms purchases, and the hundreds of thousands of American jobs allegedly created by these purchases. His dismissal of allegations against MBS — “It could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event — maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!” – must surely be the most callously cynical words ever uttered by a responsible leader.
But despite the business-as-usual bravado, there may be stirrings beneath West Asia’s surface. Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, the Saudi king’s younger brother, flew back to Riyadh recently after months abroad, amidst whispers of a coup against MBS and his father, King Salman, and muted signs of restiveness among some of Ibn Saud’s 15,000 descendants. The rumour that before returning, Prince Ahmed had obtained US and European commitments that MBS would not pursue him was traced to the dissident Prince Khalid bin Farhan al Saud who lives in Germany. He claims the US helped MBS to be anointed heir in June last year, ousting Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef, with the promise that he would ascend the throne before his ailing octogenarian father died.
According to this version, MBS, who is already the kingdom’s real ruler, promised “absolute obedience to the US and Israel” and to “carry out whatever they ask him to do.” Three other alleged conditions include “working to settle all Gaza residents in north Sinai as an alternative homeland” with Saudi Arabia and the UAE funding the operation; “getting rid of Hamas and whoever supports it”; and “getting Sanafir Island from Egypt.” That would make the Gulf of Aqaba, which is now Egyptian, an international waterway and facilitate Israeli shipping to and from the port of Eilat.
It would also enable Israel to carry out a project planned to operate in parallel to the Suez Canal. Although a $500 million retainer is also mentioned, the 33-year-old MBS is already fabulously wealthy even by Saudi royal standards. His personal wealth is estimated at more than $3 billion, while his assets are said to include the “most expensive house in the world”. Reports claim he paid $300 million in 2015 for the lavish Chateau Louis XIV, a 54,000 sq ft palace near Versailles.
Khashoggi’s killer is known, says Prince Khalid, and everything happening now is aimed at delaying any direct accusation of those who issued the orders. The reported purge of senior functionaries, including one of MBS’s advisers and a high-ranking intelligence official, and the arrest of 18 Saudis, may be an attempt to establish scapegoats to insulate the all-powerful MBS, who remains head of intelligence, from criticism.
Sunanda K Datta-Ray is the author of several books
and a regular media columnist.
