Saudi boss Mohammed bin Salman at the United Nations on March 27, 2018 (Amir Levy / Reuters )

As Ben Hubbard says, Mohammed bin Salman may rule till 2060 or so. But his rise is already a major story. And Hubbard has written it up, in MBS: The Rise to Power of Mohammed bin Salman. Hubbard is the Beirut bureau chief of the New York Times, a keen student of the Middle East. I have done a podcast — a Q&A — with him, here.


Of the countless princes in Saudi Arabia, why did this one rise? His anointment was not obvious. Is he a dictator? Was he ever a liberal reformer? How about those “guests” of his, put up at the Ritz-Carlton? Did any of them wind up dead? Was the prime minister of Lebanon a hostage?

Women are now allowed to drive, a big step. But why are women’s-rights campaigners in prison? How about Trump and Jared? They are pretty close to the crown prince, right? (Indeed, the president’s first foreign trip was, not to Britain, Canada, or Mexico, but to Saudi Arabia.) How about the murder of Khashoggi? Why did MBS find it necessary, or desirable, to do it? How about the hacking of Jeff Bezos’s phone?

And so on.


Mohammed bin Salman — this ruler of Saudi Arabia, our ally — is an important subject, and Ben Hubbard knows it inside out. Again, our podcast is here.