On March 18 the Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Salman, also known as MBS, gave his first interview to an American television network. Since just listening to the interview might mislead viewers, we’ll unpack the interview and investigate its subtext and the issues left unsaid.

MBS has enjoyed very positive coverage in the mainstream US media. In November 2017, The NYTimes opened up its description of him with declaring that if MBS gets his way, he “will not only change the character of Saudi Arabia but the tone and tenor of Islam across the globe”. MBS is the ever-reformer, bringing his country to unprecedented levels of achievement. Consider this statement, again from the Times: “M.B.S. is definitely bold. I can think of no one else in the ruling family who would have put in place the profound social, religious and economic reforms that he’s dared to do — and all at once.” In this discourse in US media, the “good” Saudi Arabia is contrasted to “evil” Iran.

The US is not alone — MBS recently visited the UK, where he received just as warm a welcome, full with receptions, talks and processions. More panegyrical op-eds were written. There were even advertisements for his arrival on poster vans driving around London— supposedly funded by him.

The Saudi visit to the UK in early March 2018. The UK prime minister Theresa May is on the left, MBS is in the center (source)

The same PR machine continued to work in preparation of MBS arrival in the US for a two and a half week visit, and the 60 Minutes interview is a prime example. The interview presented him as “already the most dominant Arab leader in a generation” and as a “royal upstart [who] has been remaking Saudi society”.

The show repeatedly attempts to promote MBS through associating him — and his country — with American culture. MBS, who is “addicted” to his iPad, leads his country to invest in American companies ($3.5 billion in Uber). Comparisons and allusions between the US and Saudi Arabia are everywhere. MBS employs a Harvard-trained Saudi-born lawyer. Saudis sit in (still segregated) Starbucks and communicate through Snapchat on their cellphones. We are even told that the prince “learned English from watching movies as a kid”, obviously meant to portray him as the friendly guy next door rather than a multi-billionaire. Needless to say, all these points endear MBS to his American audience.

Mohammad bin Salman (source)

There are, however, several problems in this idealized view. The Saudi involvement in the 9/11 attacks on the US is vaguely mentioned, but blame is laid on bin Laden, who has been trying to split the US-Saudi alliance. Bin Laden’s Saudi upbringing and close ties to the Saudi royal family are not discussed. The impression of Saudi Arabia as a theocratic, strict and harsh country is softened. MBS claims that “this is not the real Saudi Arabia”, while trying to portray the pre-1979 kingdom as a normal country living a normal life. The Wahhabism/Salafism fundamentalist ideologies (followed by almost all jihadis) are never mentioned by name; while arguments against the supposedly-modern pre-1979 Saudi Arabia talking point are not acknowledged.

MBS clearly caters to his Western audience. He points out that women and men are equal: “We are all human beings and there is no difference [between sexes]”. MBS decision to allow women to drive in the near future is depicted as a revolutionary move, while restrictions on women’s clothing would be relaxed. The crown prince claims that he and his country “believe in the notion of human rights”, that they are fighting corruption and are planning to transform the Saudi Arabia from a petro-state to a cutting-edge modernized country.

The parts of Saudi Arabia that do not fit this image were left outside the discussion. The public decapitations, amputations and floggings (including crucifixtion) in the kingdom were never mentioned. At least 130 executions took place in 2017, while in 2016 a mass execution of 47 prisoners took place. Crimes that are punishable by decapitation are often non-lethal and include “adultery”, “sorcery”, “homosexuality” and drug-related crimes — alongside simple political dissent. Neither was the marginalized Shia minority in Saudi Arabia (up to 15% of the population) mentioned at all.

In a similar manner, the heavy-handed domestic and foreign policies of MBS receive only little attention. The interview acknowledges that he locked up hundreds of Saudi elites in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Riyadh. They were accused of corruption and had to either pay back or stay there. The 60 Minutes interview depicts this as a harsh but bold and necessary move. The fact that elites who did not want to pay exorbitant amounts of up to $6 billion were moved to prison without trial is not mentioned. Allegations of abuse and torture, which resulted in the death of at least one general who was held hostage, are not mentioned. MBS’ embarrassing but failed attempt to kidnap the Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri during his visit to Riyadh, force his resignation and all but declare war on the small Lebanon, are not mentioned either.

MBS policies in Yemen are mentioned, but the prince is absolved from any blame: “his apparent fixation on Iran” it is said, “has led him into a quagmire in neighboring Yemen”. His bombing campaign in Yemen supposedly resulted in “a humanitarian catastrophe, 5,000 civilians killed and children starving there”. MBS justifies this by Iranian-led Yemeni aggression, and blames the Yemenis from blocking humanitarian aid “in order to create famine and a humanitarian crisis”.

Here again the real story is never discussed. Not the ever-constant number of reported Yemeni casualties (which was reported as half the traditional 10,000 casualties that remain constant for more than a year and a half now). Not the worst cholera epidemic which has reached a million cases according to the international Red Cross. And definitely not the US support of the Saudi operation in blockading Yemen by sea and providing logistical and intelligence support to the Saudis for years (the US has also bombed Yemen itself of course).

The Saudi financial and logistic support to ISIS was similarly not mentioned even though this was stated in one of Hilary Clinton’s leaked emails in 2016; incidentally, both Saudi Arabia and Qatar donated funds to the Clinton Foundation. Allegations of Saudi support of ISIS go back to 2014. As early as 2013, the Saudis offered more than 1,200 death-row prisoners from at least a dozen countries to go fight against Assad in Syria to avoid beheading. In essence, they used criminals as mercenaries.

MBS and Donald Trump during Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia (source)

The strong defense ties between the US and Saudi Arabia weren’t mentioned either. This included the major arms deal signed by Trump in mid-2017 (with claims of up to $350 billion). Over 2016 and 2017, Saudi Arabia bought more than $5 billion of arms from the US, the highest importer of US arms which was responsible for more than a fifth of overall US arms exports.

Finally, the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran was touched upon, but there was no attempt to question MBS’s narrative which described Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei as “the new Hitler” of the Middle East. MBS explained his use of the term by claiming that “he [Khamenei] wants to expand. He wants to create his own project in the Middle East very much like Hitler who wanted to expand at the time.” Iran was seen as the prime evil in the Middle East, but also as a weak country that does not threaten Saudi Arabia. The inherent contradiction here was not addressed either.

Altogether then it is difficult to see the MBS interview in any other way than propaganda that is meant to reinforce the US-Saudi alliance. The interview skirted around all the major contentious topics (despite paying some lip-service to them), and instead portrayed MBS as a positive reformer. In light of the increased cooperation between the US and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East and Syria, this is hardly surprising.

What do you think about MBS and his upcoming visit to the US? Join the conversation below!