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King Salman of Saudi Arabia created a high-powered "anti-corruption" commission on Saturday, appointing his son, the crown prince Muhammad Bin Salman, to head it. The committee is a sort of star chamber, with wide powers to freeze bank accounts, ground private jets, and order suspects jailed.
"While no doubt there is corruption in Saudi Arabia, this move is more like a power grab by the crown prince."
Almost immediately after the announcement, ten princes, four sitting cabinet members, and several former cabinet secretaries were abruptly charged with corruption and taken into custody.
One of those arrested is al-Walid Bin Talal, the billionaire owner of Kingdom Holdings, who is a major shareholder in Twitter, Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp, CitiBank and Lyft, among other things.
While no doubt there is corruption in Saudi Arabia, this move is more like a power grab by the crown prince.
Indeed, it looks very much like Vladimir Putin's destruction of those Russian oligarchs who got in his way. In essence, the crown prince is cutting the Saudi oligarchs down to size.
Mohammad Bin Salman has many advantages over Putin. The crown prince already controls media inside the kingdom, as well as the appointment of governorships. Putin had to strive hard to obtain leverage over those institutions.
When the smoke clears, look for Mohammad Bin Salman and his circle to have consolidated power dramatically.
Political revenge. Mass deportations. Project 2025. Unfathomable corruption. Attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Pardons for insurrectionists. An all-out assault on democracy. Republicans in Congress are scrambling to give Trump broad new powers to strip the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit he doesn’t like by declaring it a “terrorist-supporting organization.” Trump has already begun filing lawsuits against news outlets that criticize him. At Common Dreams, we won’t back down, but we must get ready for whatever Trump and his thugs throw at us. Our Year-End campaign is our most important fundraiser of the year. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. By donating today, please help us fight the dangers of a second Trump presidency. |
King Salman of Saudi Arabia created a high-powered "anti-corruption" commission on Saturday, appointing his son, the crown prince Muhammad Bin Salman, to head it. The committee is a sort of star chamber, with wide powers to freeze bank accounts, ground private jets, and order suspects jailed.
"While no doubt there is corruption in Saudi Arabia, this move is more like a power grab by the crown prince."
Almost immediately after the announcement, ten princes, four sitting cabinet members, and several former cabinet secretaries were abruptly charged with corruption and taken into custody.
One of those arrested is al-Walid Bin Talal, the billionaire owner of Kingdom Holdings, who is a major shareholder in Twitter, Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp, CitiBank and Lyft, among other things.
While no doubt there is corruption in Saudi Arabia, this move is more like a power grab by the crown prince.
Indeed, it looks very much like Vladimir Putin's destruction of those Russian oligarchs who got in his way. In essence, the crown prince is cutting the Saudi oligarchs down to size.
Mohammad Bin Salman has many advantages over Putin. The crown prince already controls media inside the kingdom, as well as the appointment of governorships. Putin had to strive hard to obtain leverage over those institutions.
When the smoke clears, look for Mohammad Bin Salman and his circle to have consolidated power dramatically.
King Salman of Saudi Arabia created a high-powered "anti-corruption" commission on Saturday, appointing his son, the crown prince Muhammad Bin Salman, to head it. The committee is a sort of star chamber, with wide powers to freeze bank accounts, ground private jets, and order suspects jailed.
"While no doubt there is corruption in Saudi Arabia, this move is more like a power grab by the crown prince."
Almost immediately after the announcement, ten princes, four sitting cabinet members, and several former cabinet secretaries were abruptly charged with corruption and taken into custody.
One of those arrested is al-Walid Bin Talal, the billionaire owner of Kingdom Holdings, who is a major shareholder in Twitter, Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp, CitiBank and Lyft, among other things.
While no doubt there is corruption in Saudi Arabia, this move is more like a power grab by the crown prince.
Indeed, it looks very much like Vladimir Putin's destruction of those Russian oligarchs who got in his way. In essence, the crown prince is cutting the Saudi oligarchs down to size.
Mohammad Bin Salman has many advantages over Putin. The crown prince already controls media inside the kingdom, as well as the appointment of governorships. Putin had to strive hard to obtain leverage over those institutions.
When the smoke clears, look for Mohammad Bin Salman and his circle to have consolidated power dramatically.