Prince Alwaleed, a billionaire investor in Citigroup and Twitter is among those arrested. Prince Alwaleed had a tangle with Trump in 2015.
Alwaleed to Trump
Trump Response
In January of 2016, Billionaire Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Trolls Trump: ‘I Bailed You Out Twice’.
Massive Purge
Today, the Washington Post reports Crown Prince Gains Power After Sweeping Purge of Saudi Officials.
In one breathtaking stroke, the men were detained by the Saudi authorities in a purge that began Saturday night and swept up some of the most powerful and recognizable names in the country, including members of the Saudi royal family, cabinet ministers, titans of media and industry and former officials. The detainees included Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a wealthy investor who owns major stakes in such companies as Twitter and Citigroup, according to an associate of his family. The detentions come at a time of political, social and economic upheaval in Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy that has become one of the Trump administration’s closest Middle East allies. The reasons for Alwaleed’s arrest were not immediately clear. The prince, who is the founder of the business conglomerate Kingdom Holding and one of the world’s most prominent investors, had been supportive, at least publicly, of the Saudi leadership, including its controversial intervention in Yemen’s civil war. His detention — along with a number of other business tycoons — suggested that the Saudi leadership was sending a message that something fundamental had changed, Lacroix said. In the past, Saudi Arabia “would allow the existence of powerful people or fiefdoms, as long as they remained loyal in the general sense,” he said. “It’s not about loyalty anymore. Mohammed bin Salman doesn’t want to allow the existence of those fiefdoms.”
Saudi Purge List
- Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, chairman of Kingdom Holding
- Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, minister of the National Guard
- Prince Turki bin Abdullah, former governor of Riyadh province
- Khalid al-Tuwaijri, former chief of the Royal Court
- Adel Fakeih, Minister of Economy and Planning
- Ibrahim al-Assaf, former finance minister
- Abdullah al-Sultan, commander of the Saudi navy
- Bakr bin Laden, chairman of Saudi Binladin Group
- Mohammad al-Tobaishi, former head of protocol at the Royal Court
- Amr al-Dabbagh, former governor of Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority
- Alwaleed al-Ibrahim, owner of television network MBC
- Khalid al-Mulheim, former director-general at Saudi Arabian Airlines
- Saoud al-Daweesh , former chief executive of Saudi Telecom
- Prince Turki bin Nasser, former head of the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment
- Prince Fahad bin Abdullah bin Mohammad al-Saud, former deputy defence minister
- Saleh Kamel, businessman
- Mohammad al-Amoudi, businessman
Unconnected Events
What’s Going On?
- This is a traditional move by a corrupt Saudi regime to consolidate power.
- This is a genuine reform aimed at tackling corruption.
A reader asked me to comment on what’s going on.
Let me put it this way: I will believe number 2 when I see it.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
I’ll add another guess: It’s mainly about the cash burn rate. There was simply no way 5,000+ princes and their enormous entourages were going to deliver on commitments to get their cash burn rates in line with $50 oil. After three years of watching their reserves disappearing at an alarming rate, the king went to plan B.
It’s always about power and money no matter what they tell you.
Too many princes with too many high profile entanglements; too little oil money. As in all kleptocracies, once available loot decreases past a certain point, what used to look like cohesion amongst the looting classes, starts breaking apart as they become more and more dependent on looting each other.
Regardless of the reason, the more of the Saudi royal family dead, the better. They’re a menace to the world.
Nothing to do with the recent Saudi royal visit to Moscow the other week? Obviously, they went there for the sun and duty frees and check out the holiday pics of the Qatari’s from their visit the month before. With the Turks, Iranians and Syrians on Vlad’s Christmas card list I’d be a little concerned if I was in the American or Israeli government.
“You are a disgrace not only to the GOP but to all America. Withdraw from the U.S presidential race as you will never win.” Isn’t that called foreign meddling in our election?
I’m going to propose that it could be a true religious event.
That the princes supported ISIS, and the Saudi ruler allowed it, provided that it brought the caliphate. I think it has become obvious that it didn’t.
So now the penalty must be paid.
I’m going to go farther, and say that if this is simply a religious event, the princes will be in agreement. They will wish it were otherwise, but it will be a version of “I was wrong; silly me. Of course I must pay the price.”
I don’t know this is the case. But I propose that it would explain a lot.
That should have read “….. is undoubtedly better for the country in the long run.”
Well number one is obviously true, however number 2 may also turn out to be true, whether by accident or design. In truth Democracy, particularly Representative Democracy, is not the ideal form of government. Indeed it has become government of “…… legislation over-obsessed with minorities, it’s also lawmaking by minorities ….” as another blog recently commented. While few people really like to admit it, benign dictatorship focused on the greatest good for the greatest number is undoubtedly better in the long run. Unless you are one of the minorities, of course. Although even then you are likely to be better off under such a system whether you realise it or not.
Just a data point. The SA National Guard is NOT like the US National Guard. The SA NG are full time and tribal in make-up. It is really a separate branch of the SA military. With LOTS of power.
Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, minister of the National Guard
Will the prince behave like Kim Jong Un? Dangerous!
The spin in western media is this is all about corruption and modernizing Saudi Arabia. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is doing what Stalin did decades ago and what Xi has done more recently in China, purging any opposition and attempting to consolidate his own power. Either he’ll be successful or he will face the chopping block.
It seems the new Prince actually reads the writing on the wall and is attempting to transform the medieval Wahabi kingdom into a modern state. Among other things, recently women were allowed to drive for the first time ever, and an offshore free trade zone is being constructed, both unthinkable a year ago. I would bet against the long-term success of this reform, but who knows.
They are being detained in Riyadh’s Ritz Carlton. Such agony and hardship…martinis and massages for everyone
Hopefully, this is about a change in policies as a result of the Trump presidency. Trump stopped USG support for Syrian rebels – whom the Saudis, Qataris and Turkey were, at one time, helping to overthrow Assad. Turkey has stopped support as has Qatar. Saudis need to stop also. And the Netanyahu regime was also supporting ISIS. Bibi needs to go too.