Commentary
Wait a minute. I’m having whiplash.
I thought the presumptive Saudi Arabian leader Mohammed bin Salman (aka MBS) was a ruthless tyrant who placed roughly half his family under investigation for treason and ordered—or at least encouraged—the murder of respected Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
Okay, Khashoggi wasn’t respected by everybody. He did other things, including hanging out with Osama bin Laden, adamantly defending Hamas, Hezbollah, and Palestinian terrorism, and generally advocating for the eradication of the state of Israel, but still, murder’s murder.
On other hand, MBS is modernizing his country at a rapid pace, not only industrially, but by allowing women to drive, building Western-style beach resorts, and even staging four-day raves in Riyadh. That last might not exactly progress, but it certainly is modernizing….