MBS refuses to be hamstrung by Western fury as he takes his country into new alliances
Five months after the embassy murder of Saudi dissident, journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia is still reeling from the damage done to its not particularly bright image.
Khashoggi's ruthless murder seemed to have fractured the desert kingdom's relations with traditional western allies. This was due to the conclusion by the American intelligence that the killing of the writer by Saudi agents in Istanbul in October was personally ordered by the crown prince.
It was this that led the prince to look east. Not surprisingly, Asian governments have signalled their willingness to overlook the murder in return for investment and financial support. It is another confirmation that we live in a world where money is considered to be more important than human lives.
In the past week, the Crown Prince has pledged tens of billions of dollars in investments during a sweep through Pakistan, India and China as Saudi Arabia attempts to scale back its dependence on the West.
Mohammed bin Salman met President Xi, the Chinese leader and agreed deals that could allow Saudi Arabia to overtake Russia as its biggest oil supplier.
He also visited Pakistan where a $20 billion investment deal was agreed. This was intended to bail out its floundering economy. The Crown Prince then swept into Delhi.
However, it is not that Western powers are truly keen to end the marriage between the West and the Gulf Kingdom. It would be recalled that President Trump’s administration largely stood by the crown prince, issuing a statement of support and citing the importance of American arms sales to the country.
Also, rumours that his ailing father, King Salman, had clipped the prince's wings as a result of the Khashoggi murder would now appear to be untrue. The Asian tour suggests that MBS still has total control of the levers of power in Riyadh.
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