Welcome to hardtalk. Im stephen sackur. President biden has reportedly paused arms sales to saudi arabia as his administration reviews relations with his long time strategic ally. Not long ago, candidate biden described the kingdom as a pariah, but is there any prospect of external or internal pressure challenging the authority of saudi arabias De Facto Leader, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman . Well, my guest is exiled saudi opposition activist, madawi al rasheed. What next for saudi arabia reform, repression or maybe both . Madawi al rasheed, welcome to hardtalk. Hello. You have become one of the highest profile saudi critics of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. I just wonder how you felt a couple of weeks ago when we saw the crown prince so warmly welcomed at the World Economic forum, the online davos event, where he was selling saudi arabia as an Investment Opportunity for the entire world. What did you make of that . Well, its a familiar image and a familiar trick. Saudi arabia ha
commentators suggest president putin s visit to vietnam is designed to show the world that russia is not isolated from asia. he flew directly to hanoi from pyongyang, where he and kim jong un signed a pact to help each other in the case of aggression. the bbc s shaimaa khalil reports from south korea. vladimir putin s pyongyang trip was choreographed to a t, with some surreal, made for tv moments, like this one of him driving kimjong un on the streets of pyongyang. earlier, kim il sung square, at the heart of the north korean capital, was buzzing with crowds and colour, as the two globally isolated leaders revelled in each other s company and what mr kim described as a new level of alliance. translation: we highlyl appreciate your consistent and unwavering support for russian policy, including the ukrainian direction. i mean, ourfight against the hegemonic imperialist policy imposed for decades by the united states and its satellites. since his war on ukraine, vladimir putin