u.s. presidents have to varying degrees been willing to pander to saudi arabia. to the arms of an old friend, the kingdom of saudi arabia. the pariah that they are. we must act and we will act. the president who vowed to be different. president biden is about to kiss the ring of mbs. remarkable reversal. it s going to be awkward. is now just another patron of a prince. the crown prince is a wrecking ball. a dictator renowned for a very brutal end. his body was chopped up into small pieces. why would you bring a bone saw? who at the same time is a reformer. this man is extremely popular. revolutionizing his nation. new era, new age. it s that simple. the kingdom s power lies under the desert sands. keep your pumps up and you can do whatever you want out back. liquid gold oil. is america betraying its values? to understand this unusual relationship you need to understand the very unusual country that is saudi arabia. good evening. saudi
but five years ago, king salman shook up this established ritual. after an interim choice, he installed as crown prince his then 31-year-old son. saudi arabia has a new heir to the throne. a royal shakeup in the house of saud. mohammad bin salman, mbs, was an obscure young royal known to almost no one outside saudi arabia. now he is poised to succeed his ailing father and rule the kingdom for half a century if his health and the monarchy hold out. this is somebody with a great deal of ambition and who has the complete support and faith of his father. when mbs rocketed to power, he began to shake things up almost right away. the old saudi system seemed ancient. with senior royals running ministries like earls and dukes. mbs put an end to that,
that means ending the war year in yemen, creating a better working relationship between iran and saudi arabia and, finally, integrating israel into the region fully. the oil rich states will be flush with money for years to come as energy prices are likely to stay high. the challenge will be to put this money to good use and actually modernize the region. not just by buying fancy western goods but by investing to create a middle east that is once again one of the centers of knowledge, learning and culture in the world. if washington can convince bin salman the best way to redeem his reputation is to demonstrate his ability to truly transform, something good can come out of the murder of jamal. it will never justify it, nothing can, but it might ensure that my friend did not die in
replacing princes with people loyal to him and amassing power personally. we ve talked about his dramatic social reforms. a royal decree has been issued giving women the right to drive. and we ve talked about his harsh treatment of some of those who advocated for those reforms. rights groups say women activists have been subjected to torture and assault in saudi jails. but even as saudi human rights abuses continue, mbs is making vital changes to a once backward kingdom. if mohammad bin salman the reformer didn t exist, the saudi system would have had to invent him. oil is running out. their population is going up. there is no time to waste. while skyrocketing oil prices drive saudi arabia s fastest growth in a decade, the prince
we got hit with the distilled essence of everything that was going on out back. osama bin laden and 15 of the 9/11 hijackers were all suddenies. saudis. more isis soldiers come from saudi than from anywhere else in the middle east. for years america has been desperate for a new day in saudi arabia. welcome to the stage, ladies and gentlemen, his royal highness enter the 36-year-old crown prince mohammad bin salman. he is unlike any saudi ruler the world has seen before. mbs effectively took over from his father, king salman, five years ago. suddenly everything in saudi arabia seemed to change.