Incorrigible authoritarian

Saudi Crown Prince and heir apparent, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud or MBS, has had an extraordinarily providential stroke of luck which he has capitalized, brutally. As the seventh son of now virtually indisposed King Salman bin Abdulaziz, and the eldest from the third wife of the King – MBS's ultimate ambition has seen him muzzle his way up ruthlessly, not even sparing his siblings or mother, to ensure his ascendancy. Ironically, he was given the benefit of doubt initially, owing to his young age (chosen Crown Prince in 2017, at 32) with unknown antecedents, as the austere and puritanical image of the ultra-orthodox Kingdom run by crusty and inflexible old men, dominated the global imagination. It was a misplaced leap of faith, for MBS dialled up the authoritarian quotient to unprecedented levels. His surreal moves included kidnapping Prime Ministers (Lebanon's Saad Hariri), locking up more than 20 of his fellow Princelings and only releasing them after they had handed over billions and sworn undying loyalty, escalating diplomatic wars with Qatar and Iran, and physically violent one's in Yemen! His tactics seemed Chinese in construct, as his actions never seemed to reflect his words. MBS seduced the West by promising the moon in terms of societal reforms – only to make other tyrants like Kim Jong-un look amateurish in terms of suppression, intolerance, and bloodlust. So, while he publicly reined in the infamous moral police (Muttawa), he invested even more dangerously in the Firqat el-Nemr or 'Tiger Squad', a death squad that carries out covert 'hits' on any perceived opposition, across the globe (the murder and dismembering of dissident Jamal Khashoggi, is attributed to the same).

Before his horrific murder in a foreign land (Turkey), Khashoggi had repeatedly warned against getting conned by MBS's supposed reformist moves. In his columns, Khashoggi lamented, "Dozens of Saudi intellectuals, clerics, journalists, and social media stars have been arrested…majority of whom, are mildly critical of the government", or that, "MBS's rash actions are deepening tensions and undermining the security of the Gulf States and the region as a whole" and, "Saudi Arabia's Crown prince already controlled the nation's media. Now he's squeezing it even further" – and then finally Khashoggi was silenced, permanently. MBS was lucky that an equally unhinged Donald Trump was at the helm of affairs and he had boorishly contextualised his deliberate inaction at MBS's excesses by shockingly saying, "With all being said though, we have USD 450 billion, USD 110 billion of which is a military order, but this is equipment and various things ordered from Saudi Arabia, USD 450 billion", whilst simultaneously dialling up his unsubstantiated rants and threats against Iran, which had been complying with all mandated steps under the Iran Nuclear Deal. This leniency emboldened MBS to carry out his purge and diminishment of its beleaguered and minority, Shiite population. In 2016, Saudi Arabia executed 47 people for 'terrorism related' crimes (the largest mass execution since 1980), including the prominent Shiite cleric, Nimr al-Nimr, and in 2019 another 37 were beheaded (34 of them, supposedly Shiites). From sham court cases, confessions through torture to sheer denialism of justice – the poster boy of much bandied Saudi reforms went about his wayward ways, unchecked, and if anything, conveniently overlooked and nudged generously by Washington DC. For public consumption, MBS dangled his 'Saudi Vision 2030' (after bankrolling fancy PR, lobbying and consultancy firms to shore up the image) as deflective countermoves, to insist that reforms were indeed on the way. But the global outcry following the Khashoggi saga made it impossible for any 'Free World' nation to pretend, business as usual – and then in a perverse logic, the advent of the global pandemic rescued MBS by diminishing focus on Saudi Arabia, with MBS going almost incommunicado for a couple of years.

Now, five years in de facto power, more mature at 36 years, and with the benefit of reflecting on his earlier misdeeds, it was hoped that MBS had indeed mellowed with age and experience. This was especially important given that the clearly ailing King was given to infirmities of age, and it is only a question of time before MBS assumes the formal title of 'King' (with the all-important suffix of 'custodian of the two holy mosques' within the Ummah). Sadly, the regressive incident of mass executions last week in the Kingdom would suggest, otherwise. Decades of vicious propaganda entailing sectarian supremacism or bigotry was to rear its ugly face again, as MBS returned to the centre stage with the largest ever execution at any one time, with 81 people executed (41 of which are believed to be Shias)!

The undeniable role of the US in singularly (often unfairly) demonising Iran and remaining fixated on it, and overlooking MBS's inconvertible hand in the Khashoggi affair, despite the dodgy trail pointing to the powers-that-be, has facilitated the bloody return of MBS. So much for Joe Biden's earlier promise to make the Saudi regime "the pariah that they are" – instead of sanctioning MBS, reports of the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, flying down to Riyadh to nudge the Saudis to pump more oil (to put pressure on the Russians) and declining to comment on the latest incident of human rights violation, speaks volumes of amorality and realpolitik at play. It's not just MBS, but the US too, which is hand in glove with its telling silences, side deals, and Iran-bashing, that ensures the perpetuation of the Saudi narrative, only perhaps worsened, now!

MBS who has trampled and crushed his way up would also recognise the current time to be the weakest moment for the US policymakers on the chessboard of geopolitics, given the backdrop of the ensuing Ukraine-Russia war, and he will exploit the same to his advantage, morality be damned! The patented Saudi doublespeak on religious extremism and reforms had ensured that fifteen of the nineteen hijackers on 9/11 were Saudi citizens (none from Iran!), and now prospectively with a completely unchecked and unsanctioned 'King' Mohammed Bin Salman in the making, things could go completely awry. MBS has also not shied away from invoking the Chinese card to tease the Americans by suggesting that he could cosy up to his fellow authoritarians in Beijing, "I believe other people in the East are going to be super happy!" Neither time, tide nor consequences of his earlier actions have been able to reform MBS personally (let alone his governance), if anything, the dictatorial leader is a clear case of an incorrigible authoritarian.

The writer is the former Lt Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands & Puducherry. Views expressed are personal