So I attempt to remove my stitches last night, yourself.

Yeah, well I told the doctor I could do it and but I forgot to do it. I was supposed to do it like a week ago. Oh boy. And it's way harder once uh once you get to this point.

So uh that charming tale and didn't go well coming on. Also the army's new fitness standards, which are really interesting why they've adopted them. And this is a step in the right direction you think is opposed to one of those watering it down making it too easy thing. It would seem so. Yeah. Cool. I think so. Yeah.

But first let's talk about the royal shake up in Saudi Arabia, major developments in that pivotal country. And to discuss that we've invited back to the Armstrong you get a show agent we haven't talked to for some time.

Ambassador Faisal Al-Estrabadi whose background is extensive and impressive. He was former Iraq Ambassador to the UN, they did in writing the Iraqi Constitution. It's currently the director of the center of the study of the Middle East at Indiana University. Professor, how are you sir?

It's a pleasure to be back with you. I hope you're well. Well we are indeed a quick personal note if I might my teenage daughter who really enjoyed our previous discussions about Iraq in the Middle East is now off to college at a prominent Eastern University studying international relations and that sort of thing partly because she enjoyed our chat so much so uh thank congratulations.

Congratulations you must be very proud and I wish you're all the best. Oh no I wonder to be a radiologist. I'm I'm angry at you.

I would come in a little more handy. You know the surgery you were just talking about. Right right scale one to 10. How big a deal is this Saudi Arabia thing?

I think it's maybe approaching an 11. I think a big deal. I mean it's a because it's it's not just an internal domestic shake up. It comes as a part of a larger sort of regional really almost a realignment or at least a this the first time.

Saudi Arabia's history that it is the you know almost not quite a hundred years that it is taking on a major region a major regional role directly engaging in armed conflict somewhere in the region. It's not just funding somebody's actually been bombing Yemen for two years and the way they're talking they're getting ready to escalate and and what and I'm sorry I know you're trying to get another question about while this is happening.

He's got this complete shake up of the royal family in a way that's never been done in Saudi Arabia. Let's talk about that crown prince Mohammed bin Salman for folks who don't follow stuff like we do what did he do.

Well he shattered the illusion or something the facade that's a better word the facade that the Saudi royal family has successfully maintained since the 1930s that it's all one big happy family where disputes are resolved behind the curtains and nobody ever knows what's going on.

We have 11 senior members of the royal family have been arrested on corruption charges senior members of the royal family and the Saudi establishment some of them aren't technically royals but they're cabinet ministers.

We have senior business leaders of major international corporations arrested on similar charges we have the youngest son of a former king who would be there for a cousin of the crown prince who was killed in an exchange with police while they were trying to execute an arrest warrant on him.

This kind of thing just doesn't happen in Saudi Arabia shadows fall on people their careers fail to progress there may be removed from a senior government position and allowed to retire comfortably wherever but not this kind of direct assault.

This has never happened in Saudi Arabia mind you they deposed the king once but they didn't do it this way.

And now so the guy that it looks like is going to be in charge young guy in his 30s you mentioned the war in Yemen their first actual.

Themselves going to war with another country some people are referring to it as Saudi Arabia's Vietnam because they're kind of bogged down and what are they exactly trying to accomplish and he's the guy the guy that's now in charge the arrested everybody he's the guy that launched the war so he's all for it right.

Yes he has his father is the king he's the crown prince he was given the portfolio he's also the defense minister and he was given the portfolio for the economic reform of the country.

And now he is taking on the political establishment of the family itself and their important supporters outside the family while at the same time taking on the conservative religious establishment in Saudi Arabia and asked the latter I think somebody finally needs to do that I'm glad he's doing it but the point is he is taking on everybody at the same time while he is also potentially going to raise the country.

And then he's going to raise the heat the heat level in the Middle East with respect to Iran which is what the Yemen thing has been all about.

Yeah just in the last 24 hours they called that lobbying of a missile by the Houthi rebels a an active war by Iran so that could get pretty hot pretty quickly.

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