Saudi Arabia's real-life Game of Thrones

Worldly

Vox Media Podcast Network

News Commentary, Politics, News

4.4 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 9 November 2017

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Yochi, Jenn and Zack talk about the shocking purge in Saudi Arabia, where the country's young and ambitious crown prince has abruptly begun arresting his relatives and seizing billions of dollars of their money. The move is a clear sign that 32-year-old Mohammed bin Salman, the heir apparent to the Saudi throne, is consolidating power and eliminating possible rivals. Salman has made some relatively progressive moves, like allowing Saudi women to drive. The problem is that the prince has also escalated Saudi Arabia's bloody war in Yemen and launched a diplomatic crisis with one of its neighbors that shows no signs of stopping. On Elsewhere, they look at how far Chinese leaders have gone to flatter Trump while he visits Beijing, including cannons, dancing Chinese schoolchildren, and a private tour of the Forbidden City. Zack has a hot take about the rulers of Saudi Arabia (hint: he's not a fan), Jenn has business advice for a Saudi hotel, and Yochi nerds out on Game of Thrones. Zack’s article on MBS’ false progressivism Zeeshan’s piece on flattery from world leaders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Worldly, Vox's weekly guide to the most important stories in the world,
0:12.7	part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
0:15.1	So being part of the royal family of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
0:18.4	means you've got a pretty good life.
0:20.0	You drive on private highways,
0:21.7	you'll literally bring your own escalators when you stay at hotels in foreign countries.
0:25.0	And you have one of the biggest luxuries of all.
0:27.0	The knowledge that your position in life is pretty secure.
0:30.0	That change comes slowly, if at all, and that there's usually pretty much no drama.
0:34.0	But then this happened.
0:36.0	Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salma then ordered the arrest of numerous prominent Saudis
0:41.0	including relatives.
0:42.0	So that's a reference to this really unprecedented prominent Saudis, including relatives.
0:42.7	So that's a reference to this really unprecedented purge by a young prince named Mohammed
0:47.2	been Salmin, almost universally known as MBS, who will be the country's next king, and who spent the past few days arresting members
0:54.7	of his own family.
0:55.8	So not to mix too many pop cultural references, but let's talk about that Game of Thrones.
1:00.3	Who's doing the purging?
1:01.5	Who's being purged? Why matters to Saudi Arabia? Why matters for the US?
1:05.0	And let's start Jen with who's doing the purging? Who is this guy?
1:08.0	So Mohamed bin Salman is the young dynamic crown prince of Saudi Arabia.
1:12.0	He's only 32 years old. He's only been
	...

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