Who is Mohammad bin Salman?

Who Is?

iHeartRadio + NowThis

News, Politics

4.1 • 803 Ratings

🗓️ 21 January 2020

⏱️ 34 minutes

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Summary

How did Saudi Arabia get away with the brutal murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the kidnapping and alleged torture of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, and even 9/11? How does it get away with war in Yemen and human rights violations at home? Oil, and the wealth that oil has brought about. On the first international episode of Who Is, Sean Morrow explores the 34-year-old trillionaire in charge of Saudi Arabia, Mohammad bin Salman, and the story of a monarchy that is using its wealth to secure its global legitimacy--and expand its influence--through investments in Silicon Valley notables like Twitter, Uber, and Slack. Featuring Agnès Callamard, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial Executions, who investigated Khashoggi’s 2018 killing.

Hala Aldosari, Robert E. Wilhelm Fellow at the MIT Center for International Studies
Agnès Callamard, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial Executions and Director, Global Freedom of Expression, Columbia University
Steven A. Cook, Eni Enrico Mattei Senior Fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. His latest book is False Dawn: Protest, Democracy, and Violence in the New Middle East

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Saudi Arabia, as we know, they really hold in many ways the key for the price of oil and
0:09.0	gas at a global level because of where they are located and what is in there under their land.
0:16.2	On Who is so far, we've only covered American leaders, American politics.
0:21.7	But this show is about power.
0:24.1	And even though the United States is the most powerful country in the world, it's not all powerful.
0:30.3	There are some things we need that other countries have lots of, and we're willing to give
0:36.1	them a lot to get.
0:40.8	It's time for who is to study abroad and cover the most powerful millennial in the world. Mohamed bin Salman is crown prince of Saudi Arabia.
0:49.9	He's likely next in line to be the head of state. He's set to inherit over a trillion
0:55.9	dollars. And he's already had a massive amount of influence, making major changes at home
1:02.2	in Saudi Arabia and imposing his will all over the Middle East. I'm Sean Mara, and this is
1:10.2	Who Is, the podcast from Now This, where we examine power through the stories of people who have it.
1:17.3	This week, for our first international episode, we're digging in to the crown prince and de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, or MBS. I wanted to hear it from somebody who knows
1:32.1	Saudi Arabia firsthand. So I spoke with Hala al-Dusari, a scholar, activist, and writer from
1:38.6	Saudi Arabia, who is currently a fellow at the MIT Center for International Studies. So let's start with the simple
1:46.1	stuff. Who is Mohammed bin Salman? I see Mohammed bin Salman as an authoritarian, unchecked in any
1:53.2	level, a brutal leader, and who is a leader who lives in a bubble. So Mohammed bin Salman is the
1:59.9	30-something crown prince of Saudi Arabia.
2:03.5	He is the favorite son of the current king, King Salman. Thus his name is Muhammad bin,
2:09.9	Mohammed son of Salman. And since 2015, when he was first made the deputy crown prince,
2:17.1	he has had kind of a meteoric rise
2:19.8	in Saudi politics.
	...

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