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How MBS consolidated power in Saudi Arabia

July 26, 2022
GZERO Staff
How MBS Consolidated Power in Saudi Arabia | US Alignment on Core Strategic Interests | GZERO World

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What sets Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, better known as MBS, apart from other autocrats who've risen to power in recent years?

He's consolidated power by "emasculating" his own family, including America's pick to succeed his dad, says Bernard Haykel, a professor at Princeton University and MBS confidante.

The effort "was extremely brutal and messy at times," he tells Ian Bremmer on GZERO World.

On the heels of the US president's recent trip to Saudi Arabia, Haykel thinks that even if there's no love lost between Joe Biden and MBS, America needs a "status quo power" like the kingdom in the region to defend US core strategic interests.

Watch the GZERO World episode: Saudi Arabia’s repressive power politics
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