king salman and his son, crown prince mohammed, have launched a purge of princes and ministers and potentials, which is part of a grand plan to entrench their power and transform the country. my guest is saudi journalist, commentator, and current political exile, jamal khashoggi. is the saudi drama about raw power or real reform 7 jamal khashoggi, in washington, welcome to hardtalk. thank you for having me. well, it's a pleasure. you have been calling for a long time now for reform in the kingdom of saudi arabia. we now see a man at the top who appears determined to deliver on reform. are you delighted with what you are seeing in the saudi capital? i might sound throughout with the show with conflicting messages. yes, i am for reform. but i'm also worried for one—man rule. we arabs have suffered a great deal with one—man rule. one—man rule is always problematic, always ends with disaster, whether in germany, or in iraq, or in saudi arabia. saudi arabia wasn't a democracy, but it used to be ruled by consensus, not between us, the people, and the royalfamily, but within the royal family itself

king salman and his son crown prince mohammed have started a purge of princes and ministers and potential rivals, part of a grand plan to entrench their power and transformed the country. my guess is saudi journalist and current political exile, jamal khashoggi. —— guest. is the saudi drama about raw power or real reform 7 jamal khashoggi, welcome to hardtalk. thank you for having me. it isa hardtalk. thank you for having me. it is a pleasure. you have been calling for a long time now for reform in the kingdom of saudi arabia. we now see a man at the top who appears determined to deliver on reform. are you delighted with what you are seeing in the saudi capital? imight sound you are seeing in the saudi capital? i might sound throughout the show to have conflicting messages. yes, i am delighted. but we have seen issues with one man rule. it always ends with one man rule. it always ends with disaster. saudi arabia was not a democracy, but it used to be ruled by consensus, not between us and the royalfamily, but by consensus, not between us and the royal family, but within the royal family i

it's been called saudi arabia's game of thrones under the leadership of crown prince mohammed bin solemn on the kingdom of saudi arabia has arrested dozens of top officials from princes to ministers to officials in the armed forces in what the crown prince is calling a crackdown on corruption his government has allegedly detained both the president of yemen and the lebanese prime minister and there's even talk of saudi arabia joining with israel to attack iran joining me to discuss these latest middle east crises around me corey a political columnist author and senior fellow at the american university of beirut shireen hunter a research professor at georgetown university and author of iran's foreign policy in the post soviet era and from maryland for hognose a consultant with the embassy of saudi arabia in washington d.c. an international fellow at the national council on the u.s. our relations thank you all for joining me on up front. let me begin with you earlier in the show i interviewed u.s. congressman row connor and he said south. crown prince mohammed bin psalm on m.b.a.'s as he's

crown prince mohammed bin salman is driving this spectacular dragnet.ng files on alleged corruption, abuses of power, while consolidating his own power. i am taken to meet one suspect. he does not give me his name. he says he spent his time with his lawyer, focusing on his case, i told not to ask about. senior officials conduct thing this crackdown say it is not formal investigation yet. they call it friendly process but it is clearly fraught. we have been told that when people walked here around midnight, they were understandably angry. people thought it would not last but then when they realised they were here to stay, they were furious. almost everyone here, 95%, are willing to make the deal, to give back what is said to be substantial amounts of money in order to get out of here. and so far, seven people have walked free. i was told they prove their innocence. many saudis will come an end to the rampant corruption in the kingdom. there are risks too. the crown prince risks creating enemies and uncertainties which could endanger the very stability an

trump and crown prince mohammed bin oman and saudi arabia they see unprecedented closeness between the united states and the united arab emirates with mohamed bin diet they see the prospects for an alliance between the united arab emirates saudi arabia and israel as real and unprecedented and historic they think the power of the palestinians is at an all time low they think they have cost him us almost destroyed hamas routed it from from gaza and really destroyed its leadership they think that the palestinian leadership overall is ripe for a turn for turn over they're looking not at president abbas really they're really looking at someone like muhammad dahlan who supported heavily by the united arab emirates so the perspective within the white house i think is very different than many of us who are looking at the region and what i would call a more realistic way but the perspective in the white house is different and it's important to understand and take seriously because there. acting on it they're acting in close coordination with the saudis and the m.r. adi's and other palestinians

as there is a senior political analyst marwan bashara says that the heir to the throne crown prince mohammed bin sylmar is flexing his political muscles in ways not seen before in recent saudi history. it's yet another reshuffle right in the kingdom of saudi arabia and at the heart of it is the crown prince mohammed bin so man who is clearly the man with power in hands being able to change things around within the kingdom and not only changing people but changing policies changing direction and taken on beast major mager a multi hundreds of billions of dollars projects like a new city like privatizing a bit of a run called the main oil company in saudi arabia so all in all he's taken a very aggressive stance that we haven't seen before in the modern history of saudi arabia where a new king or a new regime comes in not only changes cabinet not only changes a bit of the structure so that it is a new era of a new king but now we have the king of the conference really changing decades centuries long tradition within the kingdom so the latest reshuffle today is really a part of a longer. change d

also have the announcement of the creation of an anti corruption committee headed by the crown prince mohammed bin sultan and reports fairly patchy but coming together to give a sense of coherence of the arrests of maybe ten princes and several dozen former ministers that the the scale of this is consistent with the very ambitious plans that have been unveiled by mohammed inside man the crown prince only last week he he talked about the project to build a mega city. on the red sea politics is very very ambitious vision twenty thirty to transform the economy of saudi arabia to renew it away from its dependence on oil to cater for economic diversification of the whole range of the things that's the context in simon also made headlines across the world the same day by talking about his wish to see saudi arabia return to a moderate form of islam that's very much in contrast to the the negative images enjoys particularly in the west so the sense is from particularly from media that are close to the saudi government is that this is all part of a drive is full improved economic performance and better

businessmen and princes were detained over the weekend as part of an investigation led by crown prince mohammed bin sultan more news for you here on al-jazeera right after inside story next. some say he's in a rush to take power from his father others argue mohamed been so money is on a path to reform saudi arabia but what risks is the crown prince running and kenny meet the many challenges he faces both at home and in the region this is inside story. with. with. their welcome to the program i'm jane dothan the erased in saudi arabia have spurred days of speculation and analysis there was the element of surprise the detentions took place on saturday night and without warning the elements of power most of those arrested all men of influence and an element of uncertainty is this about purging corruption or consolidating power the man behind it all drawn prince mohammed bin saul mon has been a figure of controversy for months now he's regarded as a progressive leader touting social and economic reforms but critics say m.b.a.'s as he's known is also a power hungry over the course of two years he we

days saudi princes as well as business but at the arrested many see it as a move by the crown prince mohammed bin sultan to consolidate power of president trump voiced his support on twitter saying i have great confidence in king solomon of the crown prince they know exactly what they're doing he added that some of those they are harshly treating have been milking the country for years meanwhile saudi arabia has warned lebanon will. we dealt with as a government that stick led war against it it's the latest development amid escalating tension in the region saudi's foreign minister has accused iran of committing an act of war over a failed ballistic missile attack on riyadh on saturday while yemen's who the rebels have claimed responsibility at all algebra says that the weapon was supplied by iran in yemen good forces who are backed by iran are warning that saudi and us a airports are within firing range and could be next that's prompted saudi arabia to cut all land sea and air access to yemen the u.n. fears that that could further hamper humanitarian efforts it all follows the resignation of

fourth king solomon put his heir apparent in charge of a nationwide corruption crackdown crown prince mohammed bin laden then ordered the arrests of numerous prominent saudis including relatives such as the billionaire investor prince wali bin dahlan they're now being held at the ritz carlton. president donald trump applauded the arrests on twitter saying the king and the crown prince quote know exactly what they're doing some of those they are harshly treating have been milking their country for years even so the u.s. is calling on the kingdom to follow saudi law we encourage them and i just want to say this one more time to pursue any possible prosecution or corruption cases in a fair and transparent manner however the u.s. says riyadh did not tell it the arrests were coming it also says no one expected lebanese prime minister saad how do you say to resign on the same day there's speculation the saudis pressured to quit in order to send a message to the group hezbollah and to its supporter iran riyadh's regional rival the united states strongly supports the legitimate institutions in the leb

the move has been seen as a consolidation of power by the heir to the throne, crown prince mohammed binry‘s richest men and many former ministers have been arrested, in what has been presented to the world as a purge of corruption. bank accounts will be frozen while assets and property will be handed over to the state. assets like london‘s savoy hotel, owned by prince alwaleed bin talal, known as the saudi warren buffett. this outspoken investor with a fortune close to $18 billion has major stakes in companies like apple and twitter. his arrest, along woth others, has sent shock waves through the ranks of the kingdom‘s elite, who have long been viewed as untouchable. king salman authorised the move by royal decree, many say, to shore up the power of his son, and heir, crown prince mohammed bin salman. prince mohammed is seen by many, especially younger saudis, as a charismatic visionary and a breath of fresh air. it‘s clear he intends to use his growing power and, by spearheading this purge, he has put the old elite on notice. he‘s touching that very raw nerve in the royal family, but a

sodhi leader chrome prince mohammed bin salman on the left of this poster with his father king salmon once it known he means business it will be. the detention of people on charges of corruption who are in positions of high authority and possess lots of money and who trades throughout most of the world's continent also proves that the economic side is considered important to our leadership. could be and walk away a little. prince our lead been told is among those arrested one of the world's richest men. from riyadh's tallest skyscraper he controls luxury hotel chains broadcasters and a real estate empire and over twelve hundred bank accounts were reportedly frozen with more to come. traders at the riyadh stock exchange were initially nervous following the moves investors worried as there was a rush to control such vast assets that there would be a negative impact on the economy or even the oil price but the mood soon lightened . a little while. i were flushed impression is that there was a white welcome from investors and that there are important signs from these decisions that no one

ministers caught up in the purge is widely seen as a move to consolidate the power of the crown prince mohammed bin salon u.s. president donald trump has voiced support for the action by saudi arabia's leaders by tweeting i have great confidence in king solomon and crown prince they know exactly what they're doing he added that some of those they are harshly treating have been milking that country for years. has more. the streets of riyadh may still look the same but this week saudi arabia is significantly different than the one the world knew before the weekend saudi arabia has always been an absolute monarchy but within its political system there was a degree of power sharing between different branches of the royal family businessmen and religious institutions in order to ensure stability and security in the early hours of sunday however all of that was destroyed or royal decree ordered the arrest of several ministers princes and multibillionaires it was seen as the latest step by crown prince mohammed bin solomon in his quest for absolute power even. indicate. that it's clearing the ground f

crown prince mohammed bin salman is the head of a newly—established anti—corruption committee, and heity correspondent frank gardner reports. saudi arabia has been shaken by two shocks within hours of each other. first, a missile fired by rebels in yemen. they reportedly reached the capital riyadh before they were shot down. this is a big step, they are using ballistic missiles, long—range missiles, likely from iran to put pressure on the saudi arabian government which has been bombarding yemen for years now. next in an unrelated move came the news that several prominent princes including serving ministers had been detained in a sweeping anti—corruption purge led by the crown prince mohammed bin salman. the heir to the throne has been moving fast to consolidate his growing power while spearheading a modern reform programme. this move will now give him nominal control of all the country's security forces but at the same time the removal from office of several well known figures is sure to upset some more conservative elements. saudi arabia is a deeply tribal society and not used to sud

well since he was appointed crown prince in june mohamed bin has flagged broad plans to transform both saudi arabia's culture and its economy just over a week ago he promised to return the king them to what he called a moderate islam well with me in the studio is undress krieger who is a strategic security analyst and an assistant professor at king's college here in london thanks so much for joining us here in the studio first of all what do you make of this pretty dramatic and pretty sudden shake up i mean if you look at twitter today i mean it was all about you know this is like a big bang of what's happening in riyadh a lot of things happening love conspiracy theories as as well i think there are two things happening here yes there is a clamp on corruption i think that's very important if you want to bring saudi arabia into the twenty first century you need to climb down on corruption but obviously how do you define corruption is a different issue i think there are two not more important underlying things one making the economy already that also means consolidating power over the ec

arabia announced a major cabinet overhaul widely seen as consolidating the power of the crown prince mohammed bin so man that hash is going to reports call it a surprise saturday night shake up saudi state t.v. reported that eleven princes three current and dozens of former ministers have been detained as part of an inch i corruption probe only hours after the formation of an investigative committee was announced it's difficult to relate this to corruption since they didn't have enough time to make a prosecution or to make investigations about that if there was something or some information collected previously why did the and with. the case by case in different be with before about the not doing this overnight all these people together which is rather a quick question specious. the saudi cabinet overhaul is viewed as a power play by king solomon analysts say it's designed to ensure his son and heir to the throne crown prince mohammed bin salomon consolidates power and does so among their branch of the royal family he's making this public relations sense to get more public support and also a

play by king solomon analysts say it's designed to ensure his son and heir to the throne crown prince mohammed bin salomon consolidates power and does so among their branch of the royal family is making this public relations sense to get more public support also a little bit of the way to afford his popularity one of the most high profile figures pushed out is the minister of the national guard prince metabo bin of dollar he was the son of former king of dollar and once thought to be next in line to the throne he was the remaining member of the abdullah family in such a high level position. also detained is prince will lead bin tell out he's one of the wealthiest men in the world and given his widespread investments is detainment could have an impact on global business. this shake up sends a message there's a new political order it's also a reminder that for months after the crown prince was named heir to the throne there can be no mistake mohammed bin selman is the future for saudi arabia natasha going to eight zero zero. wolf lawn. joins us now from doha and i want to just hearing there abou

prince mohammed bin defense minister in the beginning of two thousand and fifteen i think we so more of the escalation in yemen and the likes but we are also seeing in. iran through from iraq through syria and on eleven on and all in all i think iran wants to build on what it considers to be victorious expansion of its influence in its neighboring countries like iraq syria lebanon and so on and i think so you're abia wants to fend off iran and iran influence especially in its immediate surroundings like in yemen and hence we are seeing both regimes escalating their their tensions their conflict and really demanding of the various countries sovereign nations of the region to take sides are you with iran or are you with saudi arabia the u.n. has condemned saudi arabia's blockade of yemen ass catastrophic and international aid groups are calling on riyadh to lift it fuel prices in yemen have increased more than sixty percent and cooking gas prices have doubled in saudi arabia and i was to monday it would close all land and sea to stop the flow of arms into the country but the move is al

direct control over the country's gods you ready controls the defense and interior ministries prince mohammed has surprised many by pushing back against saudi arabia's religious elite in two thousand and sixteen it took steps to rein in the country's religious police they have been back on the streets since june but are reportedly less vigorous about their chastising m.b.'s also allowed agenda make celebration of saudi national day in september despite a backlash from religious clerics and two weeks ago said saudi arabia must return to a quote moderate balanced islam that is open to the world and to all religions let's bring in our guests joining us in beirut joseph kitchin a middle east analyst and senior fellow at the king faisal center for research and islamic studies in london and his critic as a professor at the defense studies department at king's college london and also in beirut nicholas editor in chief of mideast wire dot com good to see all three of you joseph kitchen let me start off with you a staggering couple of days have passed i'm just wondering what we are. in the middle of w

prince mohammed bin defense minister in the beginning of two thousand and fifteen i think we saw more of the escalation in yemen and the likes what we're also seeing in escalation from iran through from iraq through syria and on to lebanon and all in all i think iran wants to build on what it considers to be victorious expansion of its influence in its neighboring countries like iraq syria lebanon and so on i think so eurabia wants to fend off iran and iranian influence especially in its immediate surroundings like in yemen and hence we are seeing both regimes escalating their their tensions their conflict and really demanding the various countries sovereign nations of the region to take sides are you with iran or are you with saudi arabia . i think many people are probably sitting at home thinking saudi arabia appears to be fighting on so many fronts at the moment it's obviously involving what's going on with hezbollah in lebanon it's involved in syria too we're looking at the cattle blockade at the same time very much involved in the i'm listen gresham now. what is happening within

days saudi princes as well as businessmen have been arrested many see that as a move by crown prince mohammed bin sultan to consolidate power president trump voiced his support of course on twitter saying i have great confidence in king solomon and crown and the crown prince they know exactly what they're doing he added some of those that they are harshly treating have been milking their country for years the saudi arabia's crown prince mohammed has accused iran of committing an act of war by supplying hooty rebels in yemen with a missile that was fired at riyadh it's the latest development amid escalating tension in the region saudi air defense forces intercepted the ballistic missile fired by hooty rebels in yemen on saturday while they've claimed responsibility for that attack saudi leaders say that the weapon was supplied by iran. iran back to the forces are now warning that saudi u.a.e. airports are within firing range and could be next that's prompted saudi arabia to cut all land sea and access to yemen and the fact that the u.n. fears could further hamper humanitarian efforts and saudi

there was a great deal of pressure and expectation on him from the saudis in particular new crown prince mohammed bin salman to redress and renegotiates the power balance in the region both in lebanon and outside lebanon and it's just emerged in the last twenty four hours of a crude critical to this deal with the heart the crux of this entire to buckler is . the saudis believe that there's been a shift of hezbollah forces from lebanon to yemen in the last few months and the rocket attacks on the saudi capital riyadh which we've seen in the last couple of weeks have been responsible have been have been linked to hezbollah forces being in yemen so we now have something on the table we can they go see it and wrangle with and there's a certain amount of pressure on her riri now to get back to lebanon and to negotiate a deal with hezbollah where by possibly those forces could be removed from yemen as a token gesture now he come if he comes back to lebanon and most people suspect he will next few days he would have a lot more leverage on his side to negotiate a deal hezbollah. meanwhile the french pres

the stabilizing the whole planet so it seems now that the saudi joining the camp and we heard prince mohammed bin that crown prince saying clearly visible law is training and smuggling missiles whose is in yemen and there are threatening the stability of saudi arabia and we have to cut them at the head of the sneak in lebanon so i wouldn't be surprised actually that if saudi arabia and israel launch a war against hezbollah in lebanon because how the saudi actually will go and bomb hezbollah they have to go either through syria or through israel and this is the only way i believe. really fought with defacto major support but then what does i mean i want to get onto egypt in a second here. aside from any mediation what is iran syria iraq. going to do in the face of this kind of surge that's going to definitely there is a strong alliance now this strong alliance consists of iran syria iraq. and could be turkey beside his partner and if the. cutter even yeah but if this war and the war erupted in lebanon it will be and major brought and we don't know yet what this is you know the position of russ

we had the big political surprise where the crown prince was put to the side and mohammed bin salman rise, so if you are asking me if we will get another surprise, you cannot rule that out. david: thank you. you will be joining us at the top of the hour with bloomberg markets: middle east in about 13 minutes. stay tuned for that show. in the meantime, let's get caught up on business flash headlines. trying to fend off the unsolicited approach from broadcom, saying the bid undervalues the company. is seen as anfer opportunistic attempt to force the deal on the cheap. give thet said it will offer consideration, but probably asked shareholders to reject it. downhares doing this, 1.1% after third-quarter profit missed estimates. higher provisions for credit overshadowing gains from interest and wealth. net income through september million,to $602 compared with a mean forecast of $835 million. dbs is the last of the country's big banks to report earnings. continuing growth in the chinese market has the mainland becomes the biggest market in 5-10 years, targeting 12% growth and transforming

the iranian regime accountable for these violations but the region in turmoil the saudi crown prince mohammed bin solomon is trying to deal with major internal issues as well as detain senior princes businessmen and government ministers as part of what he says is a crackdown on corruption so i'm in the usa the administration should try to rein in the young princes now embroiled in numerous confrontations reports. the saudi government has been very busy lately and it has foreign leaders and financial chiefs trying to figure out one on november fourth king solomon put his heir apparent in charge of a nationwide corruption crackdown crown prince mohammed bin salma then ordered the arrests of numerous prominent saudis including relatives such as the billionaire investor prince waleed bin there now being held at the ritz carlton. president donald trump applauded the arrests on twitter saying the king and the crown prince quote know exactly what they're doing some of those they are harshly treating have been milking their country for years even so the u.s. is calling on the kingdom to follow saudi

what with the regime in turmoil the saudi crown prince mohammed bin solomon is trying to deal with major internal issues to he's detain senior princes businessmen and government ministers as part of what he says is that crackdown on corruption some in the usa the administration should try to rein in the young prince who's now i'm brolga numerous confrontations in jordan reports. the saudi government has been very busy lately and it has foreign leaders and financial chiefs trying to figure out why a november fourth king solomon put his heir apparent in charge of a nationwide corruption crackdown crown prince mohammed bin saleh then ordered the arrests of numerous prominent saudis including relatives such as the billionaire investor prince waleed bin there now being held at the ritz carlton. president donald trump applauded the arrests on twitter saying the king and the crown prince quote know exactly what they're doing some of those they are harshly treating have been milking their country for years even so the u.s. is calling on the arrests were coming it also says no one expected lebane

business been oppresses were detained over the weekend as part of an investigation led by a crown prince mohammed bin solomon we continue to encourage the saudi authorities to pursue the prosecution of people they believe to have been corrupt officials we expect them to do it in a fair and transparent manner we call on the government of saudi arabia to do that president trump has struck a more conciliatory conciliatory tone towards north korea during his visit to seoul he says u.s. led efforts to ramp up the pressure on pyongyang are making progress and in a departure from recent comments pushing for military action he said he prefers a diplomatic solution to the crisis tony barely has more. donald trump arrived in south korea on the second and perhaps most delicate leg of his asia tour it brought him to within forty eight kilometers of the border with north korea following his war of words with its leader kim jong un there were fears president trump's presence would provoke some sort of response he described north korea as a worldwide threat that requires worldwide action but his tone was more m

i spoke with crown prince mohammed bill sammon and prime minister saad hariri we agreed that i would invite the prime minister in his family to france for a few days is also a gesture of friendship in the willingness of france to contribute restoring calm and stability in lebanon. an anti-racist group in the u.k. has accused the european you. of criminalising people who help refugees cross borders the institute of race relations claims that governments are taking advantage of people trafficking laws to punish humanitarian efforts now one person mentioned in the document is former u.k. soldier rob lowery he hit the headlines back in january two thousand and sixteen when french authorities charged him for trying to help a four year old girl and her father illegally cross into the u.k. he found them living in a sewer pipe at the notorious jungle camp in kalai rob spoke to r.t. if you know i went over to help. in france the notorious jungle and i was building shelters that. i befriended a young afghan girl and their father and she used to help me for many weeks and you know months buildi

it was announced under the auspices of prince mohammed, whose rapid ascent has shaken the political scenecross the region. speaking sunday, prince mohammed said the attack on an ejection mosque that killed more than 300 mosqueers -- egyptian that killed more than 300 worshipers has galvanized terrorists. and a shipment of vital food aid hahas made it into yemen for the first time in three weeks after the lifting of a blockade.e. those first supplies have gotten through, the u.n. says the knee is not nearly enough. has raised d its warning alert, warning4 other women at risk of interruption from a volcano. the volcano has been spewing -- four days now -- spewing ash for days now. , maxwell reports. reporter: moving away from interrupting the volcano. erupting for cano. they say that love is willing up in its crater and the situation could get worse -- they say that is welling up in its crater in the situation could get worse. indicatesigns eruptions will continue. tens of thousands have already evacuated to emergency centers. 25,000 people have b been living in shelters since september whe

saudi arabia's crown prince mohammed bin sound man is accusing iran of what could be an act of war by supplying houthi rebels in the yemen with a missile fired riyadh it's the latest development amid escalating tensions in the region saudi air defense forces intercepted the ballistic missile on saturday although the hovey rebels claim responsibility sally leaders say the weapon was supplied by iran and iran backed who sees a warning that saudi ports are within firing range and could be their next targets saudi arabia is also taking aim at lebanon accusing the government of declaring war on riyadh says acts of aggression have been committed by the lebanon based group hezbollah which is backed by iran lebanon's prime minister sadly how do you resigned on saturday he was in the united arab emirates for talks holder has the latest from beirut. and some analysts are even saying that these statements by saudi officials a number of saudi officials are unprecedented and they're analyzing this is a declaration of war against lebanon telling lebanon lebanese leaders need to choose between peace

again the top stories here on al-jazeera this hour saudi arabia's crown prince mohammed bin salman is accusing iran of what could be an act of war for supplying the rebels in yemen with a missile that was fired at riyadh saudi air defense forces intercepted the ballistic missile on saturday and saudi arabia says that lebanon will be dealt with as a government that's declared war against the country lebanon's prime minister saad al-hadi blamed iran and his ball of destabilizing the region already resigned while in riyadh on saturday he's now in the united arab emirates for talks with donald trump says the u.s. and its allies are prepared to use military action against north korea but he's open to negotiations to end pyongyang's nuclear weapons program trump has been discussing the issue with south korea's leader in seoul. the united nations has called for an end to what it calls a catastrophic aid blockade on yemen fuel prices increased by over sixty percent and cooking gas prices doubled after saudi arabia cut all aid access to the country the u.n. says it's looking at whether the clo

prince mohammed bin man that included the crackdown not only in terms of opposition figures but also members of the family that crackdown according to the government is an anti corruption crackdown but according to people here in observers that something or nothing less than an attempt by the. man to eliminate any form of opposition or competition for the crown of the significance of the united kingdom is that it holds very strong ties with saudi arabia particularly an arms deals and this is something that is very significant when you look at for example the war in yemen saudi arabia has been criticized by united nations and many human rights organizations for essentially allegedly committing war crimes and those war crimes would have been committed by arms that they bought from western powers and that's why we have senior political figures and former political leaders a political party united kingdom the man that the british government stop selling arms to saudi arabia but also saudis involvement or interference according to some people in regional countries particularly in yemen as

prince. he is mohammed bin salman, and he has consolidated his hold on power.hammed bin salman is incredibly young the summer was a much salman is incredibly young the summer was a much responsibility. his defence minister as well. he has spent the last few years treated by his father, the king. he has had a meteoric rise to take on one portfolio after another. the fourth of november has been termed the night of the long months because under the orders of the crown prince, ministers, princes and former businessmen have been rounded up, their assets seized, put into luxury detention. this is unprecedented. these are big public figures and they have been publicly humiliated and accused of corruption and abuse of power. this has been seen as a power grab. and abuse of power. this has been seen as a power grab. he is consolidating. the saudi crown prince is one of the few people who can take on the power of the religious conservatives inside arabia and say it is time for women to be allowed to drive. saudi arabia is the last country in the world where women are not

against iran which is the regional shere muslim leader the coalition is led by this man saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman now he's already been making headlines described as a revolutionary politician and the new hope for saudi arabia he's even leading the race to top time magazine's person of the year reader's poll next more against the profiles the man behind saudi arabia's rapidly shifting sand. he is the herald of the saudi arab spring that the people who could take home the sieve notas autocratic ten years later things lifted a ban on their leaders it's always how young leader who is driving form again moderate maybe by saudi standards king solomon with his young crown prince a thirty two year old leader pushing against his anti-corruption drive it did raise some eyebrows because on the same weekend they introduced the anti-corruption committee he came down like a hammer against some prominent business people three weeks ago he arrested eleven princes four former ministers and dozens and dozens of other well to do over corruption regardless they have now agreed or maybe agreed to give up