"Game of Thrones" in Saudi Arabia

The Wall Street Journal reported that princes from the ruling dynasty in Saudi Arabia are selling real estate and yachts in the United States and Europe due to financial problems.

In recent years, they have sold more than $600 million worth of real estate, yachts and works of art, and began to get rid of their assets outside Saudi Arabia due to the fact that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman "blocked many of the sources of money that they used to maintain their extraordinary spending habits”. It is also reported that in some cases, members of the royal dynasty are motivated by the desire to own "less ostentatious assets" in order not to attract too much attention from the Crown Prince.

Since Mohammed bin Salman came to power as Crown Prince, there have been at least five major purges and one mass execution in Saudi Arabia. Now, it seems, the sixth purge is beginning. There are several reasons for this. First: in Saudi Arabia, the problem of succession of power persists and there is a struggle of competing royal clans. Ibn Saud, the founding king of modern Saudi Arabia, had more than 40 sons and even more daughters. Today, the number of his descendants, according to various estimates, ranges from 6,000 to 15,000 people. Now the young prince from among the grandchildren is ahead of all other applicants. Potential competitors are being eliminated from the sphere of control over finance, the media and the army. the judicial system and security.

The second is the elimination of foreign "agents of influence" in the royal family, who prevent a turn to a more active and independent foreign policy on the eve of the possible departure of an elderly and ailing king.

The third is the desire to create a new image of the kingdom, which is moving towards the modernisation of an ultraconservative society and increasing the role of Saudi Arabia in the region. There is an ambitious plan to rebuild the kingdom of "Vision 2030” — a large program to diversify the economy and get rid of its oil dependence.

So the Crown Prince is on the march in a region where many have frozen in anticipation of the domestic and foreign policy results of his rule. Especially when you consider that under Donald Trump, Riyadh was friends with Washington. Everything changed with the arrival of Joe Biden in the White House, who, during his electoral campaign in 2019, called Saudi Arabia a pariah and accused the kingdom of violating human rights. The United States fears that Riyadh may enter into an alliance with China and Russia. So the "game of thrones" in Saudi Arabia continues.

Elena Panina, Director of the RUSSTRAT Institute