THE NEW YORK TIMES: Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has repeatedly leveraged Saudi Arabia’s wealth and influence to overcome international condemnation of the kingdom’s human rights violations.
President Biden vowed during his quest for the White House to make the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, a “pariah” over the killing and dismemberment of a dissident. He threatened the prince again last fall with “consequences” for defying American wishes on oil policy.
Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator, called Prince Mohammed, the oil-rich kingdom’s de facto ruler, a “wrecking ball” who could “never be a leader on the world stage.” And Jay Monahan, the head of golf’s prestigious PGA Tour, suggested that players who joined a rival Saudi-backed league betrayed the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks — carried out by hijackers who were mostly Saudi citizens.
Now, their words ring hollow. » | Ben Hubbard, Reporting from Istanbul | Saturday, June 10, 2023
