DOING business in Saudi Arabia has long involved accepting a trade-off between stability and sclerosis. Although power-sharing among the ruling family has kept the kingdom united, rule by elderly monarchs and a corrupt system of cronyism, or wasta, has made change agonisingly slow. Last weekend's purge of princes, officials, billionaires and businessmen by King Salman and his 32-year-old son and crown prince, Muhammad bin Salman, tears the old rulebook to shreds. Some businessmen welcomed it, hoping that a reduction in graft and cronyism will create space for young entrepreneurs. "This is the closest thing in the Middle East to glasnost," says Sam Blatteis, a former head of public policy in the Persian Gulf for Google.
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机译：在沙特阿拉伯开展业务长期以来一直在接受稳定与硬化之间的权衡。尽管执政家族之间的权力共享使王国得以统一，但由年老的君主统治以及腐败的裙带关系或浪费制度，使变革痛苦地缓慢。上周末，国王萨尔曼（Salman）和他32岁的儿子兼王储穆罕默德·本·萨尔曼（Muhammad bin Salman）清除了王子，官员，亿万富翁和商人，撕毁了旧规则书。一些商人对此表示欢迎，希望减少嫁接和裙带关系将为年轻企业家创造空间。 “这是中东最接近格拉斯诺斯特的事物，”谷歌波斯湾前公共政策负责人萨姆·布拉特斯说。
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