A shake-up in Riyadh

摘要

WHEN King Salman acceded to the Saudi throne in 2015, it was plain that his son, Muhammad, wielded the real power. He may formally have been second in the line of succession, but Muhammad bin Salman (known as mbs) ran most of the things that mattered: the plan to transform the Saudi state and wean the economy away from oil; the war in Yemen and the wider contest against Shia Iran; and much else besides. When he gave his first on-the-record interview, to The Economist in January 2016, mbs spoke about Saudi Arabia in the first person-talking of "my borders".