In Episode 127 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Ben Hubbard, the Beirut bureau chief for The New York Times about Saudi Arabia and the rise to power of Mohammed bin Salman. Topics include the ongoing oil price war, tensions with Iran, the war in Yemen, and the geopolitics of the Middle East. The two also discuss the impact of coronavirus for the region’s politics and security.
According to Ben Hubbard, when King Salman of Saudi Arabia ascended to the throne in January 2015 and began bestowing enormous powers on his 29-year-old son, Mohammed bin Salman, it sent minds reeling. Given Saudi Arabia’s importance as the wealthiest country in the Middle East and a key partner of the West, foreign officials, journalists, experts, and spies had long scrutinized the Saudi royal family to anticipate who might come to power in the future—and MBS, as he was known, had remained far off the radar. Who, they wondered, was this inexperienced young prince who swiftly asserted his control over the kingdom’s oil, military, finances, and domestic and foreign policy? And could he be trusted?
Ben closely tracks MBS’s trajectory to shed light on the man and the critical country he controls. He explores Saudi Arabia’s closed and opaque society and tracks Mohammad bin Salman from his earliest days in power. With vows to diversify the kingdom’s economy away from oil, loosen its strict Islamic social codes, and champion the fight against extremism, the young prince won admirers on Wall Street and in Washington, Silicon Valley, and Hollywood with his grand visions for a new Saudi Arabia and a reordered Middle East. In 2017, Saudi Arabia made global headlines by announcing that it would lift its long-time ban on women driving and hosting a lavish “Davos in the Desert” conference, where MBS wowed international financiers with plans for a new $500 billion city that he said would be powered by sustainable energy and staffed by robots—serving as “a roadmap for the future of civilization.” However, Hubbard’s reporting from a half-dozen countries and hundreds of interviews with a range of sources reveals that a harsher reality was building quietly behind the hype. To secure his path to the throne and quash opposition to his plans, the young prince empowered a covert team to silence critics at home and abroad while deploying new technologies to consolidate his authoritarian rule. He soon made headlines again, for forcing the resignation of the prime minister of Lebanon; locking hundreds of princes, businessmen, and government officials in the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton on allegations of corruption; for the hacking by Saudi operatives of cell phones of Saudi dissidents, journalists (including a suspected attempt on Hubbard himself), and others who supported views critical of the Saudi regime; and most infamously for his links to the operatives who killed Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Their conversation explores these palace intrigues, as Ben and Demetri consider how this bold (and perhaps dangerous) new leader is changing the face of the Bedowin kingdom, both for the better and for the worse.
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Ben Hubbard is the Beirut bureau chief for The New York Times. An Arabic speaker with more than a decade in the Middle East, he has covered coups, civil wars, protests, jihadist groups, rotten fish as cuisine, religion and pop culture from more than a dozen countries, including Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt and Yemen. His first book is MBS: The Rise to Power of Mohammed bin Salman. Before becoming a journalist, Mr. Hubbard studied history in Chicago, Arabic in Cairo and journalism in Berkeley, and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Togo, West Africa. A Colorado native, he lives in Beirut with his wife.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Et harum quidem rerum facilis est et expedita distinctio. Positum est a nostris in iis esse rebus, quae secundum naturam essent, non dolere; Haec bene dicuntur, nec ego repugno, sed inter sese ipsa pugnant.
Quorum sine causa fieri nihil putandum est. Videamus animi partes, quarum est conspectus illustrior; Erit enim instructus ad mortem contemnendam, ad exilium, ad ipsum etiam dolorem. Cum autem in quo sapienter dicimus, id a primo rectissime dicitur. Neminem videbis ita laudatum, ut artifex callidus comparandarum voluptatum diceretur. Si sapiens, ne tum quidem miser, cum ab Oroete, praetore Darei, in crucem actus est.
Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Putabam equidem satis, inquit, me dixisse. Quod autem magnum dolorem brevem, longinquum levem esse dicitis, id non intellego quale sit. Tria genera bonorum; Disserendi artem nullam habuit. Conclusum est enim contra Cyrenaicos satis acute, nihil ad Epicurum.
Indicant pueri, in quibus ut in speculis natura cernitur. Si stante, hoc natura videlicet vult, salvam esse se, quod concedimus; Nam aliquando posse recte fieri dicunt nulla expectata nec quaesita voluptate. De ingenio eius in his disputationibus, non de moribus quaeritur. Nam aliquando posse recte fieri dicunt nulla expectata nec quaesita voluptate. Qualem igitur hominem natura inchoavit?
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Quod cum ille dixisset et satis disputatum videretur, in oppidum ad Pomponium perreximus omnes. Quod cum accidisset ut alter alterum necopinato videremus, surrexit statim. Quae quo sunt excelsiores, eo dant clariora indicia naturae. Videsne quam sit magna dissensio? Aeque enim contingit omnibus fidibus, ut incontentae sint. Immo vero, inquit, ad beatissime vivendum parum est, ad beate vero satis. Re mihi non aeque satisfacit, et quidem locis pluribus.
Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Nam si amitti vita beata potest, beata esse non potest. Quid, si etiam iucunda memoria est praeteritorum malorum? Videmusne ut pueri ne verberibus quidem a contemplandis rebus perquirendisque deterreantur? Heri, inquam, ludis commissis ex urbe profectus veni ad vesperum. Atque hoc loco similitudines eas, quibus illi uti solent, dissimillimas proferebas. Murenam te accusante defenderem. Apud ceteros autem philosophos, qui quaesivit aliquid, tacet; Hoc loco discipulos quaerere videtur, ut, qui asoti esse velint, philosophi ante fiant. Quid igitur dubitamus in tota eius natura quaerere quid sit effectum?
Hic quoque suus est de summoque bono dissentiens dici vere Peripateticus non potest. Sed non alienum est, quo facilius vis verbi intellegatur, rationem huius verbi faciendi Zenonis exponere. Cupit enim dícere nihil posse ad beatam vitam deesse sapienti. Sic, et quidem diligentius saepiusque ista loquemur inter nos agemusque communiter.
Iam in altera philosophiae parte. Facile est hoc cernere in primis puerorum aetatulis. Nos quidem Virtutes sic natae sumus, ut tibi serviremus, aliud negotii nihil habemus. Tum Torquatus: Prorsus, inquit, assentior; In enumerandis autem corporis commodis si quis praetermissam a nobis voluptatem putabit, in aliud tempus ea quaestio differatur. Non enim solum Torquatus dixit quid sentiret, sed etiam cur. Ita graviter et severe voluptatem secrevit a bono. Semper enim ex eo, quod maximas partes continet latissimeque funditur, tota res appellatur.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Iam quae corporis sunt, ea nec auctoritatem cum animi partibus, comparandam et cognitionem habent faciliorem. Itaque rursus eadem ratione, qua sum paulo ante usus, haerebitis. Utrum igitur tibi litteram videor an totas paginas commovere? Quid enim est a Chrysippo praetermissum in Stoicis? At hoc in eo M. Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Quamquam te quidem video minime esse deterritum. Sint modo partes vitae beatae. Sic enim censent, oportunitatis esse beate vivere.
Quod non faceret, si in voluptate summum bonum poneret. His enim rebus detractis negat se reperire in asotorum vita quod reprehendat. Quamquam te quidem video minime esse deterritum. Sed quia studebat laudi et dignitati, multum in virtute processerat. Videamus animi partes, quarum est conspectus illustrior;
Tria genera bonorum; Non est enim vitium in oratione solum, sed etiam in moribus. Quod autem magnum dolorem brevem, longinquum levem esse dicitis, id non intellego quale sit. Sic enim censent, oportunitatis esse beate vivere. Restatis igitur vos; Non minor, inquit, voluptas percipitur ex vilissimis rebus quam ex pretiosissimis. Omnia contraria, quos etiam insanos esse vultis. Quia nec honesto quic quam honestius nec turpi turpius. Illud quaero, quid ei, qui in voluptate summum bonum ponat, consentaneum sit dicere.
Quid enim mihi potest esse optatius quam cum Catone, omnium virtutum auctore, de virtutibus disputare? Servari enim iustitia nisi a forti viro, nisi a sapiente non potest. Quid adiuvas? Qui enim voluptatem ipsam contemnunt, iis licet dicere se acupenserem maenae non anteponere. Stuprata per vim Lucretia a regis filio testata civis se ipsa interemit. Suo enim quisque studio maxime ducitur. In primo enim ortu inest teneritas ac mollitia quaedam, ut nec res videre optimas nec agere possint. Nihil opus est exemplis hoc facere longius. Quicquid porro animo cernimus, id omne oritur a sensibus; Cum autem in quo sapienter dicimus, id a primo rectissime dicitur.
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. An potest, inquit ille, quicquam esse suavius quam nihil dolere? Et hunc idem dico, inquieta sed ad virtutes et ad vitia nihil interesse. Sin te auctoritas commovebat, nobisne omnibus et Platoni ipsi nescio quem illum anteponebas? Stulti autem malorum memoria torquentur, sapientes bona praeterita grata recordatione renovata delectant.
Et harum quidem rerum facilis est et expedita distinctio. An potest cupiditas finiri? Non potes, nisi retexueris illa. Illud mihi a te nimium festinanter dictum videtur, sapientis omnis esse semper beatos; Itaque in rebus minime obscuris non multus est apud eos disserendi labor. Tecum optime, deinde etiam cum mediocri amico. Cum autem negant ea quicquam ad beatam vitam pertinere, rursus naturam relinquunt. Sin tantum modo ad indicia veteris memoriae cognoscenda, curiosorum.
Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Aliter enim nosmet ipsos nosse non possumus. Satisne vobis videor pro meo iure in vestris auribus commentatus? Audax negotium, dicerem impudens, nisi hoc institutum postea translatum ad philosophos nostros esset. Et certamen honestum et disputatio splendida! omnis est enim de virtutis dignitate contentio. Dat enim intervalla et relaxat.
Eorum enim omnium multa praetermittentium, dum eligant aliquid, quod sequantur, quasi curta sententia; Deinde disputat, quod cuiusque generis animantium statui deceat extremum. Quem Tiberina descensio festo illo die tanto gaudio affecit, quanto L. Istam voluptatem, inquit, Epicurus ignorat? Ex ea difficultate illae fallaciloquae, ut ait Accius, malitiae natae sunt. Quaerimus enim finem bonorum.
