Okay, HN, crush my expectations. How is MbS not actually the liberal reformer that western media fawns over and says he is?
Also, what odds do you you have on rival factions in the House of Saud ganging up on MbS and pulling a King Faisal? I have 15/1 odds that the other princes will at least attempt to push him out of prominence (they probably won't kill him)--the Saudi royal family has 15,000 princes, after all.
Finally, I think that "perestroika, GCC style" might be the best or the worst thing to happen in the Middle East in over 50 years. Think about it. Iran has used its large, wealthy, well-educated population (80 million people) to maintain a geopolitical foothold in the Middle East and Central Asia, even under crushing international sanctions. With an absolute theocratic monarchy, an old-world economic structure based on clan ties, and a population of only 32 million (21 million if you subtract out the expatriate population), Saudi has been able to amass otherworldly concentrations of wealth. Imagine how much change those Saudi trillions could do for the country, the region and the world at large the if MbS's dream of a post-oil economy and economic liberalization came through. (Plus, Saudi gets on the good side of the west so it doesn't have to worry about sanctions.) Imagine if Saudi's population boomed and became more and more educated. 40, 50, 60 million. Imagine how the geopolitical fisticuffs with the Ayatollah and the Revolutionary Guard might turn into a détente, or get even worse.