"Saudi Arabia's Arab Spring", NYT

Thomas Friedman
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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — '...The most significant reform process underway anywhere in the Middle East today is in Saudi Arabia...I found the country going through its own Arab Spring...'

'...this one is led from the top down by the country’s 32-year-old crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and, if it succeeds, it will not only change the character of Saudi Arabia but the tone and tenor of Islam across the globe. Only a fool would predict its success — but only a fool would not root for it...'

'...his government arrested scores of Saudi princes and businessmen on charges of corruption and threw them into a makeshift gilded jail — the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton...was this his power play to eliminate his family and private sector rivals before his ailing father, King Salman, turns the keys of the kingdom over to him?'...Thomas Friedman.