On His 35th Birthday: New Fiery Book on MBS Rise, Absolute Power, and Policies

While Saudi social media users celebrate the 35th birthday of their young leader crown prince Mohammad Bin Salman, who assumed power in the summer of 2017, two Wall Street Journal reporters are releasing a fiery book with never-heard-of revelations about the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia.

In Blood and Oil: Mohammed Bin Salman's Ruthless Quest for Global Power released this week, Bradley Hope and Justin Scheck describe the Saudi royal family as the most powerful one in the world, especially after the leader who celebrates his 35th birthday took over more power than anticipated three years ago. This was mostly evident in his crackdown on senior members of his own clan, the Yemen war, political and human rights activists reporting severe violations while in jail, and the gruesome killing of the prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018.

This is the second book in 2020 that provides deep insight into the rise of the Crown prince often dubbed as MBS, after New York Time's Ben Hubbard released MBS: The Rise to Power of Mohammed Bin Salman last March.

Translation: "Blood and Oil on the rise of MBS: MBZ used to refer to the former crown prince Mohammad Bin Nayef as the monkey during conversations Americans and says that most of Al Saud don't get along with Emiratis."

The new book also tried to uncover the many secrets that accompanied the very private crown prince and tries to highlight his ambitions and his role in Middle Eastern and global polices alike, being the heir to the throne of the richest country in the region. It also sheds light on his relationships with other political leaders especially the Emirati crown prince Mohammad Bin Zayed MBZ, who is a close friend of the young prince.

According to the book, King Salman ascent to power was not as smooth as portrayed in Saudi Media. The book rather describes a "Game of Thrones" taking place amongst members of the royal family as the late King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz was dying in the early days of 2015.

The book also claims that the UAE had launched a strong PR campaign in 2017 in western countries to paint MBS as the young rising powerful man of Saudi Arabia.

Moreover, Prince Sultan bin Turki II, a cousin of MBS, was reportedly cut off from Al Saud's cash flow after expressing some criticism of the regime.