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5 min readDunes and gloom: MBS’s annus horribilis
Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, should have been gearing up for his big annual summit right about now. The Future Investment Initiative—known as Davos in the Desert—is when MBS gladhands big shots of government and finance looking for investment in his country. But on October 19th, it got cancelled. It’s just not safe for all those dignitaries, and it’s the latest way in which MBS is having a terrible year.
Three bets gone wrong
When he first came to power a decade ago, MBS made a few big gambles, explains Greg Carlstrom, The Economist’s Middle East correspondent. He thought he could defeat the Houthis in Yemen, reshape the Saudi economy, and forge a close relationship with Donald Trump that would make him a reliable ally. All three of those bets seem to be going wrong at once this year.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (01:34) **MBS's Annus Horribilis** - Greg Carlstrom, Middle East correspondent, assesses the three big bets Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince made a decade ago that are all unraveling simultaneously.
- 2 (02:38) **The Houthi War Comes Home** - The conflict in Yemen has escalated directly into Saudi territory, with deadly attacks on Riyadh and other cities.
- 3 (03:51) **The Faltering Economic Transformation** - Saudi Arabia's economic diversification is struggling even before the conflict, with foreign investment and public finances falling short of ambitious targets.
- 4 (05:12) **Trump's Unreliable Alliance** - Despite massive investment pledges and deals with Trump's family, the Saudis are discovering they have little influence over his decisions, especially regarding the war with Iran.
- 5 (06:36) **Domestic Support Holds, For Now** - While the capital feels under siege, MBS retains significant goodwill from his social and cultural reforms, making a domestic challenge unlikely.
- 6 (07:29) **A Deeper Hole Than Before** - MBS has survived past crises, but the current situation is different because the major decisions are out of his hands and the easy reforms have been exhausted.
- 7 (13:07) **SBF's Call from Prison** - The segment shifts to a phone call from Sam Bankman-Fried, who discusses his regrets, his view of FTX's collapse, and his ongoing belief in effective altruism.
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Guests on this episode
Show Notes
This week, Muhammad bin Salman, crown prince of Saudi Arabia, was forced to postpone his annual investment summit. His other big bets on the kingdom’s future are also floundering. Sam Bankman-Fried, a crypto-billionaire supporter of effective altruism, calls our correspondent from prison. And things look hazy in Singapore and other Asian countries.
Guests and host:
- Gregg Carlstrom, Middle East correspondent
- Shera Avi-Yonah, US business correspondent
- Vishnu Padmanabhan, Asia correspondent
- Rosie Blau, co-host of “The Intelligence”
- Jason Palmer, co-host of “The Intelligence”
Topics covered:
- MBS, Saudi, Davos in the desert, Future Investment Initiative
- Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX, effective altruism
- Indonesia, Singapore, wildfires, El Niño
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