Analysis: The crown prince of Saudi Arabia's hypocrisy

Saudi Arabia's crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, wants to shake the sleepy kingdom. He has already announced that women will be allowed to give cars, launched an anti-corruption campaign, allowed movie cinemas to open next year, imposed on the tightening of the budget, and discovered broad ambitions to diversify the economy away from its dependence on oil.

All of this seems to come in response to a unstable new generation. But the crown prince darkened his vision with a tendency for greatness.

All of this seems to come in response to a unstable new generation. But the crown prince darkened his vision with a tendency for greatness.

He reportedly bought a luxury villa for more than $300m in Louvecines, France, near Versailles, as well as bought a $440m yacht from a Russian tycoon in 2015 for about $550m.

These awards are huge, but the Saudi government says the crown prince did not provide $450.3m for the most expensive art purchase in history, a painting of Leonardo da Vinci that was recently sold at auction.

Of course, the anti-corruption campaign, through which 159 of the businessmen, the richest princes and officials of the kingdom gathered and were arrested in a five-star hotel such as Ritz-Carlton last month, included more than a total grip of power. The problem of corruption is true, and so is the impatience of the younger generation.

But don't look for any trial for those arrested in their comfortable suites. Instead, the crown prince is trying to force the rich to sign tens of billions of dollars in wealth to avoid pursuit and gain their freedom. This is a raw method of an autocratic regime, not of a modern rule of law.

Why does the crown prince, surrounded by the wealth of his friends and colleagues, decide to waste more than half a billion dollars on mega-jahtti and villa in France, which is surrounded by a 23-acre park?

Vila was completed in 2009 with a 17th century design, but modern technology, according to New York Times: “Shivers, sound, light, and air systems can be controlled from a remote iPhone. ” Nice. But symbolism is terrible and suggests that the crown prince has a vision for his people and another for himself.

If he is really interested in demonstrating the enlightened and modern leadership, he must unlock the prison doors after which he and his ancestors have unjustly placed people of creativity, particularly critical writers of the religious regime and intellectuals.

Recently, he suffered a blow involving clergymen, activists, journalists, and influential writers on widespread charges of endangering national security. Allowing these voices to flourish and exist in the open would be a real contribution to the kind of society he says he wants.

In particular, he must organise an immediate apology for blogger Raif Badawi, who is serving a 10-year prison sentence in the kingdom for free speech crime. Mr. Badawi insulted people with harsh ideology when he wrote that he wanted a more liberal Saudi society, saying: “Liberalism simply means, live and live”.

Opening Mr. Badawi's cell door would do more to change Saudi Arabia than buying a yacht and a villa in France. /Washington Post, translate: Read.al