Explained: Who is MBS, what is the significance of his meeting with US president Joe Biden?

Who is MBS?

MBS, 36, first rose to power from relative obscurity when his father, King Salman acceded to the throne in 2015 and subsequently made his son in-charge of important government sectors, such as defence, economy and oil. Today, he is the most influential figure in Saudi Arabia and seen as the power behind the throne.

In 2017, King Salman replaced his nephew Mohammad bin Naeyf and made his son the crown prince, placing him next in line for the throne. MBS further consolidated his grip on power in November 2018, when as part of an “anti-corruption campaign”, he ordered the detention of several powerful and wealthy businessmen, including many of his own royal kin. To end their detention, they had to hand over expensive real estate and shares of their companies to the government, the New York Times reported.

In order to rebrand the conservative socio-religious image of his country, MBS has presented himself as a sort of a social reformer. The crown prince has said that the return of a “moderate Islam” in Saudi Arabia is his goal. In 2016, he curbed the powers of the religious police, and soon began granting Saudi women modest rights, a development that was much lauded by western liberal commentators. These included allowing women to drive, permitting them to attend football games at stadiums and giving them the right to travel freely and undertake a pilgrimage to Mecca without a male guardian.

Other socially liberal developments included the lifting of a 35-year ban on movie theatres and allowing mix-gender concerts.

What do critics have to say?

Critics have maintained that these modest changes are a means to whitewash his “autocratic rule” and the kingdom’s alleged human rights abuses.

Rights organisations have routinely criticised Saudi Arabia for its record on human rights, freedom of expression, and cracking down on dissent. In March, the government executed 81 people, which many touted as the biggest mass execution in the country’s history.

Shortly after becoming defence minister in 2015, MBS had launched a military intervention in Yemen to crush the Iranian-backed Shia Houthi rebels. The Washington Post reports that the Saudi-led coalition has carried out more than 150 airstrikes on civilian targets.

In 2017, the kingdom was accused of forcing Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri to resign from office. Hariri and Saudi Arabia, however, both denied that he was coerced to resign.

US-Saudi ties and Khashoggi murder

Washington and Riyadh have enjoyed a long standing security and economic relationship. Ever since US President Franklin D Roosevelt met the Saudi King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud in 1945, the two nations have shared one of the longest ties in the region.

These ties have been tested in the past, with strains over the 1973 Arab-Israel war, the 9/11 attacks in which Saudi hijackers were involved and the Gulf kingdom’s human rights violations in Yemen.

However, these tensions have consistently been massaged by Saudi oil.

The country holds the second largest reserves in the world and is the third largest importer of oil to the United States. Saudi Arabia is also the biggest importer of US weapons and has more than $100 billion in the US Department of Defence’s active foreign military sales.

The murder of Jamal Khashoggi seemed to damage the historic ties between the two countries, at least temporarily.

Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and a fierce critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was ambushed and killed in October 2018. The CIA and some Western countries believe the MBS ordered the killing, which Saudi officials deny. Former President Donald Trump, who enjoyed a close relationship with MBS, had subsequently questioned the intelligence and emphasised the longstanding economic and strategic ties between the two countries.

Biden, on the other hand, had been a vocal critic of the Gulf kingdom’s dismal human rights record and had blamed the country for Khashoggi’s killing.

The extended war in Yemen also further strained relations between Washington and Riyadh.

Significance of meeting

After taking office, Biden had snubbed MBS by refusing to talk to him and only interacting with his “counterpart”, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, MBS’s father.

However, the change in the Biden administration’s stance is guided by the present geopolitical and economic concerns. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is perhaps one of the most significant factors and has driven up oil and gas prices around the world. With November’s midterm elections fast approaching, Biden seeks to increase Saudi oil production to drive down prices domestically and increase his dwindling approval rating.

Curtailing Iran and its nuclear ambitions are yet another factor in their fluctuating relationship.

After the meeting with Saudi officials, Biden told reporters that he had raised the murder of Khashoggi with MBS privately. “He basically said that he was not responsible for it,” Biden claimed. “I indicated that I thought he was”.

The Saudi side, however, gave a different account of the meeting.

According to Reuters, Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir said that he did not hear Biden blame Mohammed bin Salman for the killing of Khashoggi.

About the outcome of Biden’s Middle East trip, another Reuters report added that he had failed to secure commitments on a security axis including Israel, and an immediate rise in oil output.

The US and Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, signed 18 partnership agreements during Biden’s visit, which according to Reuters are in the fields of clean-energy, communications, space, healthcare and cybersecurity. The US has also decided to remove its peacekeeping force that has been stationed in Tiran Island for more than four decades.