Upheavals in Saudi Arabia: Implications for the Desert Kingdom and West Asian Security

Speaker: Ambassador Talmiz Ahmed, former Indian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Oman and the UAE

 

Chair: Ambassador K.P. Fabian

 

The two-year reign of King Salman bin Abdulaziz in Saudi Arabia has over-turned many of the well-established principles on the basis of  which the kingdom has functioned for the last several decades, which have imparted both continuity and resilience to the Saudi political order. Now, the king has placed full powers, political, economic and military, in the hands of his young son, 32-year old Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has also become the crown prince after ousting two senior family members. However, the purge of senior royals and their detention, along with scores of senior officials and business persons, on 3 November, is extraordinary by any yardstick, and portends grave domestic and regional uncertainty in coming months