publish time

06/05/2017

publish time

06/05/2017

Ahmed Al-Jarallah – Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times
MANY issues affecting people in the region — Saudi Arabia, Arabian Gulf and Arab world — require clarification by a government official at the level of Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and Minister of Defense Prince Mohammad bin Salman.This is the reason why he spoke at length to clear the air on worrisome confusion arising from propaganda in the suspicious media factory powered by those affected by the Kingdom’s political and economic stability. In other words, this comes from the Iranian open media and psychological war fronts against Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries.In his spontaneous speech, Prince Mohammad bin Salman allayed fears of Saudis concerning the economic and financial measures taken due to the effect of dwindling oil prices on their income. He explained to his compatriots the next steps in transforming the economy into diversified sources of revenues which will not be 90 percent reliant on oil.This is in addition to determination to deal with Yemen’s issue by assisting the legitimate authority to regain control over the entire territories while putting lives of civilians into consideration so the war is taking a longer time. However, this cannot and will never affect the Kingdom’s solvency since the cost is not the same as being peddled by wrong analyses and media manipulation factory.The televised statement was necessary and it came at the right time. Some of its aspects were relevant to the current situation in several countries across the world where government departments present daily activities to the public. It is also a watershed in the way Saudi Arabia deals with the media officially, while people in the past were convinced that the government shied away from presenting problems and solutions or confronting foes openly in the media.This significant step also indicates that the Deputy Crown Prince is endowed with capabilities to play various roles in managing the Kingdom’s economic and defense issues. He is not in that position just because he is the son of King Salman bin Abdulaziz as some people usually insinuate, because the man is equipped with advanced scientific and cultural background in handling suspicious files.For instance, he was clear about the real destructive role the ‘Brotherhood’ engaged in internally and regionally. He is the second man in Saudi‘s administration to have put the status of this group under the microscope. The Kingdom’s historical position established this fact that he followed the path of his late uncle Prince Nayef Bin Abdulaziz (May Allah forgive him), who declared in an interview with Al-Seyassah daily in 2002, “The Muslim Brotherhood Movement is definitely a source of catastrophe.”By Ahmed Al-JarallahEditor-in-Chief, the Arab Times