In a surprise move, King Salman of Saudi Arabia has stripped his nephew, the now former counterterrorism czar, of his title and standing, in favor of his son Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz (MBS). The now crown prince was and still is the country's defense minister. The move solidifies the king's familial line of succession (previously the kingdom had been granted to the sons of Abdul Aziz Al Saud, when MBS ascends the throne he will be the first on the throne that is not a son of the former king).
MBS came to Washington to meet with Trump back in March of 2017, a meeting that marked a “significant shift in relations” across all fields.
In May of 2017 the US made an arms deal worth $350 billion over the next decade.
MBS, as minister of defense, has overseen the Saudi's destruction of the Yemeni people. halfway into 2016 the death toll in Yemen was so high that the red cross started donating morges to hospitals as aid. As of October 10, 2016 the Human Rights Watch cited at least 4,125 civilians had been killed and 7,207 wounded in military operations by the coalition forces. Soon after the Human Rights Watch released its findings the US officially Joined Yemen Conflict With Cruise Missile Strikes On Anti-Saudi Targets, but the American people have been bankrolling the genocide with arms deals since 2009 when Obama relaxed arms export rules.
Because of the Saudi's war on the people of Yemen there has been a massive Cholera outbreak and severe famine affecting millions .
MBS is also one of the key components in the aggression against Qatar, which is actually a move against Syria and Iran (and Russia). As the Middle East gears up for another proxy war in the reagion, the American MSM refuses to call out Saudi War crimes, their human rights violations on their own people, and its wholesale export of Whabi Islamic ideology because of our allied status. Yes, they talk about it, but only in passing and ticker tape at the bottom of the screen and they very rarely connect the humanitarian crisis in Yemen to the Saudi invasion.
The ascent of MBS spells more disaster in a region that is at the breaking point. The drums of war beat ever louder to the cheers of those in power.