
November 17, 2017
Episode 36
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has overthrown the political order to install his 32 year old son as Crown Prince. Mohammed bin Salman now controls the army, police and the National Guard, He’s also in charge of an enormous program to modernize the economy. As the head of a new anti-corruption unit, he’s arrested hundreds of prominent Saudis in what some describe as a purge. And MBS, as he’s known, is conducting aggressive proxy wars as part of an escalating conflict with Iran. On the next Truth Politics and Power, host Neal Conan discusses how Saudi Arabia’s radical new policies destabilize the Middle East. Plus the history of the US-Saudi alliance from FDR to President Trump.
GUESTS
Mohamad Bazzi
F. Gregory Gause


Mohamad Bazzi is a journalism professor at New York University and a former Middle East bureau chief at Newsday. He is writing a book on the proxy wars between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
F. Gregory Gause is head of the International Affairs Department at the Bush School of Government and Public Service of Texas A&M University.
He is the author of “The International Relations of the Persian Gulf”.
SUGGESTED READING
Click on Titles to Link
BY MOHAMAD BAZZI
Saudi Arabia’s Aggressive New Heir to the Throne
The Atlantic, June 21, 2017
The Growing U.S.-Iran Proxy Fight in Syria
The Atlantic, June 20, 2017
Saudi Arabia Has High Hopes for Trump
The Atlantic, June 20, 2017
BY F. GREGORY GAUSE
Briefing on Saudi succession
Atlantic Council, Washington, D.C., June 22, 2017
The Future of U.S.-Saudi Relations
Foreign Affairs, Vol. 95, No. 4 (July/August 2016)