Unforeseen Contingencies

"We" at Unforeseen Contingencies are libertarians, which means we think individual liberty is the highest political value.  Thus we are pleased when we see the leader of a country move to increase individual liberty in his country.  For that reason we support Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia.  He is a liberalizer, in the true sense of the word.

I first caught wind of this when a friend, a Muslim who often travels to Saudi Arabia, told me how astonished he was at the changes he'd observed since MBS had taken the position.  My friend called it radical westernization and modernization.  He detailed some of the efforts -- things that have gone unreported in the Western MSM -- and correctly predicted that women would be able to drive soon.  MBS has also cracked down on corruption, on the Muslim Brotherhood, on radical Wahhabism, and Shia/Iranian expansionism.  It's crucial that this project succeed, for Saudi Arabia is the center for Islam.  If Islam is to become compatible with liberal civilization, Saudi Arabia must reform, and that's the project of MBS.

In the West, allies of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Iranian regime -- particularly those allies in the mainstream media -- are up in (figurative) arms, so much so that they've taken sides with the Islamist dictator of Turkey, Recep Erdogan, over the death of Jamal Khashoggi and even taken to calling the deceased op-ed writer a "journalist."  (I've written op-eds, so now I'm a "journalist?"  Wow!)  The MSM has also condemned Saudi Arabia's perfectly legitimate intervention against the Houthis in Yemen.  This is a war by Yemen and Saudi Arabia against one of Iran's proxies and by extension against the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps.  Yes, nothing like the MSM defending colonialist wars by Iranian Islamists who declare their intent to destroy the United States and Israel, and condemning their opponents.

Mohammed bin Salman is the first Arab leader to say Israelis have a right to have their own land.  Mohammed bin Salman is the Arab leader most insistent that the Palestinians must start negotiating and give up their dream of expelling the Jews. Mohammed bin Salman is modernizing and westernizing Saudi Arabia, he's  building an alliance with Israel, he's opposing Iranian expansionism... he is, in the Saudi Arabian context, a liberal.  In a grand show of virtue posturing, the U.S. Senate stupidly voted to condemn him.  But he and his reform efforts deserve our support.  I hope  President Trump will ignore the Senate's posturing and continue to build U.S.-Saudi relations.

Photo: Mohammed bin Salman and another great Middle Eastern leader.