Oil king, VC tycoon and volatile strongman: Saudi Arabia’s MBS poses a challenge for Western governments — podcast
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Earlier this year, just when everyone started staying home, oil prices tanked and they tanked hard. The coronavirus was part of it, but Saudi Arabia and Russia were also flooding the market with oil, which turned out to be disastrous for many Canadian oil producers.
This week, on Down to Business, Justin Scheck, a reporter at the Wall Street Journal and co-author of Blood and Oil, a new book about Saudi Arabia, discussed how the oil-rich nation is trying to diversify its economy.
The book takes a closer look at Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, or MBS as he is better known, who has been making huge bets on tech companies with money from the country’s oil revenues. You may have heard his name in 2018 after the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khassoghi was murdered in Turkey, which many people have connected back to MBS.
That same year, a diplomatic rift opened between Saudi Arabia and Canada, after now-Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland tweeted about the country’s abhorrent human rights record. Scheck explained the lingering tensions, and also how Canada’s arms trade with Saudi Arabia persists despite everything.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and Google Play, where you can also subscribe to get new episodes every Wednesday morning.
If you have any questions about the show, or if there are topics you want us to tackle, email us: [email protected].
