Saudi Prince Mohammad bin Salman Consolidates Power & Purges Rivals Under "Anti-Corruption" Pretense

Saudi authorities arrested scores of prominent officials over the weekend, including 10 princes, four ministers and dozens of former ministers, in a massive shakeup by King Salman aimed at consolidating power for his son, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, the main architect of the kingdom's war in Yemen. Among those arrested was Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, one of the world's richest people, with an estimated net worth of at least $17 billion. Talal has investments in many well-known U.S. companies, like Apple, Twitter, Citigroup-and Rupert Murdoch's media empire, News Corp. The arrests, on unspecified "corruption" charges, came just hours after the crown prince convened a new anti-corruption committee with wide-ranging powers to detain and arrest anyone accused and to search their homes and seize their assets. Meanwhile, the White House said President Trump called King Salman to offer thanks for the kingdom's purchases of billions of dollars in U.S. weaponry, while praising what it called the kingdom's "modernization drive." We speak with Toby Jones, associate professor of history and director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Rutgers University, and with Afrah Nasser, Yemeni journalist and founder and editor-in-chief of the Sana'a Review.