Less than a year after Saudi Arabia’s unprecedented monetary shakedown of wealthy princes and other Saudi oligarchs in November 2017, which among others ensnared Prince Alwaleed bin Talal who was an involuntary “guest” at the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton for months – until he emerged a free man after an undisclosed settlement – and also eliminated potential threats to the ruling family including close family members, Reuters is out with a fascinating report according to which new splinters may be appearing inside Saudi society, in this case involving a schism between the Saudi King Salman, and his 32 year old son and de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. As was first reported in early 2016, for the past two years Saudi Arabia had been preparing to place up to 5% of its national oil company, Saudi Aramco, on the stock market. Officials talked up the Aramco initial public offering […]