[custom_adv] ohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud ( born 31 August 1985) colloquially known as MbS, is the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. He is currently serving as the country's deputy prime minister (the title of prime minister being held by the king) and is also chairman of the Council for Economic and Development Affairs, chairman of the Council of Political and Security Affairs, and minister of defense – the world's youngest at the time of his appointment. [custom_adv] He has been described as the power behind the throne of his father, King Salman. He was appointed crown prince in June 2017 following King Salman's decision to remove Muhammad bin Nayef from all positions, making Mohammed bin Salman heir presumptive to the throne. [custom_adv] He has led several successful reforms, which include regulations restricting the powers of the religious police,and the removal of the ban on female drivers. Other cultural developments under his reign include the first Saudi public concerts by a female singer, the first Saudi sports stadium to admit women, an increased presence of women in the workforce, and opening the country to international tourists by introducing an e-visa system which can now easily be issued for foreigners from the Internet to attend events and festivals. [custom_adv] His Vision 2030 program aims to diversify the Saudi economy through investment in non-oil sectors including technology and tourism. In 2016 he announced plans to list the shares of the state oil company Saudi Aramco. [custom_adv] Despite praise for his strides towards the social and economic liberalisation of Saudi Arabia, international commentators and human rights groups have been vocally critical of bin Salman's leadership and the shortfalls of his reform program, citing a rising number of detentions and alleged torture of human rights activists, his bombing of [custom_adv] Yemen in which war-induced famine could in 2018/2019 cause 13 million civilians to starve, the escalation of the Qatar diplomatic crisis, the start of the Lebanon–Saudi Arabia dispute, the start of a diplomatic spat with Canada, the arrest of members of the Saudi royal family in November 2017, and the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi. [custom_adv] Prince Mohammed bin Salman's biggest bet was his plan to restore the Saudi kingdom's dominance in global oil markets by driving the new competition into bankruptcy, by keeping the oil price low enough for a long enough period. Saudi Arabia persuaded OPEC to do the same. [custom_adv] A few small players went bankrupt, but American frackers only shut down their less-profitable operations temporarily, and waited for oil prices to go up again. Saudi Arabia, which had been spending $100 billion a year to keep services and subsidies going, had to admit defeat in November 2016. It then cut production significantly and asked its OPEC partners to do the same.
