“Having been head of Saudi Arabia’s General Intelligence Directorate (GID) for 24 years – stepping down in 2001 just 10 days before the 9/11 attacks – Turki is probably the most experienced spy on the planet. Since then he has been Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the UK and Ireland and then to the United States. Now he runs a think-tank in Riyadh, the King Faisal Centre for Research and Islamic Studies, and travels the world giving lectures and meeting friends. It sounds like a nice life, I say. “For me it’s heaven on earth,” he replies. High quality global journalism requires investment. A scion of Saudi Arabia’s royal family, the House of Saud, Turki is the youngest son of King Faisal, who was assassinated in 1975. Turki’s brother, Saud al-Faisal, is foreign minister, and cousins and brothers dominate the upper echelons of the government………………”

It says: “cousins and brothers dominate the upper echelons of the government”. I got news for this writer: they own the upper echelons of the government. They also own the middle echelons and the lower echelons. They own every echelon. They own the whole fucking government. They own the whole blighted country and everything on it. Why else did you think the whole country is named after the family?
 
P.S.: I have always thought Turki was a witty prince, witty for a Saudi prince. The rest are quite ‘witless’. I mean even Al-Waleed Bin Talal who keeps insisting his wealth is bigger than we think is not so witty. Actually Al Waleed is quite witless, he shows such a lack of a sense of humor that he makes some of the mullahs look like stand-up comedians in comparison.

Cheers
mhg