US President Joe Biden's Saudi lesson: The only path runs through MBS

Social changes have galloped ahead much faster than most Saudis expected

The Saudi Arabia that US President Joe Biden will visit this week is a country being actively reshaped by the whims and visions of one man: Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS).

As the de facto ruler of the oil-rich monarchy, the 36-year-old prince has cast himself as a reformer, loosening some restrictions of ultraconservative Islam by permitting women to drive and allowing once-forbidden cinemas and concerts.

But the prince’s rule has also been defined by his institutionalisation of force — both to quash domestic dissent and to pursue a more muscular foreign policy. Stepping beyond the old Saudi model of quietly