From sabre-rattling to infiltrating Twitter, the Wall Street Journal’s Bradley Hope and Justin Scheck join us for exclusive, fly-on-the-wall insights into the rise of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince.
Thirty-five-year-old Mohammed bin Salman’s sudden rise stunned the world. Political and business leaders such as former Prime Minister Tony Blair and WME Chairman Ari Emmanuel flew out to meet with the Crown Prince and came away convinced that his desire to reform the kingdom was sincere.
But soon ‘MBS’ began to betray an erratic interior beneath the polish laid on by scores of consultants and public relations experts like McKinsey & Company. It seemed that he did not understand nor care about how the outside world would react to his flexing of autocratic muscle. The allegations of excess and about the brutality of his regime began to slip out. Then there was the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Bradley Hope and Justin Scheck cover malfeasance and intercontinental white collar crime for the Wall Street Journal. Now they join How To Academy to share their investigations into the crown prince’s extraordinary rise to power – and reveal new, behind-the-scenes insights into his regime.
In conversation with broadcaster Matthew Stadlen, they will explore MBS’s connections to Steve Bannon and the Trump White House, reveal never-before-seen reports of MBS threatening Pakistan, throwing a party in the Maldives with 150 prostitutes flown in, paying a Twitter employee to uncover anonymous accounts of the regime’s critics – and much more.
It’s an unmissable event for anyone concerned with the future of Saudi Arabia, the Middle East, or the international order.
Praise for Bradley Hope and Justin Scheck:
“Blood and Oil is the fascinating and highly entertaining tale of Mohammed bin Salman’s rise to power. With fly-on-the-wall reporting and palace intrigue worthy of Machiavelli, it will keep you turning the pages at a fast clip until its tragic denouement. And more importantly, it will leave you with a deep and nuanced understanding of the Crown Prince’s thinking and its implications for Saudi Arabia and the entire Middle East.” John Carreyrou, author of Bad Blood
‘This is as close to the truth, to the real story of the corruption, vulgarities, horrors, and lies of the Kingdom and its current despot as we are likely to get. It also can be read as a Shakespearean story of utter greed.’ Seymour Hersh, author of Chain of Command
‘Hope & Scheck confront us with the conundrum of a young man who is doing good by his Kingdom – brilliantly describing how the enigmatic Crown Prince is bringing progress to Arabia as we would see it in the West – while operating with a ruthlessness and absolutism that make the stomach curl. Blood and Oil is compelling reading. We are challenged and enthralled on every page.’ Robert Lacey, author of The Kingdom
This event takes place at 6:30pm BST.
