Developments in Saudi Arabia

Hi everyone, Skip Montreux here. Can I ask you to do me a small favor? We are currently conducting a D2B listener survey. We'd like to know more about our listeners. Who are you? What are you interested in? And how do you feel about down to business English in general? I promise it is a very short survey and would only take a few minutes of your time, but will help us out tremendously in bringing you better content to help you improve your business English.

From Tokyo, Japan and Abu Dhabi UAE, this is Down to Business English. Business news to improve your business English. With your hosts Git Montreux and Des Morgan.

Dez, here we are again, recording on yet another Saturday night.

The end of the weekend for me and halfway through the weekend for you.

That it is, and it's been a pretty quiet weekend for me so far. And in the Japanese news actually.

No missiles coming out of North Korea in your direction? Hey I guess that's a good thing.

We are pretty close to North Korea, and that makes every day somewhat precarious. But no one is walking around thinking about it too much.

Didn't North Korea just complete a missile test where the missile actually left the atmosphere?

They did. And the Abe government is now looking into building cruise missiles that can be fired from Japanese fighter jets to hit North Korean targets. Hopefully, that would act as a deterrent against North Korea firing on Japan.

What Kim Yong un is going to do next is always a concern.

It is. So, how about you? Are you having a good weekend?

It's been pretty relaxing. Although there were National Day celebrations, it was 46 years ago that the UAE became a country.

Is that right? I didn't realize the UAE was that young.

Yeah, it's a fairly new addition to the world community. There was a big celebration with an air show, fireworks and a parade. The air show was pretty impressive with the pilots flying in close formation along the core niche.

The the corn niche, what is that?

Oh that's um street number one that runs along by the sea.

Mmm, I see. You know, I have always found air shows to be very impressive.

Hey me too. Speaking of missiles and displays of military power, we need to talk about a very busy weekend that took place in Saudi Arabia in early November.

Oh yes, I did hear about that. The new crown prince is really shaking things up and experts are saying that these events are going to really impact the region.

Both politically and economically.

So, is this going to be our story for today?

Hey, it sure is. Great. So let's do it. Let's get D to B down to business with the deteriorating relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Crown Prince's recent cleanup of corruption, and what all of this means for the Middle East.

This story has a lot of background to it. It's difficult to know where to start.

The starting point is the early hours of Friday, november third, when a missile was launched from Yemen aimed at the King Khalid Airport in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh.

And that missile was intercepted by the US made Patriot Air Defense System, operated by the Saudis. President Trump couldn't resist praising the system. He quickly went off in the media saying That's how good we are. Nobody makes what we make and now we're selling it all over the world.

That man never misses an opportunity for flag waving. Interestingly though, later reports suggested that the Patriot batteries may have fired up to five intercept missiles. All of which missed and in fact the Hootie missile landed very near the airport.

But it didn't hit the airport.

No fortunately not.

So what is the truth? Did the Saudi defense system take out the Hoody missile? Or did they miss and were just lucky that the missile didn't hit its target?

President Trump's version, obviously. He is the most credible man that I know.

Your sarcasm is obvious. So could you explain a little bit about the Hootie Rebels who shot that missile?

The Huti movement started in Yemen in the nineteen nineties and and they are a predominantly Shia political and religious movement that is backed by Iran and are against the US involvement in the region.

So they are anti US.

Oh very much. They are led by Abdul Malik Al-Huti, brother of the founder Hussein Badradin Al-Huthi.

And you said they are backed by Iran?

I did. And this is where Saudi Arabia comes in. Saudi shares a long border with Yemen and as we all know the Saudis are the leaders of the Sunni sect of Islam. Across the border, the Iranian backed Houthis control much of Yemen, including the capital Sana, with Saudi Arabia and Iran basically arch enemies. Saudi does not want the country next door controlled by the Houthis. In fact, they've been leading a coalition of forces against the Houtis since march twenty fifteen.

So that explains the animosity between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis and why they would be launching a missile at Riyadh.

Yeah, it's widely believed that as friction builds between Iran and Saudi, that proxy wars like this will escalate. By proxy I mean wars that are not necessarily fought by the two warring parties, but are fought by funding other groups.

I see. So this conflict is ongoing.

It is, but as I said, that missile was fired early on a Friday, and that was just the beginning of the weekend.

There is more?

Oh a lot more. First a bit of background. When King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia died in january twenty fifteen, his half brother Salman was crowned king. Shortly afterwards King Salman appointed Muhammad bin Naef as Crown Prince, the next in line for the throne.

W what do you mean appointed? I thought the crown prince was always the eldest son of a king or emperor. At least that's how it is here in Japan.

Well in Saudi Arabia that's seldom the case. Mohammed bin Naef is the nephew of King Salman and was appointed by him. He is not in fact King Salmon's closest blood relation. However, King Salman decided to remove Bin Nayf and replace him with his son in June of this year.

And that is Mohammed bin Salman, or MBS as he is often known.

Indeed, before his appointment to crown prince MBS was already the first deputy prime minister and defence minister of Saudi Arabia. And since now becoming the heir to the throne, he's become quite a radical figure.

How so? Well.

Well, he was instrumental in lifting the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia for one. And he has long been a vocal opponent of all forms of corruption.

Those both sound like positive steps.

Sure. But getting back to the weekend of November fourth, an unprecedented event took place.

You mean other than the Hoodie missile attack? Okay.

Oh yeah. On the day after the missile attack, large scale arrests for corruption swept across Saudi Arabia. That alone was incredible enough. but even more extraordinary was that no one was untouchable.

Even members of the royal family, no

Well that's why it was so unprecedented. These arrests of five hundred people, or the purge, as it has become known, included several very prominent figures.

Five hundred. Not exactly a small number of people.

Not at all. The main figures arrested were the Saudi prince and billionaire Al Walid bin Talal, a major shareholder in city, Newscorp and Twitter. Mutab bin Abdullah, the head of the Saudi Arabian National Guard, and Adal Fakah, the Minister of Economy and Planning. And the commander of the Saudi naval forces, Admiral Abdullah bin Sultan bin Muhammad al Sultan.

Wow, some very important figures from business and government.

Now, this is where the story gets interesting and the question being asked is whether these arrests were a genuine crackdown on corruption or a de facto coup by MBS. Basically, he removed any possible opposition to him. You see Al Walid bin Talal has been an open critic of President Trump and his influence in the Middle East. Don't forget that Trump recently visited and is a supporter of MBS.

I guess that removing one of the richest men of the kingdom, the head of the National Guard and the Head of the Navy, could be called a coup of sorts. So, are all five hundred of these people being held in jail?

They're under arrest but not exactly in jail. They are being detained in the now closed Ritz Carlton Hotel in Riere.

They're writ. So it's not as if they're rotting away in some dungeon somewhere.

Because it's a five star hotel, that does not mean that these figures are not being interrogated. There have been reports that Prince Talal has been hung upside down and tortured, but these have not been substantiated as yet.

Well, those two unconnected events certainly add up to a very busy weekend in Riyadh.

Ah, but are they unconnected though? Prince Talal criticizes the US and is arrested. MBS wants greater US support in his dispute with Iran and the Houthi rebels are armed by the Iranians.

Not unrelated then.

Hmm, I suspect so.

My understanding is that MBS wants to return Saudi Arabia to the more moderate Arab nation that it used to be. If that is the case. It would be in his interest to remove these right wingers in government who stand in his way.

That is what some people believe, but it's just too early to tell.

Well, as we wait to see how things turn out, why don't you and I get D2V down to vocabulary?

Down to business English audio scripts are a great learning tool. Be sure to visit the D2B website and download your free audio script of today's podcast. Down to businessenglish.com That's www.down to businessenglish dot com.

I will start vocabulary today with the noun deterrent. A deterrent is something that discourages or stops someone from taking an action. In the story, I said that Japan is considering the purchase of cruise missiles as a deterrent against North Korea attacking them. In other words, Japan thinks installing cruise missiles will stop North Korea from launching missiles against them.

Building sites in the UK often have guard dogs to protect expensive building materials overnight. No one actually wants the dogs to attack intruders, but they certainly act as deterrent to thieves that might be considering breaking into the area.

They would deter me, that is for sure. I am very scared of large, angry dogs.

Hey, I'm Will. Let's move on to the adjective to be credible, which means a fact or opinion is believable, usually because there is some evidence to support what the person is saying.

The opposite of credible is incredible or unbelievable. You may hear these words a little more often, but credible is also common.

In the story I joked that the views of Donald Trump were credible. In other words, his views are usually supported by fact.

So I'm very pleased to hear that you were just joking. If you don't mind, I would like to give an example of incredible.

Uh go ahead.

The new iPhone X is incredible.

Oh here we go.

It is incredible or beyond belief because of its rich graphics and super super fast processor.

Yeah, incredibly expensive maybe. I'll stick with Samsung.

Well, before this breaks down into an argument, I will move on to the word proxy. Proxy means to have the power or authority to act on someone else's behalf. In the story when Des talked about proxy wars, he was talking about groups fighting against each other on the behalf of other countries.

In computing, a proxy server is a computer that acts as an intermediary between the user's computer and the internet. It allows client computers to make indirect network connections to other network services.

It is a form of protection or a way to hide who the real user is.

Both of these functions can be completed by using a proxy server. Moving along, the noun and verb purge came up next in the story. A purge, or to purge, is the act of removing a group of undesirable people from an organization or place. In the story I talked about how the arrests of 500 important figures has become known as the Purge for obvious reasons.

The sexual harassment accusations against Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has escalated into a purge of anyone in Hollywood that has ever committed similar offenses. First there was Harvey, then Kevin Spacey, then George Takay, and now Dustin Hoffman.

Hey, that's a good example of a purge. Let me finish off vocabulary with the adjective prominent. Which means important and well known. In the story I said I was very surprised at how important and well known some of the figures that have been arrested are.

Especially Prince Talal, of course. Now, one of the most prominent features of the gorgeous

Ah don't do it, Skip.

New

Here it comes. I I'm not listening.

Phone X is the screen.

No no no no you really weren't.

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Thanks for that report on the situation in Saudi Arabia, Des. I think I understand it a little bit better.

Hey I'm glad to hear that. If it's any consolation, unless you live here or follow the region closely, it can become kinda confusing.

But it is important to understand the situation nevertheless.

Hey, true enough.

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He would be very appreciative of the support.

Yes we would. Thanks for listening everyone. See you next time.

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