Why Saudi Arabia is suddenly shaking up its military

[karthikc]

Saudi Arabia replaced a generation of its military leadership, for the first time opened some military jobs to women and promoted a woman to a top post at the Labor Ministry, in a series of rare steps in the ultraconservative kingdom.

Reported by the official Saudi Press Agency late Monday, the royal decrees are the latest move in a dramatic campaign to overhaul the country's institutions led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the powerful son of Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud.

The kingdom's leaders gave no explanation for the abrupt changes — including a new military chief of staff and other top defense and interior ministry officials — setting off speculation that the military shake-up was due to failures in the stalemated war in Yemen. But analysts say this is part of wider reforms, which include rapid changes in economic and social policy as well as increased military engagements abroad.

"There is a bigger project to reform the military," said Bernard Haykel, a Middle East specialist at Princeton University.

"Military weakness has been exposed by the war in Yemen, it has helped them understand the problems."

For three years, Saudi Arabia has led a coalition of nations in a military campaign in Yemen against the armed Houthi movement, which has ties to Iran, Saudi Arabia's chief rival. The kingdom has received international criticism for a stalled conflict that has killed nearly 6,000 civilians and has put 22.2 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations.

The Saudis have spent billions to buy the latest military hardware, mainly from Western countries like the United States, Britain and France, but there remains a gap between procurement and capability.

Crown Prince Mohammed serves as the Saudi defense minister and is considered an architect of the Yemen war.

He has voiced frustrations with perceived limitations, and analysts have said that has spurred the military reforms, which include a push to build a domestic armament industry. Crown Prince Mohammed, Haykel said, "wants Saudi Arabia to carry its own water when it comes to defense."

The military reshuffle comes as the crown prince has revamped the military procurement and bidding process, Haykel explained. "It's a bigger thing than firing and hiring people."

The changes were announced ahead of Crown Prince Mohammed's three-week trip, in March, to London and then to the United States, where he is expected to visit Washington, D.C., and five other U.S. cities.

"This is a big moment for them," said Theodore Karasik, with Gulf State Analytics, a private advisory group in Washington.

"It's not only about making the Ministry of Defense more efficient. It's part of the negotiations in the U.S. and U.K. about defense and armaments," he said.

Karasik believes this is also an example of the generational shift in Saudi Arabia that began when King Salman upended the kingdom's royal succession tradition and elevated his son to crown prince last June. Mohammed bin Salman has consolidated tremendous power and pushed for a rapid transformation of the kingdom, backed by a millennial generation that is hungry for change.

The crown prince promised young people more jobs, growth, entertainment and freedom from the strict enforcement of religious police. Women will soon be allowed to drive and start their own businesses without getting permission from their male guardians.

"You get this youth pressure to get rid of the old order," said Karasik. "They are going to get shoved out of the way."

https://www.npr.org/sections/parall...di-arabia-is-suddenly-shaking-up-its-military

 

[gani999]

It will take the Saudis decades, if not forever, to build up their own military capability. The problem is in their mindset. For the most part, Saudi men are a lazy, decadent, and spoiled bunch who rely on imported servants for everything. Such men lack discipline and will never make good soldiers, no matter how sophisticated their equipment may be.

To become a serious military power and to be able to back up their pricey imported toys with real human capability, the Saudis need to change their mindset and impose a strict regime of discipline in their rich spoiled brat brigade. The only way to do this is by using the rod. They need to put in a system of compulsory military service for their boys, like the Israelis have. Two years of making ones own bed, washing ones own clothes, cleaning ones own room, doing ones own work and having to do forced marches in the desert if a mistake is made, will bring about the desired effect.

Such a regime of discipline will also make the Saudi brats realize how other, less privileged people live their lives and what it feels like if the word 'no' is said to them.

I hope Mohammad bin Salman is thinking on those lines.

 

[indipper]

American influence digging deep after wiping off the resistance.

 

[ManFan]

American influence digging deep after wiping off the resistance.

There has never been resistance.

 

[indipper]

There has never been resistance.

the soft one.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

For all the talk of Prince Salman's new hip and modern reforms for women, he is still beating the drum about proxy war with Iran, via the Yemen conflict. Seems like the sectarian angle is one which is most difficult to shake, which probably suits US and Israel's purposes as well. Not sure what the Arabs are getting out of it.

 

[R3verse Swing]

The Trump/Kushner effect.

You got to hand it to the West. West claims 9/11 and ISIS were funded and carried out by Saudis, yet are happy to trade Billions in weapons.

 

[ManFan]

Isn't this the same guy who made a public offering for Kim K for up to 10 million dollars?

 

[IAJ]

And in other News Putin is threathning the West with his nuclear weapons. New era of cold war?

 

[Napa]

It will take the Saudis decades, if not forever, to build up their own military capability. The problem is in their mindset. For the most part, Saudi men are a lazy, decadent, and spoiled bunch who rely on imported servants for everything. Such men lack discipline and will never make good soldiers, no matter how sophisticated their equipment may be.

To become a serious military power and to be able to back up their pricey imported toys with real human capability, the Saudis need to change their mindset and impose a strict regime of discipline in their rich spoiled brat brigade. The only way to do this is by using the rod. They need to put in a system of compulsory military service for their boys, like the Israelis have. Two years of making ones own bed, washing ones own clothes, cleaning ones own room, doing ones own work and having to do forced marches in the desert if a mistake is made, will bring about the desired effect.

Such a regime of discipline will also make the Saudi brats realize how other, less privileged people live their lives and what it feels like if the word 'no' is said to them.

Spot on about how affluence and lack of morality has spoiled the Saudis.

I hope Mohammad bin Salman is thinking on those lines.

This is where you are wrong. MbS is thinking about saving his own a**. Having dragged his country into a war it cannot win, he is now looking to place the blame elsewhere. This excuse will at best only work in the short term.

 

[PakLFC]

Seeing the terrible state of the Middle East and their fear of Iran upgrading their military is not a bad thing. Won't make much difference though in my opinion. Can't remember when the Saudi army last fought any war which is equally important as having good fighter jets, tanks, bombs and defence equipment. There is no substitute for experienced soldiers. Perhaps they are afraid that some Arab neighbour may try to stop their supposed attempts to modernise their kingdom by invading. Being a client state they have no reason to fear America or Israel for the foreseeable future.