One Arab diplomat said Prince Mohammed is beginning to look “dangerous” for western leaders who are now rethinking doing business with a 33-year-old ruler whose loose-cannon foreign policy has surprised allies and enemies alike.
Even his supporters say privately there will now have to be a period of change as Saudi Arabia tries to rebuild the confidence of allies burned by the kind of unpredictability that had been alien to its foreign policy. And, as one senior Arab official put it, the only pressure that counts is American pressure.[...]
“Khashoggi’s murder has given the U.S. greater leverage over Saudi Arabia,” said Kamran Bokhari, senior lecturer on Middle Eastern geopolitics at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute. “Therefore they are now more receptive than ever before to outside influence over their policies. To what extent the Trump administration will use this opportunity to shape behavioral change remains to be seen.”[...]
“After the Khashoggi case, the task of selling Vision 2030 has become even harder,” Soltvedt said. For investors, the balance between risks and rewards has shifted, he said. “In other words, the risk of reputational damage and negative PR now weighs more heavily.”
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