Name? Prince Khalid bin Salman
Westphalian identity? Saudi
Age? 32
Why is he in the news? As the Saudi deputy defense minister, Prince Khalid receives the praise (and the blame) with regard to the two-week ceasefire declared in Yemen. The prince tweeted yesterday (if you don’t tweet nowadays, did it really happen…?) that the Kingdom would call a cease-fire “based on our responsibility to bring stability to the region at such a critical time.”
Why do we care? It’s nice to see the viral challenge resulting in a bit of peace and understanding in the midst of the expansive crises it seems to be unfolding.
Why should you care? Why wouldn’t you care about the prospect of peace, albeit, short term, in a warring country? Especially in times like these, we can all use a bit of good news.
Who else cares? Yemen, aid agencies and the UN. But otherwise, we’ve seen little discussion of it by global leaders…guess they’re a bit distracted tackling their own wars against the viral challenge.
Any further comments? As great as this cease-fire may appear, we wouldn’t jump too quick to praising Prince Khalid. Many on the ground in Yemen consider the ceasefire to be a political and media maneuver to boost the Kingdom’s image as the world faces such a pandemic. Unfortunately, the continued airstrikes seem to prove this theory correct…but don’t fear! Prince Khalid came to the rescue by assuring us all that the cease-fire was sincere, calling on the rebels to “show goodwill” and engage in constructive dialogue. Phew, good. Glad that was cleared up so that I can get back to what really matters– reading about the viral challenge and what to watch next on Disney Plus.
