POWER AND PARADOX: When the crescent meets the cross
The red carpet is being rolled out in Washington this week for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia as he meets with President Donald Trump in Washington. Yet beneath the spectacle lies a troubling paradox: the leader of a nation where Christianity is suppressed, human rights are curtailed, and dissent is punished was welcomed by the world’s largest Christian democracy, a country that prides itself on religious freedom and political justice. The visit is not only political—it is spiritual, a mirror reflecting the contradictions of our age. The question is not whether MBS and Washington can strike deals. It is whether nations that claim moral leadership can still recognize the cost of their alliances.