I'm not arguing against dictatorships as much as specific kinds of dictatorships. Singapore has been a one-party dictatorship for a while now, South Korea was u

I'm not arguing against dictatorships as much as specific kinds of dictatorships. Singapore has been a one-party dictatorship for a while now, South Korea was under the military dictatorship of Park Chung Hee for a while too. But the Singaporean rule has persisted as long perhaps because the regime hasn't wielded its power as brazenly as the KSA just did, and probably continues to do on a more daily basis inside the kingdom itself. The point I'm trying to make is that even dictators/absolute monarchs need to recognize the limits of their power and wield it accordingly. This completely unnecessary exercise of state power has exposed that MBS isn't really the savior of KSA that many had proclaimed: he is a thug, a mob leader who grabbed power from his relatives and initiated token reforms to appease the west while silencing his critics in brutal ways. Even if his "ultimate" intentions are good, his means of achieving them will hinder him from doing that.