As any self respecting Baltimore resident I sometimes see business deals in terms of street culture. I must admit though that I am no expert in street culture however a conversation that I had with a Baltimore Street homeboy who claims to have personally known the real Nathan “Bodie” Barksdale the inspiration for the street gangster in the Wire, suggests that depictions of Street Culture in that TV series were very close to reality. I know you are wondering where I am going with this?
I love “The Wire” and have watched the TV show several times. My favorite crook like most ladies who watch “The Wire” is Russell “Stringer”Bell, who is played by the British born actor Idris Elba. I love Stringer not because of his dark good looks nor the fact that Idris who played him in the Wire’s mum is Ghanaian. Stringer was a crook who understood that having blood on the streets was bad for business if one can call his drug trade a business. Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia may need to take some lessons from Stringer in that department.
The mysterious disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi the Saudi journalist in the Saudi Embassy in Turkey has revealed the dark sinister side of the Crown Prince’s nature. MBS whilst crafting his public image as a reformer of the reclusive oppressive regime in the Arabian Peninsula has been accused of having a thin skin and stifling dissent with strong arm tactics. This is the most public sign that all may not be as clean and above board as the Crown Prince and his administration would have us believe. The actions of the Saudi Regime in Yemen has not gone without notice. Early this year protestors in London organized against his proposed visit to Britain. Anyway, who said we can expect a feudal theocracy right out of the Middle Ages to be as smooth in handling it’s business as Stringer Bell when even first world nation’s are still struggling. Today we are all watching and hoping that the Trumpian real response would help solidify the expectation of respect for human rights and acceptable behavior in response to civil disobedience.
MBS would need to learn that there is a price to pay for running roughshod over your citizenry. Jamal Khashoggi being a US resident should also count for something in the eyes of President Trump. This is an opportunity for President Donald Trump to show Americans and the world what he is really made off. At this time we are still waiting for a response worthy of the President of the free world. I hope for the sake of all Saudi’s that MBS gets the learning opportunity he deserves.
By Leonard Sowah an Internal Medicine Physician in Baltimore, Maryland
