Huffington Post: Saudi Arabia’s Leader Spent $450 Million on a Painting; Here’s What That Could Do for War Victims in Yemen

Reports suggest that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman spent $450.3 million on a Leonardo da Vinci painting, “Salvator Mundi,” for the Louvre Abu Dhabi. As Akbar Shahid Ahmed reports for the Huffington, the purchase is the highest for an art auction and damages claims by the prince “that he will impose more transparency on the money accumulated by various members of the sprawling Saudi royal family.” Moreover, the purchase comes in wake of deepening crisis in neighboring Yemen, where Saudi Arabia continues its counterinsurgency campaign against Iran-aligned Yemeni Houthi rebels with the backing of its US and United Arab Emirates allies. The Saudi-UAE bloc has intensified its blockade on shipments into Yemen over claims of Iranian weapons transfers; however, humanitarian organizations continue to push the Saudi state to make exceptions for food, fuel, medicine and other forms of aid. While the oil-rich kingdom has taken in hundreds of Yemeni refugees and funded relief efforts, the excessive amount of dollars spent on da Vinci’s painting along with a yacht might have closed the gap for the United Nations’ emergency plan for Yemen. –YaleGlobal