Saudi propagandist-in-residence at Harvard University

A well-known Western correspondent in the Middle East wrote me this (he/she does not want to be identified):  "Obaid is the key regime interlocutor with Western media, analysts and academics. He is in their employ. Part of his job is to harass Western journalists if they don't tow the line. He is empowered by the interior minister to control foreign journalists access to country - he made a list of demands of..., for example, and the information minister was merely cc-ed. He was recently working with Bandar on the Syrian file, and specifically was looking into how viable and desirable it would be to partition Syria. He makes attempts to recruit Saudi students abroad to the project if defending the kingdom in the West - he tells them they will have a life of riches like him and they could get status at a place like Harvard too. He is however a phoney - his Havard work has been a paper saying most Arab countries lack the characteristics to form modern states, except Saudi Arabia. Bit journalists can't be bothered exposing him because they need him for access or a quote; and an elite US academic institution seems to see a use in keeping close to the regime's man too."