Chitchat What happened in Saudi Arabia in the last 3 days ?

[gatehousethetinkertailor]

 

[gatehousethetinkertailor]

Fascinating work by a historian triggered by Friedman's love letter to MBS and his unique dramatic reformation efforts - trawling through 70 years of Saudi reform extracted from NYT:

 

[gatehousethetinkertailor]

If you can bear to watch it, this is a Saudi propaganda video in 3D on how they will battle the Persians and overwhelm them by the sheer power of their military arsenal - curiously the original language of the video is English, not even Arabic!.

It was hailed by many Saudi and UAE newspapers and published reports about it.



In other news, another billionaire arrest:

And John Travolta popped in for a chat on the secrets of Hollywood!

And Nelly performed at a male-only concert:



And Cheb Khaled (whom some may remember from the DiDi song years ago):

SAUDI actor and Ministry of Information adviser, Abdulelah Al-Sinani shared a scene from the movie ‘Born a King’ which tells the true story of King Faisal Bin Abdul Aziz at the age of 14, where he was sent on a high stakes diplomatic mission to London to secure the formation of his country.

The clip shared by Al-Sinani shows a 14-year-old boy as King Faisal in his teenage years. The scene is placed in 1919 in London, where he is shown leading a diplomatic envoy to discuss critical issues as well as external and internal conflicts that were happening at the time.

They began shooting the film last July in Britain, and are now finishing up the final scenes in Riyadh where it is estimated that the filming will be wrapped by February of 2018, according to Al-Sinani.

The film will be premiered in 2018 exclusively in theaters in Saudi Arabia, then released in cinemas around the world.

The film is a joint international production with Nebras Films, who are dedicated to portraying Saudi Arabia to the world.

The film is directed by Spanish director Agusti Villaronga, who has been nominated for several awards at the Cannes and Berlin film festivals. The idea to create the film was pushed forward by the producer of the film, Andres Vicente Gomez, who was inspired by King Abdul Aziz’s life during a visit to Saudi Arabia.

 

[gatehousethetinkertailor]

(this is an official Russian embassy account):

 

[gatehousethetinkertailor]

 

[gatehousethetinkertailor]

The Yacht, the Painting and the Chateau...

 

[gatehousethetinkertailor]

 

[scroobal]

Austerity at home, luxury abroad - reminds me of one family here who did the same thing until Nassim Jade caught father, son, daughter, brother, plus a bunch of business and work associates. Remarkably they were known for their push against corruption.

Singaporeans think that the PM travels on commercial flights to save cost only the find out that a Gulfstream bought couple of years ago by the wife’s company does the job.

 

[JohnTan]

Austerity at home, luxury abroad - reminds me of one family here who did the same thing until Nassim Jade caught father, son, daughter, brother, plus a bunch of business and work associates. Remarkably they were known for their push against corruption.

Singaporeans think that the PM travels on commercial flights to save cost only the find out that a Gulfstream bought couple of years ago by the wife’s company does the job.

The late Ah Gong, PM Lee and his family are known for their intolerance towards corruption. They are honest and upright people. I dare to say this out loud because the facts speak for themselves. You have to talk in riddles and don't even dare to name people you think are corrupt because you have no concrete evidence to back up anything you say.

Majulah PAP! Majulah PM Lee!

 

[Kotekbengkok]

Could MBS be inadvertently setting the stage for his own assassination? He has created so many enemies within the very extended, incestuous and vested royal household that this is something not far fetched, plus considering all the sectarianism,sibling rivalries and palace intrigues that go on. That's not counting enemies he has created abroad. Has he created any new friends other than the Americas and the Israelis? The sort of friends who will not just move on to the next pawn after he is gone? The last royal assassination to take place was in 1975 of King Faisal by his own nephew. He too had embarked on a crusade to rescue the country's finances and implementing a policy of modernization and reform (although he was assassinated for different reasons). It may sound melodramatic but the Ides of March are not too far away and there could well be a "Et Tu Brutus" moment if MBS continues head on with his reckless, arrogant and some what bizarre behavior, by Saudi standards anyway. In any case, whatever the outcome, the rule of MBS is increasingly looking untenable in the scheme of things and likely to not end well.

View attachment 35448
View attachment 35449
View attachment 35454
View attachment 35455
View attachment 35452
View attachment 35453

 

[JohnTan]

Could MBS be inadvertently setting the stage for his own assassination? He has created so many enemies within the very extended, incestuous and vested royal household that this is something not far fetched, plus considering all the sectarianism,sibling rivalries and palace intrigues that go on. That's not counting enemies he has created abroad. Has he created any new friends other than the Americas and the Israelis? The sort of friends who will not just move on to the next pawn after he is gone? The last royal assassination to take place was in 1975 of King Faisal by his own nephew. He too had embarked on a crusade to rescue the country's finances and implementing a policy of modernization and reform (although he was assassinated for different reasons). It may sound melodramatic but the Ides of March are not too far away and there could well be a "Et Tu Brutus" moment if MBS continues head on with his reckless, arrogant and some what bizarre behavior, by Saudi standards anyway. In any case, whatever the outcome, the rule of MBS is increasingly looking untenable in the scheme of things and likely to not end well.

I always wonder if he would end up getting machine gunned in the back like that paki muslim governor who challenged the islamic clergy and their blasphemy laws in pakistan. The dead paki governor was a pretty popular politician and he still got gunned down by his own bodyguard.

 

[scroobal]

Agree. Too many enemies and much much more than even Faisal, internal, external etc.

Could MBS be inadvertently setting the stage for his own assassination? He has created so many enemies within the very extended, incestuous and vested royal household that this is something not far fetched, plus considering all the sectarianism,sibling rivalries and palace intrigues that go on. That's not counting enemies he has created abroad. Has he created any new friends other than the Americas and the Israelis? The sort of friends who will not just move on to the next pawn after he is gone? The last royal assassination to take place was in 1975 of King Faisal by his own nephew. He too had embarked on a crusade to rescue the country's finances and implementing a policy of modernization and reform (although he was assassinated for different reasons). It may sound melodramatic but the Ides of March are not too far away and there could well be a "Et Tu Brutus" moment if MBS continues head on with his reckless, arrogant and some what bizarre behavior, by Saudi standards anyway. In any case, whatever the outcome, the rule of MBS is increasingly looking untenable in the scheme of things and likely to not end well.

 

[gatehousethetinkertailor]

 

[gatehousethetinkertailor]

 

[gatehousethetinkertailor]

View attachment 35481

 

[gatehousethetinkertailor]

 

[gatehousethetinkertailor]

 

[rushifa666]

Infrkmation overload... cannot compute... but born a king sounds faMILIAR..

 

[gatehousethetinkertailor]

 

[gatehousethetinkertailor]