Monarchies are the worst form of government, even worse than dictatorships. These self entitled brats ruling Saudi Arabia, with their harems and private jets and solid gold cars, make any sane person disgusted by them.
Emter the 30 year old Crown Primce Mohammed, who is not only in charge of the countries multi trillion oil business, but also national defense.
Huh?
At any rate, he has a plan that will enable Saudi Arabia to survive without oil by 2020.
“I think by 2020, if oil stops we can survive,” Prince Mohammed said. “We need it, we need it, but I think in 2020 we can live without oil.”
As part of his Vision 2030 reform plan, Prince Mohammed said the state-controlled Public Investment Fund had been restructured to become a hub for Saudi investment abroad, partly by raising money through sales of shares in national oil giant Saudi Aramco.
“We restructured the fund. We included new assets in the fund, Aramco and other assets, and we fixed the problems of the current assets that the public investment fund owns, both in terms of companies and other projects,” he said.
“Initial data say the fund will have control over more than 10 percent of global investment capacity.”
Within 5 years, he’s going to implement a green card system that would permit for longer term stays in Saudi Arabia for those looking for work.
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Basically, like Dubai but on a larger scale. Equally unsustainable in the long run. I wonder how Dubai’s artificial islands will hold up to climate change?
Monarchies are indeed an outdated form of government, and are pretty bad, especially if the monarchs are spoiled rotten, as they usually are. But theocracies are even worse. The Saudi royals are trying to modernize their country a bit, bring it into the 19th or 20th century eventually, maybe. But, in order to do it, they have to walk on eggshells and go slowly enough not to offend the clerics, who also have a lot of control there. The clerics would love Saudi society go back to the 16th century or earlier.
If the Saudis themselves eventually decide to have some more representative form of government, that might be better for them than this. But the worst possible government would be if the clerics took total control.
Saudi is an interesting and changing place. There are private citizens there who support organizations that are enemies of the government and which believe themselves to be more moral than the royals are. Organizations like ISIS and Al Qaeda. In contrast to that, visitors also report that many Saudis are now atheists but can not admit it to other Saudis, because of the dire consequences that would follow.
I have a friend who grew up in an Arabic speaking M.E. country, not Saudi though. She is now an American citizen. She is a lesbian and an atheist. I asked her how she decided to become an atheist. She said “Religions just cause people to hate and kill each other. I don’t want to have anything to do with that.”
You never really know what is going on inside of people, until they get into an environment where they are free to express themselves.