2034 WC to be Held in Saudi Arabia after Australia Pulls out

Deserved for Saudis and this will be a brilliant World Cup.

The country's social and cultural transformation over the last 8 years has been incredible.

The progress has been so fast that I'm a bit worried for MBS as he could be subject to an inside coup, but so far he's done well to keep the hardliners in check.

No more mandatory hijab there, women allowed in stadiums, most social rights being granted to them with more to go (AFAIK), slowly breaking religious taboos (having JLo have a concert on a mock-up of Macca), genuinely putting Saudi on the map and trying to diversify the country's image, modernizing the country in every single way possible. And it really isn't easy in a deeply religious and conservative country and culture, so sometimes very hard measures must be taken that aren't pretty.

Saudi Arabia of the last decade has been a miracle and imo Saudis are lucky to have such a visionary person in charge. In an era utterly bereft of visionary politicians and high-level statesmen.

Yes, they are lucky to have so much oil and natural resources, but it doesn't always guarantee prosperity and progress. Just look at their shii'te neighbours to the right of them. There is a video of MBS from few years ago saying he believes the Middle East can become the next Europe (in terms of being a cultural capital and the heartbeat of the world) and I think, if he stays alive and in power, this will be his life mission to accomplish it.

"The next global renaissance in the next 30 years will be in the Middle East."

 
Sarni said:
They'll at some point start hosting Champions League finals, sooner rather than later too. Spanish and Italian SuperCups are already played there.
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This is almost a certainty. As long as the game and the powers that be that run it thirst for more money, they will go where the liquidity is.

It's only a matter of time before instead of semifinals we get the UEFA Super League McDonalds Final Four sponsored by Saudi Airlines, Cisco Systems and Hyundai. You'll be forced as journalist to type/say the whole thing too.
 
Hanks said:
Deserved for Saudis and this will be a brilliant World Cup.

The country's social and cultural transformation over the last 8 years has been incredible.

The progress has been so fast that I'm a bit worried for MBS as he could be subject to an inside coup, but so far he's done well to keep the hardliners in check.

No more mandatory hijab there, women allowed in stadiums, most social rights being granted to them with more to go (AFAIK), slowly breaking religious taboos (having JLo have a concert on a mock-up of Macca), genuinely putting Saudi on the map and trying to diversify the country's image, modernizing the country in every single way possible. And it really isn't easy in a deeply religious and conservative country and culture, so sometimes very hard measures must be taken that aren't pretty.

Saudi Arabia of the last decade has been a miracle and imo Saudis are lucky to have such a visionary person in charge. In an era utterly bereft of visionary politicians and high-level statesmen.

Yes, they are lucky to have so much oil and natural resources, but it doesn't always guarantee prosperity and progress. Just look at their shii'te neighbours to the right of them. There is a video of MBS from few years ago saying he believes the Middle East can become the next Europe (in terms of being a cultural capital and the heartbeat of the world) and I think, if he stays alive and in power, this will be his life mission to accomplish it.

"The next global renaissance in the next 30 years will be in the Middle East."

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*This post is sponsored by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund
 
lex talionis said:
Aye. It may mean nothing to the Saudi regime if we refuse to watch their World Cup, same as in any other corrupt regime where past and future World Cups have and will be held, but at least we can tell our grandchildren that we did not turn a blind eye toward it.
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Better than nothing, but I suspect they'll have much bigger questions...like how our generations managed to feck the world's climate up so much, or blunder into the TrumpChad vs God-Emperor Xi third world war, leaving them to grow up/bring up their own children in a dystopian hellscape.
 
Hanks said:
Deserved for Saudis and this will be a brilliant World Cup.

The country's social and cultural transformation over the last 8 years has been incredible.

The progress has been so fast that I'm a bit worried for MBS as he could be subject to an inside coup, but so far he's done well to keep the hardliners in check.

No more mandatory hijab there, women allowed in stadiums, most social rights being granted to them with more to go (AFAIK), slowly breaking religious taboos (having JLo have a concert on a mock-up of Macca), genuinely putting Saudi on the map and trying to diversify the country's image, modernizing the country in every single way possible. And it really isn't easy in a deeply religious and conservative country and culture, so sometimes very hard measures must be taken that aren't pretty.

Saudi Arabia of the last decade has been a miracle and imo Saudis are lucky to have such a visionary person in charge. In an era utterly bereft of visionary politicians and high-level statesmen.

Yes, they are lucky to have so much oil and natural resources, but it doesn't always guarantee prosperity and progress. Just look at their shii'te neighbours to the right of them. There is a video of MBS from few years ago saying he believes the Middle East can become the next Europe (in terms of being a cultural capital and the heartbeat of the world) and I think, if he stays alive and in power, this will be his life mission to accomplish it.

"The next global renaissance in the next 30 years will be in the Middle East."

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:lol: how much did they pay you?
 
Hanks said:
The progress has been so fast that I'm a bit worried for MBS as he could be subject to an inside coup, but so far he's done well to keep the hardliners in check.
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The threat of torture and being hacked up into a suitcase tends to help.
 
Hanks said:
Deserved for Saudis and this will be a brilliant World Cup.

The country's social and cultural transformation over the last 8 years has been incredible.

The progress has been so fast that I'm a bit worried for MBS as he could be subject to an inside coup, but so far he's done well to keep the hardliners in check.

No more mandatory hijab there, women allowed in stadiums, most social rights being granted to them with more to go (AFAIK), slowly breaking religious taboos (having JLo have a concert on a mock-up of Macca), genuinely putting Saudi on the map and trying to diversify the country's image, modernizing the country in every single way possible. And it really isn't easy in a deeply religious and conservative country and culture, so sometimes very hard measures must be taken that aren't pretty.

Saudi Arabia of the last decade has been a miracle and imo Saudis are lucky to have such a visionary person in charge. In an era utterly bereft of visionary politicians and high-level statesmen.

Yes, they are lucky to have so much oil and natural resources, but it doesn't always guarantee prosperity and progress. Just look at their shii'te neighbours to the right of them. There is a video of MBS from few years ago saying he believes the Middle East can become the next Europe (in terms of being a cultural capital and the heartbeat of the world) and I think, if he stays alive and in power, this will be his life mission to accomplish it.

"The next global renaissance in the next 30 years will be in the Middle East."

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Didn't know Saudi bots were allowed on here!

Just for a bit of balance - what Human Rights Watch has to say about KSA:
Saudi Arabia spends billions of dollars hosting major entertainment, cultural, and sporting events to deflect from the country’s poor human rights record. Saudi Arabia has announced important reforms, but the repression of independent civil society and critical voices impedes any attempt at reform. Scores of human rights activists and dissidents are in prison or on trial for their peaceful criticism. Authorities failed to hold high-level officials accountable for the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. The Saudi and UAE-led coalition continue their military campaign against the Houthi armed group in Yemen which has included unlawful airstrikes that have killed and wounded thousands of civilians
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On the "amazing" (sic) change of these past few year



An article about the migrant workers

The whole page on HRW website, with more articles and resources.

But sure, it'll be a great World Cup, cos there'll be cool stadiums and shit.
 
Rooney in Paris said:
Didn't know Saudi bots were allowed on here!

Just for a bit of balance - what Human Rights Watch has to say about KSA:


On the "amazing" (sic) change of these past few year



An article about the migrant workers

The whole page on HRW website, with more articles and resources.

But sure, it'll be a great World Cup, cos there'll be cool stadiums and shit.
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Probably not one for this thread/forum but what does good leadership in the middle east actually look like?

I heard some Irish expert, talking about Assad being taken down, who was incredibly negative about what will fill the vacuum. And we've already seen that nothing good came out of tyrants like Saddam Hussein and Gadaffi being deposed. So it's hard to see where the bar is being set here. Are there some countries in the region already being run in a way that the rest of us would find acceptable if they were given a chance to host a World Cup? And Saudi Arabia just need to be run in the same way before we would find them an acceptable venue? Or are we talking about a situation where the whole region is just a complete mess, that can't ever be integrated with the rest of the world with stuff like hosting international football tournaments? I honestly don't know enough about geopolitics to know if a sort of gold standard middle east leadership even exists.

I'm very much on board with not allowing countries with ongoing blatant human rights abuses to host a WC but I can see why people who live in (or come from) that region might feel they really can't win here.
 
I don't have a big problem with Saudi, their culture not my business. The Middle East is a terrible place to hold a football tournament though, have to mess all the club calendars around to do it and my guess is like Qatar it'll be a poor tournament. There's no football culture there and I doubt they'll ever create one, stadiums in the dessert will go back to it... Just a complete waste building stadiums that will only be used properly for a month.

Football wont' change until the money dries up, I would watch it, but I wouldn't pay anything to do so and I'll actively avoid using any of the sponsors as much as possible.
 
Mb194dc said:
I don't have a big problem with Saudi, their culture not my business. The Middle East is a terrible place to hold a football tournament though, have to mess all the club calendars around to do it and my guess is like Qatar it'll be a poor tournament. There's no football culture there and I doubt they'll ever create one, stadiums in the dessert will go back to it... Just a complete waste building stadiums that will only be used properly for a month.

Football wont' change until the money dries up, I would watch it, but I wouldn't pay anything to do so and I'll actively avoid using any of the sponsors as much as possible.
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Agree with this 100%. And it really boils my piss to spew tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere to air-condition fecking football stadiums built in a country which is too hot to play football, in the middle of a climate crisis.
 
Mb194dc said:
I don't have a big problem with Saudi, their culture not my business. The Middle East is a terrible place to hold a football tournament though, have to mess all the club calendars around to do it and my guess is like Qatar it'll be a poor tournament. There's no football culture there and I doubt they'll ever create one, stadiums in the dessert will go back to it... Just a complete waste building stadiums that will only be used properly for a month.

Football wont' change until the money dries up, I would watch it, but I wouldn't pay anything to do so and I'll actively avoid using any of the sponsors as much as possible.
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That’s a trifling concern…
 
Think I’m most sick about the corruption in the game’s governing bodies most of all.

Sad that people will just take any old platitudes, shrug their shoulders, and carry on. Those FA statements and the Infantino show yesterday were gross.

Then again, what am I doing about it?
Feeling a little uncomfortable and slowly losing interest.

Not very militant!
 
Herschel Krustofsky said:
Think I’m most sick about the corruption in the game’s governing bodies most of all.

Sad that people will just take any old platitudes, shrug their shoulders, and carry on. Those FA statements and the Infantino show yesterday were gross.

Then again, what am I doing about it?
Feeling a little uncomfortable and slowly losing interest.

Not very militant!
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I think you have expressed very well just what is at the core of my issues with the WC. FIFA and Infantino are corrupt and dont even care that everyone sees their corruption
 
Anyone who has frequented the CE forum over the years will know @Hanks is an Iranian living abroad who is highly critical of his own country’s leadership. He’s not a bot.
 
NYAS said:
Anyone who has frequented the CE forum over the years will know @Hanks is an Iranian living abroad who is highly critical of his own country’s leadership. He’s not a bot.
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That's cool, maybe they shouldn't call KSA of the past 10 years "a miracle" when Kashoggi happened in 2018, or when the most recent human rights group still highlight major issues with the country.
 
Scarlett Dracarys said:
Thanks for responding and it's great that things are changing for the better. Based on how you responded I'm guessing you're from Saudi Arabia? No offense, but I'd like a woman’s POV on the matter. If you are a woman then I stand corrected.
What do you mean when you say "forced by society"? If your country has laws to abide by but then society has it's own rules then there won't really be any progress. Society needs to change before it can be considered progress. The most important thing here isn't to abide by any western rules. The only measure should be how the citizens feel living in their country. If they feel safe and respected then that's all that matters.
Lastly I hope that the same progress can be made with regards to the LGBTQ community, if it hasn't already but I know that might be something that won't change anytime soon.
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Thank you for your post. Always love having good discussions on this topic. Not gonna use whatabotisim and restrict this to Saudi.

Yes I’m from Saudi but not a woman. But I’m pretty sure all women in Saudi felt a big difference since 2017. Discussing how life changed pre and post 2017 with saudi women is always facilitating to me. Hope someone can share their experience and you’re welcome to talk to them on places like Saudi Reddit or Twitter.

On social rules, the reforms are very recent. 2017 is when all this started. Some people are more resistant to change than others. The important thing is that they can’t impose their views if they’re not backed the law. This is true for every society.

On safety, I’ve lived in 3 countries besides Saudi (all in the west) and I would say that Saudi is generally much safer. Big part of this (in my opinion) is due to social cohesion. Saudi is a family based society and no one wants to bring shame to their families by getting arrested or caught harassing people. Also, social welfare and healthcare is good which makes homelessness almost nonexistent and people who are desperately in need are generally well taken care of. I also hear the same from Saudi women who studied in the west (we are all biased, of course, I’m just sharing an opinion as it’s hard to quantify safety by numbers).

On LGBTQ, most saudis genuinely don’t care what you do with your partner in your bedroom. Public displays of affection are frowned upon generally (of all kinds). Keep in mind that social cohesion is different. The west is more individualistic (not all the west, of course). Families play a bigger role -in general- in the Middle East. If something brings shame to your father or mother, people don’t generally want to be caught doing it. We tend to think of our families first then ourselves.

There’re many LGBTQ people living in Saudi and honestly if one of them is on this forum I would love to hear their thoughts. Generally Saudis pride themselves with being good hosts and tolerant with people who disagree with them, I would expect this includes people of LGBTQ but you shouldn’t take my word for it.

I wanna go back to sports, part of the social changes saudi have been encouraging since 2017 was also pushing people to do more sports since we have one of the highest obesity and diabetes rates. Now, you can barely find an empty space in the gym (despite many opening up but they can’t keep up with demand). Women Gyms were nonexistent before 2017 (gyms are one of the very few businesses that are (mostly) gender segregated and honestly I think that’s for the better), now there’s a gym on every street.

Previously, football was the only sport you hear about. Now there’re very high quality courts for every sport and they’re mostly full all the time. The introduction of fighting sports, golf and esports were based on popular demand from society (media calls it sports washing but o don’t care). I can speak for hours about the changes we see every day, I just want to make to encourage people to stop for a minute and think before judging a whole country based on what you hear/see in the news.

Last thing, I wanna share my thoughts on “why” saudi is doing this. Media wants you to think it’s all sport washing, that’s not entirely true. Saudi is oil rich, but oil demand is diminishing and we can see the writings on the wall, Saudi has been diversifying all sectors in the economy to encourage people to spend more locally (instead of having an expensive vocation abroad) and bring more tourists.

Now, to bring tourists you need infrastructure (entertainment) which brings tourists which increases hotel chains, resorts and restaurants to open which brings more money. I call that “fixing the economy” but if the media wants to call it “sports washing” for short, so be it.

Sorry for the long post.
 
Rooney in Paris said:
That's cool, maybe they shouldn't call KSA of the past 10 years "a miracle" when Kashoggi happened in 2018, or when the most recent human rights group still highlight major issues with the country.
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I know he feels strongly about the situation his country is in, so he’s probably looking at comparatively.
 
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^ Thank you NYAS as well as Pogue.

Really, I think some folks will need to realize that very few countries in the entire world will live to their standard of 'Liberal Democracy' to be considered "Good Enough" to host a World Cup.

Values aren't universal (I've lived in 7 different countries with vastly different values and morals) , but what you can do, is to recognize the differences in different regions and actually recognize the leaders or countries who are at least "trying" to make a big change. Not to mention that autocracies can also put up brilliant tournaments. Most football fans I know remember Russia 2018 more fondly than Brazil '14 or South Africa '10 for example. I was there myself and it was the best two weeks ever.

Also, about the laughs, laugh all you want, it doesn't change the fact that MBS is one of the most progressive and liberal-thinking rulers of the Middle East nowadays. What many people who've never experienced living in those deeply religious nations and countries realize, is that it's incredibly hard to make reforms and how many roadblocks are there.

10-15 years ago, Saudi Arabia was synonymous with the most brutal and barbaric religious laws. Women were outright second or third class citizens, the country one oil production place and nothing else, and a hotbed of promoting religious extremism and terrorism. Since MBS got appointed Crown Prince in 2017, he's done lots of change that and he's made significantly progress and reforms on all fronts I mentioned in the previous sentence.

Is he a European-style liberal-democrat? Absolutely not. Is he moving the country towards the right direction? Absolutely yes. And that should be rewarded. I say this as my own painful experience, for which my country Iran, had a forward-thinking, modern, secular king who massively modernized the country and gave the most social and equal rights to women and minorities...but was still huge criticized by Western NGOs, Carter Admin, and "Human Rights Watch" (He wasn't perfect, but he was working in right direction and progress and forward-thinking), and because of that (he even allowed Amnesty International to come and inspect Iranian prisons) and in the end was overthrown by backwards extremist islamists which set the country back 1400 years and made it the absolute shambles that it is now.

Iran were favourites alongside Soviet Union to host the 1990 World Cup, before the Islamist revolution. That's why I think it's nice that progress in Saudi Arabia is being rewarded with such tournament and why leaders like MBS deserve more appreciation, because you have absolutely no idea what the flipside is. Will MBS ever have a liberal-democracy like let's say Switzerland's? Absolutely not. But he's currently (alongsize Bin Zayed) the best Middle Eastern leaders and I hope they will continue their good work for decades to come, because we need it in that region.

Rewarding leaders and countries who put down religious extremism and spread forward-thinking progress in a highly difficult region is in benefit of both Middle-Easterners and Westerners and the world. Hence my support for MBS (and trust me, us Iranians are supposed to hate Saudis for the million rivalries we have, but credit where due.)
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Agree with this 100%. And it really boils my piss to spew tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere to air-condition fecking football stadiums built in a country which is too hot to play football, in the middle of a climate crisis.
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Totally agree. It's absolutely unjustifiable, given the climate crisis and the thing that makes it even more unjustifiable is that we know that once the tournament is finished they'll be enormously expensive white elephants.

Also worth saying that the labour by which all of this is achieved is almost certain to be morally dubious and likely to lead to at least some loss of life.

I just don't see how loss of human life, use of (basically) slave labour and the environmental impact can be justified because MBS is desperate for a Saudi vanity project.
 
Rooney in Paris said:
Not that I know the specifics of what you'll be doing there (nor am I interested), but they'll be very professional and efficient at keeping it as hidden as possible and presenting an image of a happy and well treated workforce. Just like Qatar did.
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I'm not going to go in to it but I will 100% hear of anything bad that happens on the construction sites where I will be working. I'm really interested to find the reality. I worked in Dubai and Abu Dhabi previously and I can say for an absolute fact that the vast majority of horror stories people heard in the UK about those regions were absolute fiction.
 
Hughes35 said:
I'm not going to go in to it but I will 100% hear of anything bad that happens on the construction sites where I will be working. I'm really interested to find the reality. I worked in Dubai and Abu Dhabi previously and I can say for an absolute fact that the vast majority of horror stories people heard in the UK about those regions were absolute fiction.
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Bloody journalists and NGOs, making up stories from firsthand testimonies!!

The fact that you see it that way makes me believe that there is an element of wilful ignorance and a big chunk of locals being successful at showing what they want people to see - which combined, lead me to think your first sentence is pretty unlikely. Won't be surprised to have you in here over the coming years telling us all is rosy, when you have Amnesty International or HRW showing all the shortcomings, in a documented manner - which is exactly what happened for Qatar.
 
Hanks said:
Deserved for Saudis and this will be a brilliant World Cup.

The country's social and cultural transformation over the last 8 years has been incredible.

The progress has been so fast that I'm a bit worried for MBS as he could be subject to an inside coup, but so far he's done well to keep the hardliners in check.

No more mandatory hijab there, women allowed in stadiums, most social rights being granted to them with more to go (AFAIK), slowly breaking religious taboos (having JLo have a concert on a mock-up of Macca), genuinely putting Saudi on the map and trying to diversify the country's image, modernizing the country in every single way possible. And it really isn't easy in a deeply religious and conservative country and culture, so sometimes very hard measures must be taken that aren't pretty.

Saudi Arabia of the last decade has been a miracle and imo Saudis are lucky to have such a visionary person in charge. In an era utterly bereft of visionary politicians and high-level statesmen.

Yes, they are lucky to have so much oil and natural resources, but it doesn't always guarantee prosperity and progress. Just look at their shii'te neighbours to the right of them. There is a video of MBS from few years ago saying he believes the Middle East can become the next Europe (in terms of being a cultural capital and the heartbeat of the world) and I think, if he stays alive and in power, this will be his life mission to accomplish it.

"The next global renaissance in the next 30 years will be in the Middle East."

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*killing journalists aside.
 
Hanks said:
Deserved for Saudis and this will be a brilliant World Cup.

The country's social and cultural transformation over the last 8 years has been incredible.

The progress has been so fast that I'm a bit worried for MBS as he could be subject to an inside coup, but so far he's done well to keep the hardliners in check.

No more mandatory hijab there, women allowed in stadiums, most social rights being granted to them with more to go (AFAIK), slowly breaking religious taboos (having JLo have a concert on a mock-up of Macca), genuinely putting Saudi on the map and trying to diversify the country's image, modernizing the country in every single way possible. And it really isn't easy in a deeply religious and conservative country and culture, so sometimes very hard measures must be taken that aren't pretty.

Saudi Arabia of the last decade has been a miracle and imo Saudis are lucky to have such a visionary person in charge. In an era utterly bereft of visionary politicians and high-level statesmen.

Yes, they are lucky to have so much oil and natural resources, but it doesn't always guarantee prosperity and progress. Just look at their shii'te neighbours to the right of them. There is a video of MBS from few years ago saying he believes the Middle East can become the next Europe (in terms of being a cultural capital and the heartbeat of the world) and I think, if he stays alive and in power, this will be his life mission to accomplish it.

"The next global renaissance in the next 30 years will be in the Middle East."

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Who are you quoting?
 
Hanks said:
Deserved for Saudis and this will be a brilliant World Cup.

The country's social and cultural transformation over the last 8 years has been incredible.

The progress has been so fast that I'm a bit worried for MBS as he could be subject to an inside coup, but so far he's done well to keep the hardliners in check.

No more mandatory hijab there, women allowed in stadiums, most social rights being granted to them with more to go (AFAIK), slowly breaking religious taboos (having JLo have a concert on a mock-up of Macca), genuinely putting Saudi on the map and trying to diversify the country's image, modernizing the country in every single way possible. And it really isn't easy in a deeply religious and conservative country and culture, so sometimes very hard measures must be taken that aren't pretty.

Saudi Arabia of the last decade has been a miracle and imo Saudis are lucky to have such a visionary person in charge. In an era utterly bereft of visionary politicians and high-level statesmen.

Yes, they are lucky to have so much oil and natural resources, but it doesn't always guarantee prosperity and progress. Just look at their shii'te neighbours to the right of them. There is a video of MBS from few years ago saying he believes the Middle East can become the next Europe (in terms of being a cultural capital and the heartbeat of the world) and I think, if he stays alive and in power, this will be his life mission to accomplish it.

"The next global renaissance in the next 30 years will be in the Middle East."

Click to expand...

:lol:
 
Hanks said:
Yes, they are lucky to have so much oil and natural resources, but it doesn't always guarantee prosperity and progress. Just look at their shii'te neighbours to the right of them. There is a video of MBS from few years ago saying he believes the Middle East can become the next Europe (in terms of being a cultural capital and the heartbeat of the world) and I think, if he stays alive and in power, this will be his life mission to accomplish it.

"The next global renaissance in the next 30 years will be in the Middle East."
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I for one am looking forward to seeing it happen due to their continued income from oil, guaranteed through their highly effective diplomatic efforts to delay, disrupt, destroy global agreements in relation to climate change and the reduction of petroleum products (like plastic). For the betterment of humanity.

Edit: Yes, this is one-sided. But so is the post I'm responding to. And yes, you can talk about Saudi Arabia's attempts at economic diversification, but that doesn't change what I said.
 
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The changes in women's rights for KSA feel like you stop kicking the shit out of your wife every night and now only give her 4-5 hard slaps on the face every other week night.
 
Hanks said:
Deserved for Saudis and this will be a brilliant World Cup.

The country's social and cultural transformation over the last 8 years has been incredible.

The progress has been so fast that I'm a bit worried for MBS as he could be subject to an inside coup, but so far he's done well to keep the hardliners in check.

No more mandatory hijab there, women allowed in stadiums, most social rights being granted to them with more to go (AFAIK), slowly breaking religious taboos (having JLo have a concert on a mock-up of Macca), genuinely putting Saudi on the map and trying to diversify the country's image, modernizing the country in every single way possible. And it really isn't easy in a deeply religious and conservative country and culture, so sometimes very hard measures must be taken that aren't pretty.

Saudi Arabia of the last decade has been a miracle and imo Saudis are lucky to have such a visionary person in charge. In an era utterly bereft of visionary politicians and high-level statesmen.

Yes, they are lucky to have so much oil and natural resources, but it doesn't always guarantee prosperity and progress. Just look at their shii'te neighbours to the right of them. There is a video of MBS from few years ago saying he believes the Middle East can become the next Europe (in terms of being a cultural capital and the heartbeat of the world) and I think, if he stays alive and in power, this will be his life mission to accomplish it.

"The next global renaissance in the next 30 years will be in the Middle East."

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I know some will ridicule you, but I agree. The change in KSA over the past decade has been remarkable, even if wahabism is still very much integral. And issues are still present, but don't why see it should be seen as atleast the same level as US in Western eyes in the future.

They have no respect for the status quo (as in Middle East should know their place) and that is inspiring for the whole region. They have seen the strategy of the UAE (Dubai and to some extent Abu Dhabi) and wants to push it even further towards being a geopolitical power. Obviously I'm not very fond of Middle East hosting WC due to having the change in schedule, but they have been improving on many areas even if they might never reach acceptable by Western standards.

And in terms of football culture, they are really passionate about it even if Saudi Pro League is a bit of a joke now in Western society.
 
At this point, when the previous tournaments have been in Russia and Qatar, I'm not sure anyone cares anymore.
 
Hanks said:
Deserved for Saudis and this will be a brilliant World Cup.

The country's social and cultural transformation over the last 8 years has been incredible.

The progress has been so fast that I'm a bit worried for MBS as he could be subject to an inside coup, but so far he's done well to keep the hardliners in check.

No more mandatory hijab there, women allowed in stadiums, most social rights being granted to them with more to go (AFAIK), slowly breaking religious taboos (having JLo have a concert on a mock-up of Macca), genuinely putting Saudi on the map and trying to diversify the country's image, modernizing the country in every single way possible. And it really isn't easy in a deeply religious and conservative country and culture, so sometimes very hard measures must be taken that aren't pretty.

Saudi Arabia of the last decade has been a miracle and imo Saudis are lucky to have such a visionary person in charge. In an era utterly bereft of visionary politicians and high-level statesmen.

Yes, they are lucky to have so much oil and natural resources, but it doesn't always guarantee prosperity and progress. Just look at their shii'te neighbours to the right of them. There is a video of MBS from few years ago saying he believes the Middle East can become the next Europe (in terms of being a cultural capital and the heartbeat of the world) and I think, if he stays alive and in power, this will be his life mission to accomplish it.

"The next global renaissance in the next 30 years will be in the Middle East."

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Sponsored post?
 
Fridge chutney said:
:lol:
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A lot of what he's saying isn't wrong. The changes in Saudia have been huge in the last few years and many of them have been for the better. I wouldn't fangirl over MBS though as his methods in achieving this progress are dubious, to say the least.
 
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