The intensity of Western media coverage of Saudi Arabia, its achievements and efforts gives you the impression that the United States and the West have just discovered the Kingdom. It is true that the echo of the Saudi accomplishments has reached experts and the general public in the West, but it has not been treated fairly in the Western media.
Today, the situation has changed, and the amount of praise and recognition for what the leadership has achieved, under the direct administration of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, has become tangible and clear. This political and media momentum became very obvious after the visit of the US Secretary of State to Jeddah and his meeting with the Crown Prince.
Here, I will be straightforward. My reading is that this positive impetus is not because of the golf deal or anything else, but rather that whoever tried to “demonize” Saudi Arabia in the media and to mislead the efforts of the Crown Prince to make Vision 2030 a success, decided now to get down from the tree and to mend ties with Riyadh.
Here the reader may ask, how? The answer is as follows... Ideological positions and disinformation campaigns against Saudi Arabia, in the United States and the West, made the media “vilify” Saudi Arabia with one of the fiercest propaganda.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman succeeded and made leaps, one after the other, economically, socially, and legislatively, imposing a regenerated Kingdom as an effective, rational and economic political reality.
Accordingly, those who fought this “demonization” campaign decided to get down from the tree and acknowledge the Saudi success. They chose to do so not only through political meetings, but also through the media, as if they wanted to tell the Saudis, “Don’t blame us ... we have committed mistakes through the media, and we will correct them through the same means.”
I am writing this piece while I am spending my vacation in London, where you hear the name of Saudi Arabia economically, athletically, politically and socially, and it’s all talk of praise and fascination. On the plane, a British woman tells my wife that she is visiting her family in London because her husband says he will stay in Riyadh, where he feels comfortable.
She said to my wife, laughing: “This is my little son, he was born in Riyadh.” My wife and I told her: “Our children were born in London.”
Here is another significant story. I was discussing with a British friend an article published in The Telegraph newspaper about Tony Douglas, the director of Riyadh Air.
Douglas says of his life in Riyadh: “Come visit me where I live... My villa door is open. You will enter and think why the door is not closed? If you get into my car, which is not cheap, you open the doors and find the keys in it.” He added, “There is no anti-social behavior and there is no crime.”
My British friend looked at my son Saud, who was listening to our conversation, asking: “Do you feel safe in Riyadh?” Saud replied: “We do not close the doors in Riyadh except for fear of cats entering the house!”
In sum, the vision of the Crown Prince reached adults and children, men and women, internally and externally, despite all ideological misleading attempts. Today, Saudi Arabia is a real success story recounted by achievements, thanks to a visionary and determined leadership that believes in deeds, not words.
An Arab friend told me: “You have what the Middle East lacks, which is leadership and vision. Therefore, you are making leaps and bounds, and you are being praised.” Yes, we have Mohammed bin Salman.
