We're back to this nonsense again. Saudi Arabia is getting a public relations makeover after incurring the world's wrath for the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist who was not a friend of the royal family. The reaction to his killing was intense, partially because Donald Trump was president. Remember, Trump, got blamed for all the bad news in the world. Khashoggi died in 2018, but now people remember his name because Joe Biden went to Saudi Arabia and groveled for more oil after declaring them a pariah. Second, the nation is at the helm of a new golf league scooping some serious talent from the PGA Tour.
LIV Golf saw the birth of what could be described as free agency in golf. Hundreds of millions of dollars have gone to players like Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, the Koepka brothers, and Sergio Garcia, enticing them to jump from the PGA ship. It worked. DeChambeau and Johnson both reportedly got paid $125 million to join LIV. Tiger Woods’ offer was around $700-800 million. The league's 2023 season has 14 events with $405 million in prize money. Over the weekend, Donald Trump hosted a LIV event at his course in Bedminster, New Jersey. Of course, the liberal media was upset that this could be the beginnings of a Saudi "image rehab" (via NBC News):
Former President Donald Trump’s comments casting doubt on Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the 9/11 terror attacks mark the latest in a string of recent public relations victories for the desert kingdom and its ruling Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Four years after he was accused of ordering the murder of prominent Saudi critic and Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the crown prince has been welcomed in two European capitals and a Saudi-funded golf tournament teed off this weekend at Trump’s Bedminster golf club.
[...]
Salman’s rehabilitation will encourage other autocrats to ignore human rights, activists say.
“He succeeded, he really succeeded in repairing relations with the West after Khashoggi,” said Ali Adubisi, the Berlin-based director of the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights. “These Western leaders are not being responsible about human rights. They have their own priorities. And the message for civil society? Don’t trust those leaders.”
Apart from oil, Saudi Arabia is also a major arms buyer and a potential source of multibillion- dollar construction contracts to realize Salman’s “Vision 2030” for his country’s development.
This week, social media was abuzz with outlandish images of a planned 106-mile mirrored building in the Saudi desert, part of the crown prince’s blueprint for a futuristic new city called “Neom.”
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With Salman also enjoying positive headlines about his outlandish plans for a futuristic mega-city this week, activists and experts warned that Saudi Arabia’s efforts to mend its global standing were working despite scant evidence of a change in its approach to human rights, fueling accusations of Western hypocrisy and undermining calls for reform in the region.
Who cares? The world doesn't stop doing business as usual because the crown prince allegedly ordered Khashoggi to be chopped up in their consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Also, why is the liberal media shocked that Saudi Arabia remains saddled with a mixed record on human rights? This development isn't shocking since the Saudis have been terrible on these fronts for generations. Earth to liberal America, Saudi Arabia will never become California in any aspect whatsoever. They're not woke politically and never will be. Just accept the reality that they are our best non-democratic partner in the Middle East. It's not the best on the roster, but it's what we've got to work within the region. We're not about to blow all that up over some dead journalist.
Also, Donald Trump kept his name in the news. His 2022 endorsement record is solid, and he's primed to announce his 2024 run. He also knows the media hates his appearance of paling around with autocrats, so it was troll bait to host the LIV event. It was also to give the fledgling new league a pristine and elite course to start their new venture.
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