Little thug who took power through brute force then thought he could bully the world like he bullied people all around him his whole life. Too bad the spot is already taken by the Don.
This is the problem with having a king, all it takes is one moron and you destroy your country.
Anyone could have told you his genius ideas like “turn a city into a thin line across desert/mountains” were the stupidest thing anyone had ever said. But you can’t tell him because he’s the king and he’ll kill you.
I worked on this project for a little under a year and it was fractally stupid. The top-level concepts are stupid, but so are the details. The whole thing has a cyberpunk aesthetic because that’s what MBS likes. The ski resort has a dam that’s made out of failure modes because that was the only way to combine that aesthetic with the requirement that the lake be able to host international rowing events. One day we had to work out how to freeze the lake over because MBS liked a render someone made of people ice skating on the lake. And so on.
That's what "limited government" and "three branches of government" is supposed to be for, in the US.
And it's working... somewhat. Less well than I'd like, and less well than it did in Trump's first term, but he is at least somewhat restrained by the system.
Perhaps he was trying to get line of sight into the desert by building the line...
Fun fact, MBS is a big fan of Age of Empires 2 and plays it in the mornings. Also funny story, I once saw a match being played, around US night time, where one player built a line of houses into the enemy territory so that the opponent was forced to micro their soldiers manually. Think of that what you may.
But he would have been allmost king by now, if his wars would have succeeded. And obviously his wars did not succeeded because he did not get the support a king deserves!
After Venezuela worked out - he was going for Iran, then Cuba, then Greenland, maybe Canada already. If succesful, I doubt there would have been many courts daring to attack him. Power is with those who succeed. He failed, fortunately.
And I hate to use that overused analogy, but in WW2, after the initial success of Hitler with the Blitzkrieg, there was not much criticism of him anymore (unlike popular believe, he was not a absolute Dictator but under serious pressure at various points). That only started again after they began loosing.
Insane how the plans dove straight into being so grand and expensive.
The location itself is kinda decent for development. It could've been pretty feasible if the plan was to pump desalled water up the mountains and let it flow down like rivers through smaller developments, while pumping out water laterally for irrigation.
Could've slowly greened their side of the Red Sea, hooked themselves up with a bridge to Sharm (and onwards to Cairo I believe with Egypt's HSR plans), built a few marinas, resorts, and stuff, and become quite a popular destination for a fraction of the cost.
Didn't they have a whole plan for processing the brine into concrete for development, too?
The plans were kind of nuts. There have been some successful developments in that part of the world, Dubai being the best known. El Gouna is also nice in a more modest way.
It takes work by the citizenry to keep the political class in check, regardless of the configuration. Kings don’t rule in isolation, nor do elected governments. In a lot of countries we’ve abdicated that responsibility, likewise the political class has abdicated its responsibility to its citizens.
Read any government document from almost any department and the language for citizen has become customer. Language matters, I’m not a customer, but no one cares.
> enjoyed the close to unanimous support domestically
That’s what Russian propaganda wants you to believe. And I see no reasons to trust it. Assessing public opinion in an autocracy is from hard to impossible - people afraid to tell what they think and they have good reasons for this.
It's definitely not unanimous support in reality. Maybe majority support but I remember the meetings when Putin launched the thing and most people in attendance looking horrified but scared to say anything.
Keep laundering some of it via the PIF to mobile gaming companies?
Keep getting inundated with Monopoly Go / Scopely ads because McDonald's is funneling money back up the chain for McDonalds Monopoly. It's that time of year again!
Mhm ... The voters... What about the deep pockets ? :
• Donald Trump's Top Individual Donors: Trump's primary financial backers include major multi-millionaire and billionaire donors such as Miriam Adelson ($148 million supporting pro-Trump and Republican efforts), Elon Musk ($260 million total political giving), Timothy Mellon ($172 million), and Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein ($143 million).
• Trump Super PAC Support: Donald Trump's main outside support group, MAGA Inc., held over $304 million, with massive contributions from donors like the Schwarzman family ($5 million to MAGA Inc.) and Greg and Anna Brockman ($25 million to MAGA Inc.).
• AIPAC and Pro-Israel Lobby Role: The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and its affiliated super PAC, the United Democracy Project, operate separately and raise tens of millions. Latest analysis uncovered >$230 MILLION in spending by pro-Israel interest groups benefiting President Donald Trump since 2020. Miriam Adelson's Preserve America PAC is by far the biggest spender, pouring $215 million+ into U.S. presidential elections to help Trump.
He didn’t have any of that in 2016 before the primaries. He was considered a joke until then, except by Robert Mercer maybe. Then slowly after the primaries, the other backers came around, although it was still not evident he had a chance to win.
The greatest achievement of renewable energy will not be averting climate disaster, as people are going to screw up the planet regardless, but rather making retarded arab countries irrelevant
The oil might "just" run out, either way it was obvious to everyone that natural resource-based wealth won't last forever, just like in that Sheikh Rashid quote from around 1988:
"My grandfather rode a camel, my father rode a camel, I ride a Mercedes, my son rides a Land Rover, and my grandson is going to ride a Land Rover…but my great-grandson is going to have to ride a camel again"
They would still have trillions invested across EU and US, if their relevance bothers you then you should direct your anger at the leaders and voters who made them as relevant.
Those investments are paying for the generous welfare states that keep GCC countries populations pacified. End that and you could end up like Egypt or Syria, a population even more prone to radicalization and even streaming towards Europe in migration waves. That is not in anyone's interest.
Personally I feel exactly the same - these peoples simply do not have, on average, the intelligence required to deal with such amounts of wealth and power.
Can you name a single individual who has much power as MBS in Norway? The system prevents that from happening and this has nothing to do with where you come from.
Except “those people” aren’t the ones doing all of this mess. It’s just those very few at the very top. It’s easy to blame entire nations when you don’t look at the historical context and the internal and external forces that came into play to enable someone like MBS to exist. Anyways, all I’m saying is there is more nuance than generalizing.
Where exactly have I mentioned a race? There are lots of Arab countries, and there's a big diversity of races among them. What is the purpose of your comment, exactly?
Little thug who took power through brute force then thought he could bully the world like he bullied people all around him his whole life. Too bad the spot is already taken by the Don.
He get the Darwin award for restarting the current conflict in Yemen
This is the problem with having a king, all it takes is one moron and you destroy your country.
Anyone could have told you his genius ideas like “turn a city into a thin line across desert/mountains” were the stupidest thing anyone had ever said. But you can’t tell him because he’s the king and he’ll kill you.
I worked on this project for a little under a year and it was fractally stupid. The top-level concepts are stupid, but so are the details. The whole thing has a cyberpunk aesthetic because that’s what MBS likes. The ski resort has a dam that’s made out of failure modes because that was the only way to combine that aesthetic with the requirement that the lake be able to host international rowing events. One day we had to work out how to freeze the lake over because MBS liked a render someone made of people ice skating on the lake. And so on.
The stupidity of the whole project is fascinating. Do you have any other wild examples?
If you haven't seen it Boyle's thing is entertaining https://youtu.be/Ak4on5uTaTg
> This is the problem with having a king, all it takes is one moron and you destroy your country.
Can happen in democracies just as much.
Not "just as much".
The more functional the democracy, the less "just as much".
Yes, but a democracy isn't stuck with the moron until he dies.
That's what snap elections are for, except in the US.
That's what "limited government" and "three branches of government" is supposed to be for, in the US.
And it's working... somewhat. Less well than I'd like, and less well than it did in Trump's first term, but he is at least somewhat restrained by the system.
I'm hoping something kicks in after the midterms.
Less so functional ones.
It’s functional until it isn’t.
Perhaps he was trying to get line of sight into the desert by building the line...
Fun fact, MBS is a big fan of Age of Empires 2 and plays it in the mornings. Also funny story, I once saw a match being played, around US night time, where one player built a line of houses into the enemy territory so that the opponent was forced to micro their soldiers manually. Think of that what you may.
A king? My man, you can just get a President who does the same thing.
But he would have been allmost king by now, if his wars would have succeeded. And obviously his wars did not succeeded because he did not get the support a king deserves!
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Trump_-_...
No, not if his wars had succeeded. If the courts had rolled over, or if Pence had on January 6.
After Venezuela worked out - he was going for Iran, then Cuba, then Greenland, maybe Canada already. If succesful, I doubt there would have been many courts daring to attack him. Power is with those who succeed. He failed, fortunately.
And I hate to use that overused analogy, but in WW2, after the initial success of Hitler with the Blitzkrieg, there was not much criticism of him anymore (unlike popular believe, he was not a absolute Dictator but under serious pressure at various points). That only started again after they began loosing.
the king has no clothes and stuff, yeah...
Insane how the plans dove straight into being so grand and expensive.
The location itself is kinda decent for development. It could've been pretty feasible if the plan was to pump desalled water up the mountains and let it flow down like rivers through smaller developments, while pumping out water laterally for irrigation.
Could've slowly greened their side of the Red Sea, hooked themselves up with a bridge to Sharm (and onwards to Cairo I believe with Egypt's HSR plans), built a few marinas, resorts, and stuff, and become quite a popular destination for a fraction of the cost.
Didn't they have a whole plan for processing the brine into concrete for development, too?
The plans were kind of nuts. There have been some successful developments in that part of the world, Dubai being the best known. El Gouna is also nice in a more modest way.
Trump is not a king and is destroying the country. Charles is a king and is doing a great job.
Yeah king is the wrong word really. Having an unaccountable autocrat is really the problem.
Yep, same for a president, who we all know started a 10× worse version of Yemen war.
Someone called Putin started 100× worse war and enjoyed the close to unanimous support domestically.
Someone committed genocide in Palestine who cannot not be voted down.
I think I really don't see any better political systems.
It takes work by the citizenry to keep the political class in check, regardless of the configuration. Kings don’t rule in isolation, nor do elected governments. In a lot of countries we’ve abdicated that responsibility, likewise the political class has abdicated its responsibility to its citizens.
Read any government document from almost any department and the language for citizen has become customer. Language matters, I’m not a customer, but no one cares.
> enjoyed the close to unanimous support domestically
That’s what Russian propaganda wants you to believe. And I see no reasons to trust it. Assessing public opinion in an autocracy is from hard to impossible - people afraid to tell what they think and they have good reasons for this.
It's definitely not unanimous support in reality. Maybe majority support but I remember the meetings when Putin launched the thing and most people in attendance looking horrified but scared to say anything.
> stupidest thing anyone had ever said. But you can’t tell him because he’s the king and he’ll kill you.
"Let's exit one of the largest and most powerful economic and diplomatic unions"
"Let's give away control over our country to real estate agents"
There have been strong stupidest vibes all over in the recent years.
“All that money and no idea what to do with it.”
Keep laundering some of it via the PIF to mobile gaming companies?
Keep getting inundated with Monopoly Go / Scopely ads because McDonald's is funneling money back up the chain for McDonalds Monopoly. It's that time of year again!
[flagged]
I wasn't sure what to expect but that YouTube link was delightful and has made my day, so thanks.
You are very welcome :)
I am always happy to spread the comedic brilliance of Trevor Moore R.I.P.
Here is another history lesson i like : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-mEDPlJHEM
No, I'm not going to watch a video to figure out what your point is. Either state it, or don't, but stop vagueposting.
>This whole thing culminated when MBS suddenly packed his family in that hotel about 15 years ago...
Nov 2017, 9 years ago.
>You guys have to understand that the people that put people like Trump in power are also the same ones that pull the strings in the middle east...
The average racist/sexist American voter? No one “put” Trump in power except voters, he was the outside candidate that unexpectedly won.
Mhm ... The voters... What about the deep pockets ? :
• Donald Trump's Top Individual Donors: Trump's primary financial backers include major multi-millionaire and billionaire donors such as Miriam Adelson ($148 million supporting pro-Trump and Republican efforts), Elon Musk ($260 million total political giving), Timothy Mellon ($172 million), and Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein ($143 million).
• Trump Super PAC Support: Donald Trump's main outside support group, MAGA Inc., held over $304 million, with massive contributions from donors like the Schwarzman family ($5 million to MAGA Inc.) and Greg and Anna Brockman ($25 million to MAGA Inc.).
• AIPAC and Pro-Israel Lobby Role: The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and its affiliated super PAC, the United Democracy Project, operate separately and raise tens of millions. Latest analysis uncovered >$230 MILLION in spending by pro-Israel interest groups benefiting President Donald Trump since 2020. Miriam Adelson's Preserve America PAC is by far the biggest spender, pouring $215 million+ into U.S. presidential elections to help Trump.
He didn’t have any of that in 2016 before the primaries. He was considered a joke until then, except by Robert Mercer maybe. Then slowly after the primaries, the other backers came around, although it was still not evident he had a chance to win.
I consider Paywalled an ad, flagged.
The greatest achievement of renewable energy will not be averting climate disaster, as people are going to screw up the planet regardless, but rather making retarded arab countries irrelevant
The oil might "just" run out, either way it was obvious to everyone that natural resource-based wealth won't last forever, just like in that Sheikh Rashid quote from around 1988: "My grandfather rode a camel, my father rode a camel, I ride a Mercedes, my son rides a Land Rover, and my grandson is going to ride a Land Rover…but my great-grandson is going to have to ride a camel again"
They would still have trillions invested across EU and US, if their relevance bothers you then you should direct your anger at the leaders and voters who made them as relevant.
These investments can be easily taxed or regulated so they don't generate any real profit once the oil countries are irrelevant.
Those investments are paying for the generous welfare states that keep GCC countries populations pacified. End that and you could end up like Egypt or Syria, a population even more prone to radicalization and even streaming towards Europe in migration waves. That is not in anyone's interest.
The immigrants were let in Europe because politicians wanted to let them in.
Personally I feel exactly the same - these peoples simply do not have, on average, the intelligence required to deal with such amounts of wealth and power.
Humans in general don't have such an intelligence. Look no further than the US.
Norway has done it.
Can you name a single individual who has much power as MBS in Norway? The system prevents that from happening and this has nothing to do with where you come from.
The system was put in place by Norwegians, so yes, it has everything to do with that.
Maybe the misunderstanding is about my first message - when I said “these peoples” I meant Arab countries, not this Salman whatever guy.
Except “those people” aren’t the ones doing all of this mess. It’s just those very few at the very top. It’s easy to blame entire nations when you don’t look at the historical context and the internal and external forces that came into play to enable someone like MBS to exist. Anyways, all I’m saying is there is more nuance than generalizing.
That sounds very much like racism.
Where exactly have I mentioned a race? There are lots of Arab countries, and there's a big diversity of races among them. What is the purpose of your comment, exactly?