Western walkout of Saudi 'Davos in the Desert' conference over Jamal Khashoggi undermines kingdom's

[riversedge]

I read yesterday that Trumps Treasury-Mnuchin, will attend.




Business
Western walkout of Saudi ‘Davos in the Desert’ conference over Jamal Khashoggi undermines kingdom’s modernization plans


Western walkout of Saudi ‘Davos in the Desert’ conference over Jamal Khashoggi undermines kingdom’s modernization plans

Sedat Suna/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock An official looks out from the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. (Sedat Suna/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
By Jeanne Whalen and
Justin Wm. Moyer
October 12

The growing number of Western companies distancing themselves from Saudi Arabia over the alleged killing of dissident Jamal Khashoggi is undermining the kingdom’s push to diversify its economy beyond oil and provide more opportunities for its young and often restive population.

By Friday afternoon, nearly a dozen tech, media and entertainment companies had backed out of a Saudi investment conference to be held this month, as dismay over Saudi agents’ alleged murder of Khashoggi spread to companies that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has tried to woo.

One firm that was among the recipients of the $27 million the kingdom spent on U.S. lobbying last year announced that it would stop its representation. “We are terminating our relationship,” said Richard Mintz, managing director of the Harbor Group.

[Khashoggi mystery fixes spotlight on Saudi official described as crown prince’s strategist, enforcer]

The companies and executives backing away from the kingdom, including Uber Technologies, Viacom and at least two prominent tech investors, are the very ones the crown prince has sought to cultivate over the past year as the kingdom attempts to modernize its economy and ensure jobs for its young population. More than 60 percent of Saudis are under age 30........................................................................

[dalton99a]

1. What happened after last year's conference:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/13/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-conference-crown-prince-mohammed.html

A few days after the foreigners checked out of the Ritz-Carlton, Crown Prince Mohammed converted it into a high-end prison for hundreds of wealthy Saudis. For weeks, guards kept them locked up — roughing up some — until they handed over billions of dollars in what the prince insisted were ill-gotten gains.

Mohammed bin Salman is a murderous savage:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/the-dashing-prince-with-a-dark-and-bullying-side/2018/10/13/61f64ea0-ce41-11e8-a360-85875bac0b1f_story.html

If Khashoggi’s disappearance shocked Westerners, they were simply not paying close attention to events in the kingdom, and the lengths to which the crown prince has been willing to go to quash dissent, say seasoned Saudi human rights advocates.

In an initial wave of executions after Mohammed’s abrupt installation as the immediate heir to his father, King Salman, followed by waves of arrests over the past year, he has been ruthless in asserting power. Saudi authorities have spread fear by detaining billionaires and grass-roots activists alike, showing that no one is untouchable. And they have worked to ensure that the arrests are hardly discussed, threatening the relatives of those arrested and forcing them to sign pledges of silence, and holding trials in secret, the rights advocates say.

This style of governance has occasionally made for odd spectacle. A few months ago, when a prominent women’s rights advocate was arrested at her home, the authorities surrounded it with so many klieg lights and armed men that residents thought it was a film shoot, according to Yahya Assiri, a London-based Saudi human rights activist. When people wandered out to see what was happening, they were rounded up and told never to speak of what they had seen, he said. ....

In November, Mohammed ordered the arrest of hundreds of members of the royal family and the business elite, imprisoning them in the opulent Ritz-Carlton hotel. Many would later allege physical abuse and the death of at least one person under torture. The palace said they were corrupt, and most were eventually released after giving up substantial portions of their fortunes.

Last spring, as the world waited for Saudi women to climb into their cars as drivers, prominent women who for years had campaigned for the right to drive were quietly arrested and imprisoned.

[Me.]

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