Tag Archives: KSA

October 16, 2025 · 12:39

Washing sports?

It is not the setting we start with, or ever if it comes to me. Almost a decade ago there was no setting where Saudi Arabia would be connected with football. Not that I care (I am not a football fan), but I did grow up in the Netherlands where the bulk of the population (around 99%) is madly passionate about football. And in the 70’s there was nothing but the national football setting (KNVB) and as we grew older (a pesky side effect of time) we saw that there was a football setting that was international. And until 2010 nearly no one had heard of Saudi Football. So when I saw last night Arab News giving me ‘Saudi Arabia book place at 2026 World Cup finals after hard-fought draw with Iraq’ the setting changed. Yes I had heard tot the KSA was into football and FIFA appointed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to host the 2034 world cup event. I like the idea because sports gets people together and that is never a bad thing. In addition, the more play football the more tings we all get to have in common with one another (yes, it is a naive view) but it is the one I sport (to give it a name). So when I saw that Saudi Arabia made it to the finals of 2026 I was pleased to say the least. And with the starting paragraph of “Saudi Arabia secured a place at the 2026 World Cup on Tuesday with a goalless draw against Iraq in Jeddah in the fourth round of the Asian qualifiers. The hard-fought point was enough to give the Green Falcons top spot in Group B and guarantee their seventh appearance at the finals”, we see the truth of those calling events sport washing. Saudi Arabia has fought and earned its place at the World Cup, even if some do not agree, they made it and whilst there is a definite setting of ‘they’ll never make it’ the truth of the matter is that 20 years ago we would not have considered Saud Arabia to get anywhere near the World Cup and see where that thought has gotten us. They are now here and they are massively set to be here for a long time. No sport washing was required.

So congratulations to the Green Falcons (aka Al-Suqour Al-Khodhur) and show the other football nations what is possible in 2026.

And as that news passes us by, Canada also had news. CBC (at https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/kelowna-aiport-9.6938860) where we see ‘Screens and PA system at 2 B.C. airports hacked with pro-Hamas, anti-Trump messages: officials’ with the sub text “Kelowna International Airport and Victoria International Airport confirmed the incidents in emailed statements. Transport Canada said it was aware of those hacks, along with another incident at Windsor International Airport.” Is anyone still doubting my view on the essential need to eradicate Hamas? The setting might not be entirely accurate as we get that it comes with anti-trump messages but these do not need to be mutually exclusive. The larger setting that some go for the ‘it is only Kelowna’ might need to reassess their settings because the airport was hacked into and that needs a massive rectification. There is no ‘freedom of speech’, this is a direct pro-terrorist setting and certain people (like Daniel Rogers, CSIS) to hunt down and prosecute (a 9mm prosecution) of mentioned terrorist.  There is only so much we can stomach and this setting is not about anything else than making Canada a terrorist target and there comes a time when we all need to stand up and say “You went too far here”, OK, I grant you that the same thing can be said about my resolution. Yet I remain in the mindset that too many people think that these pro-Hamas people just go away, they do not and they are ready to resolve anything that a speculative Iran makes happen. I personally still see Iran as the fingers wielding the Hamas puppet and when they get out of their territory into Commonwealth borders. The time to be nice ends. This is not speech, this is overlapping terrorism and whatever person responsible needs to be dealt with, rather harshly I say. 

So why the two messages?
I personally ally think that Hamas and their sympathizers will come to any sport event to be ‘heard’ through terrorism and whatever happened now will most likely happen in 2026 at the FIFA world cup at that point hosted by North America, Mexico and Canada and there is no way that players like Hamas will not try to exploit this and with the pro-Hamas in play all over Europe and the Commonwealth a clear path needs to be created to deal with the aforementioned terrorists.

America and Mexico can clean their own backyard, but Canada needs to do something and I think it is imperative that the Commonwealth steps in, not because they cannot, but because we have to stand by the Canadian intelligence players. Personally I think that Vancouver will be the larger target as it is close to Seattle, but that does not mean that Toronto is in the clear and the CSIS will need all hands to keep a tab on these two places and likely they will, but that means that these terrorists who hit Kelowna International Airport and Victoria International Airport might have been setting a dry run and to do this at this stage might make sense to some, but it also means that they have ways into the systems and that might spell trouble next year. This is the setting that some call the “smelling a red herring”, which is not my cuppa tea, but people (like Daniel Rogers) will likely know what to do and perhaps these settings are already made. Lets not forget that the CSIS has 48 hours and they tend to get really active in less then 30 minutes, so whatever I think has already been done by those inside that circle.

So whilst some are ‘nervous’, I know that the people at CSIS, ASIS and MI6 would have had things under control and they were setting whatever was needed already yesterday (and as expected the media has nothing) which is fine and expected. Still there is a setting that is within me and not within certain others. There is a fine line between ‘freedom of speech’ and ‘endangering others’ that is no longer a setting of debate, when you do the first you get to speak, in the second setting the 9mm prosecution comes your way. It is that simple and I get it that some will not herald this thought with lots of smiles, but I think that the last 740 days of Hamas are illustrative enough. If you have doubts call Mossad (at +972-2-6775671) we have seen 740 days of evidence and it is up to Canada to stop them now, but I do agree we all (the Commonwealth) need to step up to this task. And I personally feel certain that a soft touch is no longer needed. They have had enough warnings and even now they haven’t handed over the hostages. We are not ‘impressed’ with “Hamas and other Palestinian factions may not be able to locate all the remains within the given timeframe”, if you think that Hamas did not have a setting on ALL their hostages, you are largely delusional. It is just another cog of the game they are playing and now it is up to the Commonwealth to show them what we do with terrorists, because next year the entire world will be watching and it will be (speculatively through third players parties) that it is the time for Hamas to shine and I say it will be somewhere else, not now, nor ever in our Commonwealth. 

Have a great day, it is Time for lunch for me (that meal between breakfast and dinner).

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June 30, 2025 · 10:08

The reality of the matter

That is at times a setting we hope to see, but it is only possible if you take the western media out of the picture. I have ‘debated’ this setting a few times earlier and as we discontinue considering the western media as a source we get a very different picture. To ‘support’ my view I had the microphone (or better stated the feather and ink jar, or optionally the keyboard) to AlJazeera who (at https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/11/fact-checking-trumps-claim-of-securing-10-trillion-in-investments-for-us) gives us ‘Fact-checking Trump’s claim of securing $10 trillion in investments for US’ there we see “The White House reports $5.1 trillion in promised investments, with $4.3 trillion newly pledged. But experts say $2.1 trillion may not fully happen.” This setting alone gives us a few ‘issues’. Is the 4.3 trillion part of the 5.1 trillion? But AlJazeera was on the ball, the give us “We tallied the White House’s public lists of investments; they amount to $2.1 trillion in corporate investments, or at most $5.1 trillion when including promised investments from other countries. Experts cautioned that the promised corporate investments are not guaranteed to materialise in full, or during Trump’s presidency, and some of them would have occurred regardless of who was president.” I am willing to ‘ignore’ the part the “some of them would have occurred regardless of who was president” and there is the setting of that sci-fi TV series that the world is investing 500B in called Stargate. But the larger setting is that either 50%, or optionally 41% may not happen, as such we wonder how long does America really have? It is an open question because I actually do not know. The hammering of tourism and small business will have an impact and it goes massively beyond the $21 billion of direct losses that is predicted.

So why bring this up?
Now we get to the real deal, with is given to us by the Arab News (at https://www.arabnews.com/node/2606252/business-economy) where we see ‘Saudi FDI net inflows jump 44% in Q1 to $5.9bn’ as we consider that we are given that “foreign direct investment in the first quarter of 2025, up 44 percent year on year, driven by rising inflows and sharply lower capital outflows”, as such I wonder if the Saudi government might pull investments out of America (a massive speculation on my side) and as I would see it, based on fictive claims by the American administration. And in this I see both the lessened and diminished losses that America will have to fess up to as well as positive investments that are unlikely to come through. It is like these salespeople who made claims in the 90’s that their sales pipeline was almost ‘full’ and that pipeline was riddles with people who were unable to make up their minds, people who are awaiting confirmations of new releases and that kind of ‘issues’. So that ‘full pipeline’ was not considering close to 50% that seemed to be the issues that customers were unable to find peace with. And investors are customers. The sort to not take kindly to corporations (and administrations) not delivering on their promises. That is the setting we might not seem to get a clear view on. All this is happening whist the Guardian gives us “Annualized inflation hit 2.4% in May, up from 2.3% in April, as Trump pushes ahead with controversial trade plans”, so whilst inflation is bringing down the house (as the expression goes) we see the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia getting a 44% boost of FDI in Quarter 1 2025. As such I wonder how many of the not coming through investors in America have decided to alter course and invest in Saudi Arabia. I do not pretend to know, because I do not. Yet the setting that somehow the people have ‘found’ $5.9 billion. It makes muck more logical sense that these so called investors have figured out that Saudi Arabia is a much safer fertile ground for their money trees than America is. That and the report that the UAE has reported that over 9,800 high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) are moving to the UAE. They both make sense and the setting that you do not put all your eggs in one basket (a rule I tend to live by) is speculatively in place. As such these people move to the UAE but put 40% in Saudi Arabia and 40% in the UAE. They are the places where money trees have a decent chance of prospering. That is what the cold data seems to imply to me. So feel free to call my insight wrong, but I feel I have to stand with that. And when you consider the impact that ADNOC has on the UAE and Aramco has on the KSA, these thoughts are likely to be a lot more correct that a journalist claiming that America is sound and safe. The data from the last 8 weeks give me a very different picture and I wrote about it. 

Now that the gloves seemingly come off in the caper between America and Canada seemingly proves me right. In one corner America has an administration that is in conflict with its own Pentagon and a few other matters (like a boasting president) and in the other corner we see Canada with PM Mark Carney who was the former Governor of the British Bank with more degrees than any thermometer has, or as I used to say ‘Marky Mark of the British Bank’, we all assign nick names for officials. My mother told me to not use bad language as such the nick name for a particular president is avoided.

The reality of the matter is that the ‘good’ setting cannot exist when we see the investment spree into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and personally I think that the investment in the KSA is the true one and both cannot exist. As such America is in a shape that is much worse than anyone is considering. I need to keep my eyes on this as I will have to adjust my views if other intelligence reaches me and I believe I need to keep you all updated on this. That is beside the point of me still trying to get the Kingdom Holding Company to buy one of my IP’s, we all have our own agenda’s and I am no different. We all have our farming plans and I am getting close to ‘mandatory’ retirement and it is a really sweet dream to retire to Yas Island enjoying 4 themes parks and a rather large mall to live out my days is relative luxury (luxury is a inherent satisfaction stage) and as there are 9800 millionaires coming to that nation there is a drive to beat them to it (preferably with a nice stack of coins).

So make of this all what you will, but two nations are showing that they have the results that matter, so where does that leave the people who hide behind the seemingly promise that America is doing fine? As such I have a lot more faith in Canada coming through this intact. 

It is the reality of the matter that is important and those stating that the reality of the matter will be that I am absolutely bug nuts is a fair call. Time will prove my views correctly. It is the benefit of a blog, it tends to be time stamped. 

Have a great day (even if it is Monday), except Canada. It is still Sunday there.

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June 2, 2025 · 16:59

The obvious under attack

I have my own views on settings. In the first I am certain that Hamas needs to be eradicated. It is not for Israel, although they benefit massively. It is the fact that Hamas is the nameless animal that Iran uses to inflict pressured on parts of The Arabian peninsula that do not go their way. And I see that certain Hamas leaders are getting funds from other parties as well. In short, they will attack Saudi Arabia and the UAE at some point as they gain more and more certainty in the world. This does not sit well with Iran. I voiced their eradication as they are likely have ‘tools’ to influence the structural integrity of several parts of NEOM. It won’t be big, just a concrete ‘anomaly’ but one that will cost the KSA millions to fix and it will make them look bad. That is my personal believe and it might or might not happen. But as I see it, under Qasem Soleimani it would have definitely happened. Yet now, Israel is shooting themselves in the foot by setting the premise (according to Al Jazeera, at https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/1/saudi-arabia-calls-israel-barring-arab-ministers-west-bank-trip-extremism) ‘Saudi Arabia calls Israel barring Arab ministers West Bank trip ‘extremism’’ It leaves me with several questions. So according to the byline we are given “Foreign ministers from Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE had planned the visit to discuss Palestinian statehood and end to war on Gaza.” As we take a look at the second article giving us (at https://arab.news/bm5bm) ‘Arab ministers denounce Israeli ‘arrogance’ over blocking West Bank visit’ where we are given “Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said the Israeli government’s refusal to allow Arab ministers to the occupied West Bank showed its “extremism and rejection of peace.” His statements came during a joint press conference with counterparts from Jordan, Egypt, and Bahrain in Amman.” The question I have is why Israel is involved, they could enter the West Bank from Jordan. The ‘legalized’ setting is that “As of June 2024, 146 (75.6%) of the 193 member states of the United Nations have recognised the State of Palestine within the Palestinian territories, which are recognized by Israel to constitute a single territorial unit, and of which the West Bank is the core of the would-be state.” I actually get that Israel has to be involved, but this setting shows that there is a much larger stage where Israel is getting kicked around and the has to stop and Hamas made this impossible with their hostage situation. Even as they should not be part of this, the shouts of ‘Palestine should be free’ by radicals who have no idea what is happening and this is where they can rely on a million plus anti-Semites, and as their troops are dwindling, they use whatever they can. As such I see that there are issues, but Israels setting to block this visit isn’t helping anyone, not even the state of Israel (as I personally see it). 

Yet the larger setting was opened in 2002 where we were given “However, the “Road Map” states that in the first phase, Palestinians must end all attacks on Israel, whereas Israel must dismantle all outposts.” I personally see that the attacks need to end is essential, the dismantling of the outposts is not. I get that Israel needs to keep its outposts (on Israeli soil), so why is this so hard? They should have seen that 23 years could have been much more constructive if these two parts were kept in the first place. As I see it, in the last 20 years several Americans had ‘their’ view on matters, solving nothing. So why not give this Arabian party of ministers a try in getting things resolved? If Hamas strikes now, they will be building their own coffin and their end is pretty much assured. The second setting is that there are two areas, Area A and B. They are themselves divided among 227 separate areas (199 of which are smaller than 2 km2), this is almost insane. At some point someone needs to back off (implying that this is Israel). These 199 areas makes for an impossible setting and simplifying that might be a first step in resolving issues. So when we see that 11 governorates used as administrative divisions by the Palestinian National Authority, Israel, and the IDF and named after major cities. This setting is shouting ‘disaster is imminent’ and if I get called that I am dead wrong. I will agree, I know too little of this setting to call this, but at times a fresh set of eyes are needed (I am not claiming that I am that view), but I am willing to bet that Egypt (Badr Abdelatty), Jordan (Ayman Safadi), Qatar (Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani), Saudi Arabia (Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud), and the UAE (Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed), they might see solutions that break through some concepts and if it gives the area peace, why block it? 

I personally think that Israel made a bad call in this instance, but then, what do I know?

Have a great Monday, time for me to hit the pasta preparation shelf.

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May 30, 2025 · 15:34

The size of that

Something no woman has ever sad to me, but that is for another day. You see, the story (at https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/saudi-arabias-ai-co-humain-looking-for-us-data-center-equity-partner-targets-66gw-by-2034-with-subsidized-electricity/) In this DCD ( Data Center Dynamics) gives us ‘Saudi Arabia’s AI co. Humain looking for US data center equity partner, targets 6.6GW by 2034 with subsidized electricity’ and they throw numbers at us. First there is the money “Plans $10bn venture fund to invest in AI companies”, which seems fair enough. But after that we get “The company said that it would buy 18,000 Nvidia GB300 chips with “several hundred thousand” more on the way, that it was partnering with AWS for a $5bn ‘AI Zone,’ signed a deal with AMD for 500MW of compute, and deployed Groq chips for inference.” I reckon that will split and split again, the shares of Nvidia. Then we get the $5 billion AI zone and then the AMD deal for 500MW of compute and deployed Groq chips for a conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning. Yes, that is quite the mouthful. After that we get a pause for the “How much of Humain’s data center focus will be on Saudi-based facilities is unclear – its AMD deal mentions sites in the US.” As such, we need to see what this is all about and I am hesitant to mention conclusions for a field that I am not aware of. Yet, the nagging feeling is in the back of my mind and it is jostling in an annoying way. You see, lets employ somewhat incorrect math (I know it is not a correct way). Consider 18,000 computers draining the energy net of 500 watt per system per second. That amounts to 9,000 GW energy (speculatively), and that is just the starting 18,000. As such the setting will be several times the amount needed for fueling these AI centers. Now, I know my calculations are widely of and we are given “At first, it plans to build a 50MW data center with 18,000 Nvidia GPUs for next year, increasing to 500MW in phases. It also has 2.3 square miles of land in the Eastern Province, which could host ten 200MW data centers.” I am not attacking this, but when we take into consideration that amount of energy requirements for processors, storage, cooling and maintaining the workflow my head comes up short (it usually does) and the immediate thought is where is this power coming from? As I see it, you will need a decently build Nuclear reactor and that reactor needs to be started in about 8 hours for that timeline to be met. Feel free to doubt me, I already am. Yet the needed energy to fuel a 66GW Data centre of any kind needs massive power support. And the need for Huawei to spice up the data cables somewhat. As I roughly see it, a center like that needs to plough through all the spam internet it gets on a near 10 seconds setting. That is all the spam it can muster in a year per minute (totally inaccurate, but you get the point). The setting that the world isn’t ready for this and it is given to us all in a mere paragraph. 

Now, I do not doubt the intent of the setting and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is really sincere to get to the ‘AI field’ as it is set, but at present the western setting is like what builder thought it would be and overreached (as I see it) and fraudulently set the stations of what they believed AI was and blew away a billion dollars in no time at all (and dragged Microsoft along with it) as they backed this venture. This gives me donut (which I already had) on the AI field as the AI field is more robust as I saw it (leaning on the learnings of Alan Turing) and it is a lot more robust then DML (Deeper Machine Learning) and LLM (Large Language Models), it really is. And for that I fear for the salespeople who tried to sell this concept, because when they say “Alas, it didn’t work. We tried, but we aren’t ready yet”, will be met with some swift justice in the halls of Saudi Arabia. Heads will roll intuit instance and they had that coming as I foresaw this a while before 2034. (It is 2025 now, and I am already on that page). 

Merely two years ago MIT Management gave us ‘Why neural net pioneer Geoffrey Hinton is sounding the alarm on AI’ and there we get the thing I have warned about for years “In a widely discussed interview with The New York Times, Hinton said generative intelligence could spread misinformation and, eventually, threaten humanity.” I saw this coming a mile away (in 2020, I think) You see, these salespeople are so driven to their revenue slot that they forget about Data verification and data centers require and ACTUAL AI to drag trough the data verifying it all. This isn’t some ‘futuristic’ setting of what might be, it is a certainty that non-verified data breeds inaccuracies and we will get inaccuracy on inaccuracy making things go from bad to worse. So what does that look on a 66GW system? Well, for that we merely need to look back to the 80’s when the term GIGO was invented. It is a mere setting of ‘Garbage In, Garbage Out’ no hidden snags, no hidden loopholes. A simple setting that selling garbage as data leaves is with garbage, nothing more. As such as I saw it, I looked at the article and the throwing of large numbers and people thought “Oh yes, there is a job in there for me too” and I merely thought, what will fuel this? And band that, who can manage the see-through of the data and the verification process, because with those systems in place a simple act of sabotage by adding a random data set to the chain will have irreparable consequences in that data result. 

So, as the DCD set that, they pretty much end the setting with “By 2030, the company hopes to process seven percent of the globe’s training and inference workloads. For the facilities deployed in the kingdom, Riyadh will subsidize electricity prices.” And in this my thoughts are Where is that energy coming from?” A simple setting which comes with (a largely speculative setting) that such a reactor needs to be a Generation IV reactor, which doesn’t exist yet. And in this the World Nuclear Association in 2015 suggested that some might enter commercial operation before 2030 (exact date unknown), yet some years ago we were given that the active member era were “Australia, Canada, China, the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), France, Japan, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States” there is no mention of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and I reckon they would be presenting all kinds of voices against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (as well as the UAE) being the first to have one of those. It is my merely speculative nature to voice this. I am not saying that the Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) is a passively safe generation III+ reactor could not do this, but the largest one is being build by Hitachi (a mere 4500MW) and it is not build yet. The NRC granted design approval in September 2014, and it is currently not build yet. That path started in 2011. It is 2025 now, so how long until the KSA gets its reactor? And perhaps that is not needed for my thoughts, but we see a lot of throwing of numbers, yet the DCD kept us completely in the dark on the power requirements. And as I see it the line “Riyadh will subsidize electricity prices” does not hold water as the required energy settings are not given to us (perhaps not so sexy and it does make for a lousy telethon) 

So I am personally left with questions. How about you? Have a great day and drink some irradiated tea. Makes you glow in the dark, which is good for visibility on the road and sequential traffic safety.

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October 4, 2024 · 21:11

Accepted doubt

This is on my, or better stated my view on matters. In this case it is the Reuters article ‘Exclusive:  Kushner has discussed U.S.-Saudi diplomacy with Saudi crown prince’ (at https://www.reuters.com/world/kushner-has-discussed-us-saudi-diplomacy-with-saudi-crown-prince-2024-10-04/) which was released less than 30 minutes ago. I have had serious doubt on the media on a near global stage and at this moment Reuters has gained several points towards doubt. Yet, in this case I am willing to put doubt on my ability to see things clearly. 

So, lets take a look.

“The news that Kushner and Saudi Arabia’s de-facto leader discussed a peace accord”, here we see the statement “de-facto leader”, we know that Saudi Arabia still has a king, but what stops Reuters to state “The news that Kushner and Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud discussed a peace accord”, both are in principle correct. Yet the Reuters statement comes across as Saudi bashing. ‘To put a person in its place’ might be the interpretation as many would see it, especially in the Middle East. Then we get “renew questions about whether Kushner’s financial ties with Riyadh could influence U.S. policy under his father-in-law”, so what is the issue here? It is a serious question because the article does not give us a complete report on what those ties are, we get a link to the Hill, there we see ““crossed the line of ethics” by accepting a $2 billion investment from the Saudi government in his private investment firm six months after he left the White House” my question in this is were laws broken? You see, the investment was done AFTER he left the White House. So were laws broken, or were they not. 

Then we get “To encourage Saudi Arabia to recognise Israel, the Biden administration has offered Riyadh security guarantees, assistance with a civilian nuclear program and a renewed push for a Palestinian state. The deal could reshape the Middle East by uniting two long-time foes and binding the world’s biggest oil exporter to Washington at a time when China is making inroads in the region” How come that China is diminished with “when China is making inroads in the region” and what is this about “assistance with a civilian nuclear program”. My issue is that China has been making inroads for the better part of two years. As such making inroads, comes across as a joke, massively inaccurate. So why was the civilian nuclear program added? Could be true, could be anything. But the media at present has a massive credibility issue and whilst space on a webpage is nearly free, Reuters is a little stingy on using it.

Last we get to “The Saudi relationship with Trump was notably close. Trump’s first foreign trip as president in 2017 was to Riyadh, accompanied by Kushner. After Saudi expatriate opposition journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Trump stood by the crown prince in spite of a U.S. intelligence assessment that he had authorised the killing. MbS denied involvement.” Is filled with inaccuracies. No clear evidence has been produced that Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Turkey, there was an assumption and the setting that “U.S. intelligence assessment that he had authorised the killing” is even more inaccurate. The document A/HRC/41/CRP.1 which was given to the world by the Human Rights Council does not give us that either. In that report U.S. Intelligence is mentioned twice. In one case we are given “The Directive states that if a U.S. intelligence agency “acquires credible and specific information indicating an impending threat of intentional killing, serious bodily injury, or kidnapping,” that agency has a duty to warn the intended victim.” No mention of authorisation or anything regarding an order by Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. I am adding that document at the bottom. As such I have issues with the Reuters article. 

There is more but read the article yourself. The article hands us a pice of evidence that Reuters is losing credibility. 

I am not a Trump fan, but at present there is a larger stage and the Biden administration of fumbling the ball, and as issues go at present, China will be a large bigger inroad in the Middle East (Saud Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) in 2025 and I have to wonder how much inroad they will make in Egypt in 2025.

But I hope that the message comes across. And in the second stage, what laws did Kushner break? Because in the end that is what matters. 

Have a great day

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September 29, 2024 · 22:23

The first stage in a setting

This is the first of two, the second is of a much lighter sense, as such I am leaving this for desert. The first one (this one) is heavy and will offend a whole lot of people. I have stated this opinion before, but that stage got back in my mind after I saw this article (at https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/saudi-crown-prince-personally-doesnt-care-palestine-issue) where we are given ‘Saudi crown prince said he personally ‘doesn’t care’ about Palestinian issue’, it sounds nice. We are then given “Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that he does not personally care about what he referred to as the “Palestinian issue”, according to a report in The Atlantic.” I do Care and as the foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia (Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud) tells us “Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat on Thursday announced the launch of a new initiative to establish a Palestinian state and garner support for the implementation of a two-state solution after decades of international efforts failed, leading the region to the brink of an all-out war”, which several sources told us including Al-Arabiya (at https://english.alarabiya.net/News/saudi-arabia/2024/09/27/saudi-arabia-announces-new-global-coalition-to-establish-palestinian-state).

My view is that I have nothing against the establishment of Palestine, but it does urgently require the eradication of Hamas. Hamas is a hate only party and sooner or later they will abide by the ‘requests’ of Iran and hit Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Iran wants to be at the head of the table, or they will ensure that no one will sit there and destabilisation continues. That time has passed and Iran still depends on Houthi and Hamas to bring their point across in the most violent way possible. Now that Hezbollah has been carved into pieces by Israel, Houthi terrorists will think twice on continuing on a path where they ‘assist’ Iran in any way possible. And sooner or later (probably sooner) Iran will find a way for Palestinians or Yemeni’s to find a low paying jobs just to throw wherever they are (in the KSA or UAE) to foul things up. In simple ways that will demand long term repairs or even reconstructing parts that were already done and soon (either Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates) will through ‘anonymous’ sources to get a larger seat for Iran at the table. This is not speculation, it is presumption based on the actions of Iran over the last 20 years. And as such The eradication of Hamas is a given need. When they fall away Iran has merely Yemen to fall back onto and that stops Iran (for now) in its tracks. As Yemen (read Houthi terrorists) sees what damage Israel did to Hezbollah and Hamas next, they will choose a non-violent path, especially when Iran stops taking their calls. 

I believe that there are options especially as Iran loses the two terrorist allies they have. I don’t think it will be the end of it, but I believe that stability in the middle east is essential to a better world and too many power players think that destabilisation is key to their wealth. That needs to stop. I know that it is merely my view and many will state that I am wrong, but as I see it, there are too many people having blind faith in Iran turning a page to a better future, all whilst this path has been walked by administrations for 3 decades. It is time to call it quits. We need solutions there and they need to be made by the right people. Oh, and for those that think that this isn’t essential. Remember that Hamas on 7 October 2023 initiated a sudden attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip. As part of the attack, 364 individuals, mostly civilians, were killed and many more wounded at the Supernova Sukkot Gathering, an open-air music festival during the Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret near kibbutz Re’im and they took 40 people hostage. As far as we know from those 40 hostages, 14 of the hostages are still being held captive. That has been the focal point for Israel. And the setting that we see with the ‘proclaimed’ 40,000 deaths and it was clear months ago that Israel stated ‘Let our people go’ that is what Hamas pushed for and now that Hezbollah has lost pretty much the complete top of their structure (pager by pager) Iran is worried and so should Hamas be. I get that Saudi Arabia wants to stand by Muslims and that is something a lot of people understand, but it does require the eradication of Hamas. Hamas did this to themselves on October 7th 2023. Saudi Arabia (as well as the UAE) need to focus on stability for the middle east and in this case I count Egypt as a middle eastern player. Egypt will be important to Saudi Arabia down the line with 5G advancements as well as the fact that 111 million Egyptians are a great goal for the Saudi Broadcasting Authority, they could largely increase their visibility, moreover, it would allow Egypt to broadcast to Muslims in Spain, France, Italy and Greece. And from there, optionally to more nations in Europe. But that is merely my insight lacking view on the matter. OK, it has a personal view. As more islamic people get connected to streaming TV and streaming solutions, my script ‘How to assassinate a politician’ might actually be released at some point (my ego tends to seek solutions too).

It is almost Monday now. So have a great day and you will hopefully enjoy this Sunday.

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September 22, 2024 · 11:28

Timing in the aftermath

That is at times the setting we face (me included). You see, I felt that it was time to set in motion my first script. I submitted it to Salem Belyouha, CEO of media content sector at Dubai Media on July 25th 2024. I had two more submissions in other places and so far no luck. Some said to me “perhaps your script is no good”, that is fair. I am no scriptwriter, but it was my consideration that a story surrounding the assassination of Prime Minister Geert Wilders might have some appeal to some. To be honest when I designed the script he was not yet a prime minister. Merely one of many islamophobes (to keep it nicely). 

And yesterday I saw (at https://www.broadcastprome.com/news/saudi-arabias-streaming-market-shifts-as-local-content-gains-popularity/) the headline ‘Saudi Arabia’s streaming market shifts as local content gains popularity’ with the byline “Streaming preferences in Saudi Arabia are undergoing a significant transformation, with 71% of online media consumers reporting they had watched locally produced content in Q1 2024. This growing demand for local programming is reshaping the streaming market and shifting platform market shares.” This clearly gives the summoning that my timing was good (which helps matters). It does not reflect on how bad my script was, but the two ‘reviewers’ were positive. This might just be that they hate Geert Wilders in equal matter, but that is a matter for another day. The viewers (mostly Islamic) might enjoy seeing him assassinated 5 times over. We all need a hobby at times (me especially) and that is the simple truth behind the matter. I am still awaiting word from Al Saudiya at present and I must admit I am not the most patient person. I know that they are part of the Saudi Broadcasting Authority and I have no idea who to contact there. Still, the premise of ‘attacking’ islamophobia in this way gives the idea that this script might have an eager audience in Indonesia with its 260,000,000 optional TV viewers and they have more than one reason to be a little negative about the Dutch (ask former president Sukarno if you are curious). You see I figured that you can can attack the person or the goal. The person is not as effective in reality, but it makes for optional great TV. 

And good business is where you find it. I initially planned to go to Dubai Media as they operated in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, optionally more places. But now I wonder where is the best place to go? Al Arabiya and the Saudi Broadcasting Authority might be an equally good option, Especially if they also operate in the UAE, Egypt and Indonesia. Will it work? I have no idea, but if you do not try, you will never succeed. In the mean time it is time to grow the second script, which would end up being a mini series. The third script has a greek foundation and might appeal to a wider audience. And whilst the mainstreamers will appeal to the dried up well of Hollywood, I merely have to take notice of “Saudi Arabia’s streaming landscape is increasingly driven by demand for culturally relevant and Arabic-language content, with local platforms like Shahid benefiting from this trend. To remain competitive, global streaming services will need to diversify their offerings to meet the growing preference for local productions” hoping that (if my scripts are good enough) I could get some dollars (via Riyals) to get my retirement funds up.

And to make sure that I do not make a booboo, the Riyal must be divided by 3.75 to get the dollar amount, we can’t expect to get a simple shawarma on $0.27 (In nearly all places, you need a little more than that). 

Well that is it for now from me. But stay tuned, hopefully in about 8 hours there will be more.

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September 4, 2024 · 19:21

The cake is in the oven

That is the setting we face as we see the article on MEMRI (at https://www.memri.org/reports/article-saudi-government-daily-saudi-arabia-has-legitimate-right-develop-nuclear-weapons). I would be in favour of this. The speaker sheikh Muhammad Al-Husseini, (Lebanese in origin) is unknown to me. He also has Saudi citizenship. He wrote “Saudi Arabia has “a legitimate right” to develop and attain nuclear weapons, and in fact has “an urgent need” to do so in light of the growing threats it is facing and Iran’s rapid progress towards nuclear capabilities. Establishing a nuclear balance of deterrence in the region, he says, will enhance regional stability and cause the kingdom’s enemies to think twice before taking aggressive measures against it.” I personally agree with that point of view. Iran has become too unstable and too aggressive against the state of Israel as well as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The second front Iran manages through Houthi forces and there is too big a chance that they will have nuclear potential. It was a setting that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad catered to in his presidency (2005-2013), it was then that Saudi Arabia had to cloak itself with a nuclear deterrent. As things go now, it might not have another option. Most of us do not want this and it was clear that Saudi Arabia didn’t want that either, yet Muhammad Al-Husseini makes a strong point. Establishing a nuclear balance of deterrence  might be unavoidable. I want to make this clear. In all matters regarding this path I would happily be proven wrong. I certainly hope it isn’t required, yet in this setting we are all reacting to the acts of Iran and that is a problem. With their approach to the state of Israel, Saudi Arabia might not be left with an option. It is better that Iran clearly knows that any attack to Saudi Arabia will have a nightmare scenario as a response. 

sheikh Muhammad Al-Husseini then gives us “Iran is working to advance its nuclear program, and is apparently approaching its goal. In light of the concerns about developments in the nuclear policy of the region’s, Saudi Arabia, which does not currently possess nuclear weapons, is entitled to discuss this issue.” I agree on this. In this light when the problems act in Iran, Saudi Arabia better have options of any kind. He ends it all with “At the same time, there is a need for prudent management of the potential dangers associated with nuclear capability” he is right again. The problem that I see is that Saudi Arabia does it in reaction to their current enemies. This take the yellow cake in directions we do not like. As I see it, the first danger I see is that the Houthis get their hands on a dirty bomb equivalent and launches it on a tactical target. Iran will state: ‘We know nothing, we never handed them anything’ and then point they finger at any would be additional target that they hope Saudi Arabia will resolve for them. This will massively increase tensions in the middle east. I would hope there would be a way to stop this, but too many weapons deliveries have gotten through to Houthi forces, so I do not think this path will be stopped any day soon. The idea that third parties will use this to set the hammer against Saudi Arabia is not without fear, the point that there are parties who will ‘act’ to get in the good graces of Iran is a real danger and they will see a mere weapon shipment to Houthi forces. That is the real danger. The acts to appease Iranian political players. There are few enemies to pick from and whomever sides with Iran on this better be ready to pay a hefty price here.

There is no need to say who, there are too many options and scenarios. But that setting does plays towards to voice that Muhammad Al-Husseini is raising. The problem here is that this voice and my view could be regarded as fear-mongering. I get that, but does Saudi Arabia have any option to avoid this? The larger problem is not Saudi Arabia, it is Iran. The Gaza tensions as well as the standing against the state of Israel is becoming a worrying setting. Then there are the settings that complicate matters, namely Syria and Hezbollah. Any of them could become a nuclear parts courier. As such there are several ways that these materials could find their way to Houthi hands and that is the real scenario. Iran pretending to have clean hands whilst Saudi Arabia get the damage and the political fallout of any nuclear strike. As such I agree with Muhammad Al-Husseini that there is a essential need for Saudi Arabia to have a nuclear deterrent in place. My original design was not meant against Russia, but against Iran who had Russian equipment. It was meant to get the plant in Sirik to melt down setting nuclear options back for at least 1-2 decades. These things are expensive and a new site would set a lot of markers back as well as the essential need to increase security to almost 5 fold which leaves them largely without troops. Al that from a simple snow globe, how sick was my creativity? 

But overall Muhammad Al-Husseini is right, Saudi Arabia needs a deterrent. Iran thinks it can play with others, but at some point the others need to react and that is where disaster could strike. 

Have a great day preferably not glowing in the dark.

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February 21, 2024 · 23:44

Exit towards destabilisation

That is the setting that we see coming a mile away, or at least I am and that is how I see it. Today I am given ‘China condemns US veto of call for immediate ceasefire at UN’ (at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68355436) and I have a problem with this. You see, the problem with the article is that we see “China has sharply criticised the US for vetoing a United Nations (UN) Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.” Yet, the issue is more complex. There can not now, or will there ever be peace as long as Hamas exists. Hamas will never stop. Its commanders are safely in Qatar, a nation that has given Hamas almost $2,000,000,000 in financial support. Then there is Iran and they both are vying for destabilisation in the Arabian peninsula. It is a very personal view, but I believe that is the game that is being played with Hamas as puppets, right next to the Houthi forces. The problem is that we are given disinformation from nearly every side and that is hampering insight and optional progress. 

As I see it the two powers in the Middle East are the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. This is not what either Qatar or Iran like. They want a much bigger seat at the table and as such there is an essential need to rely on Hamas and Houthi forces and in this Iran seems the only actor, but I am not convinced. There is no clear intelligence what Qatar is doing beside sheltering the top of Hamas, which is as far as I can tell not a crime, not even in the Arabian peninsula nations. As I stated a personal view is that it is much better that Israel deals with Hamas. You see when BRICS evolves and the table setting is clear Iran will not be happy. They want more and they will push Hamas (and others) to get a larger seat at the table of plenty and Hamas being the one trick pony they are will strike out at the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia first striking their projects. Lets be clear, I have no intelligence available that this will happen, but knowing what I do know. A one trick pony will resort to what it knows and for Hamas this is violence, and violence alone. At that point the KSA will either strike back in full or they will have to concede. Do you think that the KSA will concede against a terrorist organisation? It would be all the information that the Houthis would require to attack again and again, and Iran would show its clean hands stating “We had no hand in this” all whilst supplying weapons to both. 

This is the stage of destabilisation that China needs and that is at this point the wrong stance to have. As such my message to China’s UN ambassador Zhang Jun who gives us “Only by extinguishing the flames of war in Gaza can we prevent the fires of hell from engulfing the entire region” is “take Hamas out of the region and talks can begin”. You see the stage of Palestinian territory’s Hamas-run health ministry is the larger problem. Anything Hamas run is tainted and that needs to stop. We can cry all we want for the Palestinians, yet Hamas is part of the problem and it started on October 7th 2023. Too many are ducking that part and have been since day one of the IDF assaults. That is before we consider the larger stage that we are given that the UNRWA is accused of directly supporting Hamas. The Washington Post gave us an image of a Hamas data centre UNDER the UNRWA building. The problem is that all sides are engaged with disinformation. I cannot deny that there are voices that Israel is doing the same that Palestine are doing in that regard. Israel has had well over a week to publish all evidence via all newspapers, they did not do that, that must be considered as well. 

My largest fear is that Hamas is pushed to attack any of the KSA projects and that will start new stages of destabilisation, not to say what they will do given a chance to Dubai and Abu Dhabi. I believe that the risk is too high for any Arabian peninsula nation. In all this Hamas must go, preferably today and permanently. 

I truly believe that this is the only way that there is a future for the Palestinians and to remain with a stable middle east. The problem is that I am stating this based on information available to me and there could be issues with that. Yet there is no denying that Hamas is a problem for everyone and the sooner all others realise this, the better we all will be.

Enjoy the week. I might be away for a few days.

 

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January 28, 2024 · 19:59

Uproarious Nonsensical players support terrorism.

This was a stage I saw last week, but I didn’t trust the source. Now that the BBC is joining that list, the game changes somewhat. The story (at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68119268) gives us ‘UN agency condemns aid halt over alleged help for Hamas attacks’. Now, I haven’t had a great deal of trust in the UN and it melted down close to nothing when that UN essay writer Eggy Calamari launched her attack on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and in particular His royal highness Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. I debunked her fiction (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2021/02/27/that-was-easy/) in ‘That was easy!’. Now, I am not saying he was innocent, because I CANNOT prove that. Yet a person is regarded innocent until proven guilty and that document shows massive gaps and no clear evidence of guilt. I will go even further that the UN took its time AVOIDING one piece of evidence and for the most no one has ever seen it. The document is added to that article, so feel free to read up on it. This matters as we saw similar acts on the UN avoiding the guilt of Houthis and the acts by Hamas. The United Nations (as that joke goes) is less useful than a crack dealer in a schoolyard. This all matters because now we see “The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has urged the countries that halted funding to reconsider their “shocking” decision.” My somewhat less than politically correct response is “Are you out of your flipping mind?” This is not some ‘misplaced’ act of doubt. This is a direct accusation that members of the UNRWA have actively been assisting Hamas with a terrorist attack. So the UN better wake the folly up and start properly investigating. The quote “The agency says it is investigating and has already sacked those employees” I understand and I accept that the UN needs to properly investigate things, but this comes from several sides and at present Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States have suspended funds to the UNRWA, so this is serious. These are nations with an effective intelligence network. As such the UN has its nightmare scenario running amok (no idea how one runs a muck), but this is not a setting lost in translation and this is an accusation, not some half baked allegation. I rely on evidence and I have not seen any, but these are organisations that have all kinds of connections, as such I tend to accept the allegation until proper presentation is made. The issue is that the allegations against Saudi Arabia by the UN and FTI Consulting (which the UN used)  had holes in them, several and both reports were used even though the people behind it should have known better and the fact that I showed holes in these reports in less than 24 hours implies that others would have done so quicker, but they remained silent. And now the UN has a problem. Through the UNRWA they stand to lose a lot of fundings and until they clean their houses (plural) the world has pretty much had enough of that UN gravy train. The fact that we are treated to “It would be immensely irresponsible to sanction an agency and an entire community it serves because of allegations of criminal acts against some individuals, especially at a time of war, displacement and political crises in the region.” You see, this is not some ‘criminal’ element. These are people ACTIVELY supporting terrorists and terrorist goals. One might state (might being the operative word) that the attacks of October 7th might not have been possible without direct support by UN staff members. I know it is a stretch, but it might not be far from the truth and the UNRWA conveniently sacked these people. So how will they be prosecuted? A missing question. 

Today we see the start of nations at large demanding accountability from the UN. They kept silent on Houthi attacks on Saudi civilians. The kept silent on terror attacks by Hamas and that is merely the tip of the iceberg. This all reminds me of an old saying and I used it against a few companies in the past. When you cater to everyone, you please no one. It does not seem fair, but that is the reality we face. We cannot please all and the lesson will be a hard one to learn by the United Nations and we will see that soon enough (I reckon before March 1st).

Enjoy your Sunday, mine is mostly gone by now.

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