Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman’s “Liberalization” of his Kingdom is a farce to further pull the wool over the eyes of the West.

America’s and the West’s reception of tyrants is mainly reliant on their success. Meaning if they can keep their atrocities out of the media and mostly behind closed doors, state dinners are still on the table. For instance, we aren’t fond of despots who starve their own citizens, yet it’s acceptable if they create the greatest humanitarian crisis of the day by starving millions of people who aren’t their own. The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen has been blocking food and other humanitarian aid from entering the country for over a year now, a move so barbarous it’s akin to the strategy of sieging a city in the year 200. It’s estimated that 50,000 children died in Yemen in 2017, most of which succumbed to starvation, the rest to shelling. But remember, women can now drive in Saudi Arabia, so it’s best we give them a break. And the West’s response to such blockades? Please stop. 

The atrocities at home are just as wicked as those abroad. In 2016 the UN issued a statement to the Kingdom telling them to stop stoning and executing children. In short, there is not enough time in the world to recount every instance of the gross mistreatment of human beings by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The theocratic dictators of the Middle East have always had the convenience of citing their culture for the purposes of oppression, but there is no doctrine or decree that should make it acceptable to treat human beings like cattle.

To counter such criticisms, Muhammed bin Salam has created a propaganda machine to paint his Kingdom as liberalizing and the next beacon freedom and leadership in the region. With grand ideas of super cities and rights for women, all to be attained by the year 2030. This is of course welcomed, but it’s an adapt or die strategy as he tries to diversify the economy of Saudi Arabia towards service and away from oil. Businesses aren’t going to want to work with a Kingdom who kills its people in the streets. But instead of doing away with such practices as death to dissenters and the starvation of millions, such activities are to be moved to the alleys and overshadowed in the media by the Kingdom’s new benevolence in affording what we already view as unalienable rights. 

However, worst of all is that The House of Saud remains responsible for the murder of Americans. Both in the Middle East and on our soil. They were aware of a plot to attack the United States; whether they knew the extent of the damage 9/11 would inflict, we do not know. But the fact remains the same that they were fine with financing the murder of Americans on our own soil. And whether the casualties of such an attack number as 1 or 2,977, the response should be strong. There has been none. No administration since 9/11 has had the spine to stand up to a despotic oil oligarchy. A bill to let the victims’ families sue Saudi Arabia for their role in 9/11 was vetoed by Obama, yet it was thankfully overridden by Congress. 

It has become clear that peace in the Middle East is present only in the platitudes but not the policy of the House of Saud. Stability in the region is an unlikely victory. So, while peace may not be possible, what is, is to stand up for the all the victims of terrorism. Especially those of the 9/11 attacks. For those who knew they were doomed, in planes used as missiles and for the hundreds of people who one minute had to decide if they wanted milk in their coffee and the next whether they would rather burn or fall to their death. They told us never to forget, and as citizens that’s exactly what we should do. The United States of America should hold a tyrannical monarchy whose country is little more than sand and sludge responsible for the deaths of her citizens. Let alone for the perpetual financing of terrorism that leaves us somehow beholden to maintain a military presence in the region. And perhaps most evident, we should treat them like we do the rest of the world when they starve, execute and enslave human beings. Saudi Arabia will likely succeed in its liberal dress-up for 2030, but the atrocities of the House of Saud will continue, only under a thicker curtain. One now coupled with the dangerous deception of a liberalized state.