Saudi Arabia’s vision for its future is crumbling
5/7/202624 min
Saudi Arabia has spent a decade pouring billions into investments to modernize their finance, entertainment, sports, technology and tourism industries, to help shift their economy away from oil. Now these efforts, called Vision 2030, are being challenged, in part, by the war in Iran, the missile and drone strikes against Saudi and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Doug Saunders is the Globe’s International affairs columnist. He’s on the show today to explain how Saudi’s vision for its future and relationships with other countries are now changing.
Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com
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First 90 secondsCheryl Sutherland· Host0:00
[chime] Saudi Arabia has spent the last decade pouring billions of dollars into positioning itself as a hub for finance, entertainment, sports, technology, tourism, and glitzy mega construction projects. [percussive music] Those efforts have been seriously challenged, in part by the war in Iran. Saudi Arabia has been hit several times by missiles and drones from Iran, and its hugely important oil revenues have been impacted by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. And a concern is that the war could further erode Saudi's incentive to align itself with the democratic world. The Globe's international affairs columnist, Doug Saunders, was recently in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Today, he explains how Saudi's vision for its future is crumbling. I'm Cheryl Sutherland, and this is The Decibel from The Globe and Mail. [music fades] Hi, Doug. Great to have you back in studio.
Doug Saunders· Guest1:04
Hi, Cheryl. Very good to be here.
Cheryl Sutherland· Host1:05
So Doug, you recently went to Saudi Arabia, to the capital city and largest city, Riyadh. For those of us who haven't been there before, what's it like?
Doug Saunders· Guest1:15
Riyadh is a changing place. Uh, the last time I was there, it was sort of this superhighway of glass towers in the middle of the desert with sort of beige residential