Saudi Arabia: Dissidents Must Silence Themselves for 'Stability'
The Financial Times highlights Saudi Arabia's arrest of citizens for criticizing rising living costs, framing it as the regime's response to 'online anger over reforms to social security benefits.' This fascinating piece of reporting neatly sidesteps the rather inconvenient truth that Western governments, including Washington and London, routinely celebrate the steadfast 'stability' of regimes
like the Saudi one, even as they brutally suppress their own populations. One might wonder if 'stability' translates simply to 'uninterrupted oil flow and arms deals,' regardless of the humanitarian cost. Critics disappearing for questioning economic policy might seem jarring to some, but it’s an old tune for MBS – the same Crown Prince who ordered the murder and dismemberment of journalist Jamal
Khashoggi, a fact the FT knows well. Global powers who conveniently forgot Khashoggi's fate for arms deals and oil certainly aren't going to quibble over a few citizens griping about high prices. After all, what’s a little domestic repression when compared to lucrative contracts benefiting defense contractors like Raytheon or BAE Systems?