US snorts at human rights situation in Saudi Arabia – when the price is right | Nesrin Malik
B.A new turbulent season begins in the sports world. Arabs are coming. again. After growing concerns over sports washes at the Qatar World Cup, the accusations are now directed at: Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund PIF has essentially bought ProGolf and taken over the PGA Tour by merging it with LIV, the new small-competition golf series that Saudi Arabia will launch in 2021. Last year’s World Cup taught Saudi Arabia a very important lesson. Oil is temporary. Sport is forever.
The move provoked outrage. Human Rights Watch declared that Saudi Arabia is “seeking to ‘sportswash’ its record of egregious human rights abuses.”US media channels have many segments Discuss The ethic of accepting money from a notoriously brutal regime. These are legitimate concerns. Saudi Arabia’s image problem is under the leadership of Mohammed bin Salman, whose global reputation has been tarnished by the gruesome murder of Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi, the crackdown on political opponents, and the imposition of the death penalty. intensifying. .Saudi Arabia last year 81 people executed in 24 hours Crimes such as witchcraft and drug smuggling.
But Qatar has taught Saudi Arabia another important lesson. That said, once the Event begins, the controversy will subside. The World Cup in Qatar started with a boycott and ended with results hailed as a boycott. the best Best final ever. Saudi Arabia really got out of their lane here, so the PGA’s wrath will probably last much longer.Weapons are also one, but this golf, An audience event of quiet intellectual commentary. Oil Nation embraces sophisticated, old-fashioned elite favorite pastimes such as country clubs and neutral-hued CEOs.
That world now belongs to Saudi Arabia. The merger of the PGA and LIV has resulted in a dramatic change of heart in the sport’s upper echelons. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan has previously criticized the LIV, comparing the PGA players it seduced to the perpetrators of 9/11. Those principles turned out to be for sale. Money won: $3 billion, to be precise. It was enough to dispel Monaghan’s moral qualms about terrorism and golf integrity. U-turns sound dirty, but Monaghan and the PGA are simply continuing America’s long tradition of sniffing Saudi Arabia if the cost is justified.
Despite its ethical quandaries, the PGA acquisition reflects the Anglo-American ethos of capitalist corporations. Saudis, like everyone else in the market, are free to make the best offers. Their main crime seems to be exposing that the globalized free market has no exceptions and no room for moral sanctity. Once a cultural property is sold to the highest bidder, nothing stops it from being pushed into the reputation-laundering pursuits of foreign kingdoms. Saudi Arabia has long sought ways to diversify its asset portfolio beyond oil and has worked to block moral declarations by its leaders who have promised to punish the regime for human rights abuses.
Joe Biden during the 2019 election campaign Said Saudi Arabia has said it will be punished for Khashoggi’s murder and the brutal war in Yemen, and promised to stop sales of goods to Saudis “where they are invading and killing children”. “We were actually going to make them pay the price and actually leave them out,” he said.But last year, America $3 billion worth of Patriot missiles sold to Saudi Arabia.The country claims these are merely “defensive” weapons, not offensive ones, but experts say Washington created them. “no distinction” lies between these two categories.
It’s hard to grasp just how much Saudi Arabia has changed over the past decade, and how much that has helped its attempts to market itself. It is a country that is doing its best to recover from its fundamentalist past. Prince Mohammed has pursued a series of social liberalization policies, overturning sedition laws and bans on women driving, and purged powerful religious sites in the country. Countries that outlawed movie theaters are now hosting outdoor concerts. fashion weekand invited New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman for a lengthy audience with Prince Mohammed. After the visit, Mr. Friedman foretold Under Prince Mohammed and his reform project, “the Arab Spring in Saudi Arabia has finally arrived.” “Only a fool can predict its success, but only a fool does not support it.”
With this rebrand, Saudi Arabia joins Qatar and the UAE in the understanding that a semblance of social liberalism separates it from political despotism and smooths its entry into the civilized international community. This makes it easier for the Anglo-American elite to justify friendly relations with the regime on business and security interests. Saudi Arabia’s entry into professional golf is a bitter pill, but there will be more. Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund already owns Newcastle United, has scouted Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema to play in the domestic league, bought two Anthony Joshua boxing matches and a spot on the F1 calendar and plan to: investment Invest another $20 billion to attract global stars to the domestic soccer league.
In doing so, Saudi Arabia has made it clear that it has a confident place in the global financial system whose gatekeepers allowed them long ago. So don’t hate the players. I hate games.
Summarize this content to 100 words B.A new turbulent season begins in the sports world. Arabs are coming. again. After growing concerns over sports washes at the Qatar World Cup, the accusations are now directed at: Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund PIF has essentially bought ProGolf and taken over the PGA Tour by merging it with LIV, the new small-competition golf series that Saudi Arabia will launch in 2021. Last year’s World Cup taught Saudi Arabia a very important lesson. Oil is temporary. Sport is forever.The move provoked outrage. Human Rights Watch declared that Saudi Arabia is “seeking to ‘sportswash’ its record of egregious human rights abuses.”US media channels have many segments Discuss The ethic of accepting money from a notoriously brutal regime. These are legitimate concerns. Saudi Arabia’s image problem is under the leadership of Mohammed bin Salman, whose global reputation has been tarnished by the gruesome murder of Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi, the crackdown on political opponents, and the imposition of the death penalty. intensifying. .Saudi Arabia last year 81 people executed in 24 hours Crimes such as witchcraft and drug smuggling.But Qatar has taught Saudi Arabia another important lesson. That said, once the Event begins, the controversy will subside. The World Cup in Qatar started with a boycott and ended with results hailed as a boycott. the best Best final ever. Saudi Arabia really got out of their lane here, so the PGA’s wrath will probably last much longer.Weapons are also one, but this golf, An audience event of quiet intellectual commentary. Oil Nation embraces sophisticated, old-fashioned elite favorite pastimes such as country clubs and neutral-hued CEOs.That world now belongs to Saudi Arabia. The merger of the PGA and LIV has resulted in a dramatic change of heart in the sport’s upper echelons. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan has previously criticized the LIV, comparing the PGA players it seduced to the perpetrators of 9/11. Those principles turned out to be for sale. Money won: $3 billion, to be precise. It was enough to dispel Monaghan’s moral qualms about terrorism and golf integrity. U-turns sound dirty, but Monaghan and the PGA are simply continuing America’s long tradition of sniffing Saudi Arabia if the cost is justified.Despite its ethical quandaries, the PGA acquisition reflects the Anglo-American ethos of capitalist corporations. Saudis, like everyone else in the market, are free to make the best offers. Their main crime seems to be exposing that the globalized free market has no exceptions and no room for moral sanctity. Once a cultural property is sold to the highest bidder, nothing stops it from being pushed into the reputation-laundering pursuits of foreign kingdoms. Saudi Arabia has long sought ways to diversify its asset portfolio beyond oil and has worked to block moral declarations by its leaders who have promised to punish the regime for human rights abuses.What Does the PGA-LIV Merger Mean for the Future of Golf? – Video CommentatorJoe Biden during the 2019 election campaign Said Saudi Arabia has said it will be punished for Khashoggi’s murder and the brutal war in Yemen, and promised to stop sales of goods to Saudis “where they are invading and killing children”. “We were actually going to make them pay the price and actually leave them out,” he said.But last year, America $3 billion worth of Patriot missiles sold to Saudi Arabia.The country claims these are merely “defensive” weapons, not offensive ones, but experts say Washington created them. “no distinction” lies between these two categories.It’s hard to grasp just how much Saudi Arabia has changed over the past decade, and how much that has helped its attempts to market itself. It is a country that is doing its best to recover from its fundamentalist past. Prince Mohammed has pursued a series of social liberalization policies, overturning sedition laws and bans on women driving, and purged powerful religious sites in the country. Countries that outlawed movie theaters are now hosting outdoor concerts. fashion weekand invited New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman for a lengthy audience with Prince Mohammed. After the visit, Mr. Friedman foretold Under Prince Mohammed and his reform project, “the Arab Spring in Saudi Arabia has finally arrived.” “Only a fool can predict its success, but only a fool does not support it.”With this rebrand, Saudi Arabia joins Qatar and the UAE in the understanding that a semblance of social liberalism separates it from political despotism and smooths its entry into the civilized international community. This makes it easier for the Anglo-American elite to justify friendly relations with the regime on business and security interests. Saudi Arabia’s entry into professional golf is a bitter pill, but there will be more. Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund already owns Newcastle United, has scouted Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema to play in the domestic league, bought two Anthony Joshua boxing matches and a spot on the F1 calendar and plan to: investment Invest another $20 billion to attract global stars to the domestic soccer league.In doing so, Saudi Arabia has made it clear that it has a confident place in the global financial system whose gatekeepers allowed them long ago. So don’t hate the players. I hate games.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/13/saudi-arabia-golf-human-rights-sportswashing US snorts at human rights situation in Saudi Arabia – when the price is right | Nesrin Malik