reporterslog

[reporterslog]

Mohammed bin Salman's ruthless attempt to 'build his pyramids'

In December, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced a $20 billion development project in the city of Jeddah. The plan involves the demolition of homes, mosques, and entire neighborhoods in Saudi Arabia's second-largest city. Local resistance to the project has been unexpected and extraordinary.

In December 2021, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) announced his plans for "Jeddah Central," a $20 billion development project in Saudi Arabia's second largest city.

While it's not surprising that this project, the latest component of MBS's Vision 2030 economic blueprint, came at the expense of families living in these Jeddah neighborhoods, the local resistance to this project has been unexpected and extraordinary.

The demolition of homes, mosques, and entire neighborhoods in Jeddah, a city populated by almost 4.5 million people, marks a new phase in the exploitation of middle and working-class Saudis who have been economically disenfranchised by MBS's policies.

The most recent example is the regime's unprecedented 15% tax hike and austerity measures. The Jeddah project and the instability it is causing is a near perfect example of MBS's style of rule: recklessly implementing an ambitious project with total disregard to the human cost.

Quickly following the announcement, locals decried MBS's plans on Twitter, using the hashtag #HadadJeddah (Jeddah Demolition) to object to the destruction of their neighborhoods and their displacement.

In a country where a single tweet can result in the state disappearing you for years, the hashtag trended Twitter for days. And in an even rarer display of resistance, the neighborhoods of central Jeddah witnessed public displays of graffiti rejecting the government narrative and calling for justice.

In recent weeks, I spoke with Saudis in these affected neighborhoods, and in some cases they were given only a 24-hour eviction notice to abandon their homes and businesses.

All of them said they were never consulted, nor given assurances of fair compensation or alternative housing. In some cases, Saudi authorities turned off the electricity without warning to speed along forced evictions.

Saudi authorities used the same tactics against places of worship. The managers of the Ibn Mahfoodh mosque – which also serves as a charity — were told that Friday, January 21, 2022 would be their last Friday prayer. The managers were not provided with any guidance as to how to ensure the poor and disadvantaged beneficiaries of the endowment would receive adequate housing.

The forced displacement of whole communities violates international law, which requires the Saudi government to exhaust proper alternatives, follow due process, and offer prompt, adequate, and effective compensation. According to more than three local families I spoke to, the Saudi government failed to comply with all of these requirements.

It also violates the Saudi Law of Expropriation of Real Estate that was enacted in 2003, which requires that the government demonstrate there was no alternative to expropriating these lands, and that the government first exhausted the possibility of using state land to complete these projects before considering private property.

The law also requires Saudi officials complete a specific assessment of the property to award compensation 60 days after the government approves the project. Saudi citizens must receive 60 days notice and if expropriation occurs, government compensation must be fair. Here, the government failed again to meet any of these legal requirements.

The demolition of neighborhoods in Jeddah evokes MBS's NEOM megacity project, which displaced tribes and, according to one lawyer I spoke with, resulted in the arrest of over 70 Saudis. That displacement also led to the killing of Abdulrahim al-Huwaiti on April 13, 2021, because he refused to abandon his family home.

But the Jeddah demolitions are different in scale and place. Jeddah is a very large city, and the affected population is almost 1.5 million according to a map of the project published by the government.

A wide range of areas are either being demolished or will be demolished soon. And the criteria are arbitrary, as some 63 neighborhoods are considered "slums," while other similar neighborhoods are termed "old local areas."

In May 2021, MBS told the Wall Street Journal that he wanted to "build his pyramids" in the Arabian Peninsula. Now, it seems that MBS wants to go one step further and replicate the Pharaonic model itself, building his pyramids at the expense of the Saudi people, and expending any and all state resources to complete this shrine to himself.

The resistance in Jeddah shows that the Saudi people are unwilling to remain silent even given the very real dangers they face. Whether this resistance will lead to civil unrest and how foreign governments would react to such an outcome is unknown.

Recent examples are not inspiring, as Western countries continue to choose profits over lives by selling MBS hundreds of millions in weapons. In turn, MBS continues to evade accountability for his reckless actions and criminal acts, largely through manipulating global oil prices and promising billions in Saudi cash and investment to world leaders

Against great odds, the ancient Egyptians eventually revolted against the pharaohs and the many pyramids scattered by the Nile and throughout the desert show that no tyrant rules forever. The Saudi people, however, should not have to wait so long to live without fear from their aspiring pharaoh.

Abdullah Alaoudh is director of research for the Gulf Region at Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) and general secretary of National Assembly Party, Saudi Arabia's first openly declared political party.

Read the original article on Business Insider AT https://www.businessinsider.com/mohammed-bin-salman-jeddah-project-prompt-unprecedented-saudi-backlash-2022-3

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Story by insider@insider.com (Abdullah Alaoudh)

[reporterslog]

Life after Sandy in Gotham City

Enough of social web, technology and politics, you can live without Facebook, Twitter and Fox News but cannot live without power of electricity. You can see all your gadgets, electronics and appliances around you but they are useless without electric.

For people living in New York, the loss of power means much more than spoiled cold cuts and frozen dinners. Electricity is needed to pump water to upper floors. Many New Yorkers prepared for the storm by stocking up on bottled water. But without power, there's no way to flush the toilet. For most of them life without power means they cannot cook at home at all and those who have barbecue grills are cooking  two to three times a day in the back yard or in their balconies. Most of them are throwing three day old spoiled food from the refrigerators  with a heavy heart, missing cold water, feeling cold temperatures inside the house while living without the heat.Land line phones are up but most of the people unable to use them since the phone itself work on electric power. This is rough for kids also who cannot go to schools and living at home without TV and Xbox.

Most vital goods like gas, drinking water, milk and batteries are hardly available due to short deliveries. You definitely cannot live without  flash lights, batteries and lots and lots of candles because  complete power restoration might take 4 to 5 more days in Long Island NY. One Long Islander said, at night it feels like you are living in a jungle, you literally cannot see anything inside or outside after dark because it is so dark without the lights, my kids are sleeping with me in my room after a very long time.

Cell phones really became the only way to communicate which is why charging them  has become a ritual in Gotham City.

[reporterslog]

politics of change is the need of the hour - tweets from Hassan Nisar

What can the masses expect from leaders half of whom have yet to declare their assets and will then, when forced, declare them falsely

Also half of our leaders have yet to utter a single word in over four years in the Parliament. What can you expect of them

As the saying goes "As is your country, so are the leaders" So I guess we have what we deserve but we need & must change

Our leaders are not role models for anything other than what we must remove from power. Things are now so serious we must address this issue

The worst country in the world seem to have 4 or 5 problems -- We have a multitude of problems. A never ending list

To change the outlook for the country, there is only one way and that is to change the leaders and that means total change

Until we destroy & transform from the Bilawal Mansion to the Raiwand Palace there will be no hope or future for us as a Nation

As long as these leaders Zardari & Sharifs are here and in power, the very question of Pakistan's own survival is open to doubt

What we are calling democracy in Pakistan, at least me personally cannot think of a bigger fraud than this almost in the entire history

The can be no tranquility in Pakistan whilst the current leaders are still in power -- So the masses must act for their own survival

In Pakistan there is but a glimpse of true democracy, there is a dominance in hereditary power changes from grandfather to father to son

Whether the son is a monkey or a donkey it does not matter he is given every opportunity to come to power no matter how nation suffers

So the new leaders that come are there because of their genes not because of their merit

I would say to all Pakistan please do not be over proud of who your father & how rich was but focus on your own merits & what you contribute

When you repeatedly bring to power son of the rich you are creating the hatred & anger in the masses who think they are born only to serve

I can promise you that in 65 years the net contribution of these fathers & sons has been less than zero to Pakistan

It is like a poisoned tumor in your body. You either get rid of the poison or your own life is in danger

Now what can you do. Make it cause of your family, your friends, your area to bring revolutionary change and please remember you can do it

Remember the most important day will be election day and everyone in USA, UK, UAE, rest of world as well as Pakistan should prepare for it

The need is for you to start educating, motivating, organizing and supporting right now

I have said it before many times, I fully intend to vote in this upcoming election

[reporterslog]

So now it’s their turn

[reporterslog]

Are we too optimistic in evaluating the worth of Facebook to $100 Billion?

Advertisement revenue plays a vital role for a business like Facebook but two recent news items certainly show that this graph is only going down at least for a general perception.

A research report from London based marketing agency Greenlight shows 44 percent of Facebook’s users say that they will “never” click on sponsored posts or display ads on Facebook. On the other side GM will drop $10 million worth of ads from Facebook saying they are not producing desired marketing results. All this happing right before the IPO launch of Facebook with growth concerns swirling around its business in the near future. The greatest worry is the short term concern when it comes to the long term growth, so be cautioned IPO investors since seasoned traders are warning “quarterly hick-ups” over the next few quarters.

It seems that an optimistic approach is influencing the popular IPO where you got to imagine that the business will get better and grow into the evaluation of market expectations.

There are reasons behind being bullish about Facebook since Facebook buying Instagram for a Billion dollar, it is also negotiating a deal to buy Bing from Microsoft. If you look at the numbers, user growth is an outstanding achievement of Facebook. Facebook have a staggering “Billion” registered users which means that 40% of the internet users have a Facebook page, an outstanding achievement in just seven years. At the end of first quarter of 2012 it reported 901 Million users, a jump of 301 Million users six quarters ago.

But on the contrary Facebook ARPU is on the decline and currently it is on $1.21, the lowest of all new tech or internet based companies. ARPU stand for Average revenue per user (sometimes average revenue per unit) a measure used primarily by consumer communications and networking companies, defined as the total revenue divided by the number of subscribers. For service providers, ARPU is a valuable metric that helps the companies and their investors understand how much customers are paying for their services each month. Facebook (FB) customers don't pay the social network directly,they upload their personal information, which Facebook uses to attract advertisers.

For some traders the current business of Facebook is certainly wonderful but it isn’t worth the price what they are trying to charge for this IPO. Facebook currently plans to price its shares in the $34 to $38 range and will announce the final IPO price later today.

For the record this is almost the second IPO for Facebook since it has been trading in the secondary market for as long as two years. What raise some eyebrows recently is that the major buyers of these secondary market shares are not holding but selling their FB stocks rapidly. Goldman Sachs for example, already sold 50% of their FB stocks before the official IPO launch, what this means for the other 98% remains to be seen.

It seems that finger pointing on FB revenue growth sound legitimate. Company needs a micro analysis towards this reality. It needs re-acceleration towards adding more users and pushing ad-revenue to beat growth concerns, but it also raise a question that in actuality how many more users Facebook will get in the coming future when it already crossed a stunning one billion user milestone.

As per market traders there will be NO effect on the markets on Friday because of the Facebook IPO launch since it is just a lot of talk due to the popularity of Facebook among the general public, you will see the initial pushing and euphoria which is good for an IPO launch but this will not going to solve the market problems.