Last September, American writers Bradley Hope and Justin Chic published the book “Blood and Oil”, which included the biography of Mohamed bin Salman since he was a child with a focus on the factors and circumstances that contributed to the formation of his personality and made him the person he is now.
The two authors also analyzed Bin Salman’s decisions on managing the country’s affairs, especially the economic ones, his new projects and plans diversify sources of income in the country.
In this book, the NEOM project was expected to fail due to many obstacles which bin Salman failed to deal with or overcome due to his lack of experience and arrogance.
Saudi Arabia was one of the countries whose economy has been affected due to the spread of the Corona pandemic, as Saudi’s economy is primarily based on oil, and currently there is less demand on oil which resulted in the decrease of its prices. Consequently, the Saudi economy incurred losses that caused an unprecedented financial crisis in the country in the modern era.
NEOM was announced for the first time in 2017, during the “Davos in the Desert” economic conference, which was attended by prominent economic figures, businessmen and foreign investors, who were eager to participate in the new project of Bin Salman in anticipation of the profits that they will reap from it because of the brilliant promises that accompanied the project.
The project will be built on an area of 26.5 thousand kilometers of desert at a cost of $ 500 billion, which bin Salman refused to reduce despite the bitter economic crisis Saudi suffers from.
“Davos in the Desert” was a testament to the frivolity of bin Salman, during which he talked about unrealistic projects, such as building museums and galleries in a model resembling a spacecraft, with a complex worth $ 55 million to host the annual beauty pageant in his Neom, fully supported by wind and solar energy to be an environmentally friendly city with light sands, robots and flying cars.
The NEOM project has always been known to be Bin Salman’s “favorite pet”, or “spoiled son”. He did not treat it like one the economic projects, but he wanted it to nurture his “narcissistic” feelings and establish in the hearts of his competitors that he is the strongest, the best and the leader.
With the announcement of the project, bin Salman summoned a number of dignitaries – some of whom are former Ritz detainees – to meet him inside a yacht in Tiran, anchored off the coast of Neom. He spoke about the strategic importance of Tiran Island and his dreams to spread robots there.
It seems that the choice of Tiran Island in particular had a significance as well. A year before that visit, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi gave up the islands of Tiran and Sanafir – despite their strategic importance – to Saudi Arabia, in a deal to gain Bin Salman’s support against his opponents in Egypt, and in return, bin Salman gains Israeli support after giving Israel the two islands – which it seeks to seize at any price – under the pretext of commercial investment.
With the beginning of last year, all bin Salman’s plans failed due to the Coronavirus and the collapse of medical systems, as well as bin Salman’s failure to manage the oil war that broke out between Saudi and Russia in light of the global economy crises due to reduced demand, which cost him billions of dollars, before he tried to settle it at the end of the year.
There is a difference between the desire for economic progress and diversification of sources of income, and having the economic mentality that helps you to implement your dreams and projects, which bin Salman lacks.
It is illogical to support failure, just as we cannot use environmental factors as an excuse to justify our failure.
The government should not have started this project without good planning and prior arrangement to deal with natural and environmental disasters, without preparing the equipment for calamities; otherwise what qualifies you to lead?
Even the “cartoon” films heroes have a method and a solid plan to end their mission or realize their dream, but it seems that he is did not give enough time to develop a logical plan to achieve his dream, so it is very logical to consider the NEOM project as the greatest evidence of bin Salman’s failure in planning .
READ MORE: NEOM’s Crimes: Violations of Saudi and Palestinian Peoples’ Rights
