NPR.

Saudi Arabia once had grandiose plans.

There was a mega project in the desert called Neon.

Remember that one, Dary?

I did very well.

I did an episode on that two years ago.

That's right. City encased and glass. The Saudi government was also going to pour millions of

dollars into New York's Metropolitan Opera. It's teaming up with President Trump's son-in-law

and other investors to try to buy video game company Electronic Arts for $55 billion.

The Saudis also spent $5 billion on an international golf league called LiveGolf.

These projects were an effort to diversify the Saudi economy beyond oil.

But they were also about soft power, reputation laundering, and raising the country's

cultural profile.

This is the indicator from Planet Money. I'm Whelan Wong.

And I'm Diane Woods. Saudi leaders were already cooling on some of these investments,

and the war in Iran could be the final straw.

Today on the show, we look at how geopolitics, fueled and doomed one of Saudi Arabia's splashy cultural endeavors.

It's foray into professional golf.

In 2016, Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman unveiled a big plan to broaden the country's economy beyond oil.

He called it Vision 2030. The government

would tap its massive sovereign wealth fund called the Public Investment Fund, and it would use

some of the funds hundreds of billions of dollars on projects both inside and outside the country.

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