The West should get out of bed with the House Of Saud

Intelligence Squared

News, Society & Culture, Arts, News Commentary

4.2 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 25 June 2015

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Have we no morals? We know that the Saudis created the monster that is Islamic terrorism, allegedly spending some $100 billion on exporting fanatical Wahhabism to other Muslim nations around the world. We know about the public beheadings and floggings, and the treatment of women that amounts to gender apartheid. Yet Western governments persist in cosying up to the Saudi royal family, making an ally of one of the most reactionary regimes in the world, so that we can buy their oil and sell them our expensive weaponry. Enough: we should stop turning a blind eye and start treating Saudi Arabia with the condemnation it deserves. That’s the liberal, reformist position. But others would maintain that even if we find many of its practices abhorrent, it is of vital interest to the West to stay in bed with the Saudi kingdom. After all, it is one of our most important allies amongst the Arab states, helping curb Iran’s ambitions for supremacy within the Middle East. It has also joined the coalition against the... Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Maybe 30 or 20 years ago a Saudi might have said I'm Muslim and I'm Arab and I'm Saudi
0:06.9	Now they might say I'm Saudi and I'm Arab and I'm Muslim
0:09.9	You know they're trying to radically refashion their country and they need help from the best experts in the world
0:15.1	Do you want to have your country's people be disqualified from that because of some essentially antiquated point of view about how countries work together?
0:23.4	In recent months it can feel like Saudi Arabia is intent on buying the world.
0:27.8	It's bought up much of golf, sports teams, many of the globe's best soccer players to its
0:32.4	own domestic league, and it owns huge chunks of many of the biggest companies on the planet.
0:37.5	But Saudi Arabia is not just on a shopping spree.
0:40.5	The once insular oil-rich Kingdom is transforming into a major diplomatic and military
0:46.0	player, a pivotal actor in the energy transition and looks set to host high-end cultural events
0:51.6	like the FIFA World Cup.
0:53.0	You know, they know that buying a football club immediately brings you a
0:57.2	billboard into a global game that allows you to completely reposition yourself
1:02.2	or rebrand yourself.
1:03.4	It feels like we're entering the era of the Saudi project.
1:06.6	But what exactly is the kingdom trying to achieve and will it succeed?
1:10.4	Available now from Intelligence Squared, The Saudi project is a new podcast series seeking to answer some of these questions and more.
1:18.0	Britain does have choices. It's not either or situation. We either indulge Mohammed bin Salman or boycott of Mohammed
1:26.2	bin Salman. There is a third choice.
1:28.8	Search the Saudi project wherever you get your podcasts.
1:38.0	Thank you for downloading this Intelligence Square podcast. For more information on our debates, talks and discussions,
1:42.0	visit Intelligence Square dot com and sign up to the newsletter.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Intelligence Squared, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Intelligence Squared and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.