For more than five decades the clerics of salafism in Saudi Arabia controlled its monarchy and pressured it to follow a super conservative Islamic path.
The emerge of prince Bin Salman as a crown prince and de-facto ruler in Saudi Arabia brought the Vision 2030 that could not only fundamentally change Saudi Arabia’s economy, but also how Saudis think and live. It is the most ambitious package of reforms to be implemented in Saudi Arabia and the prediction is that the vision will either boost Saudi Arabia or destroy it.
In his famous statement on the vision of 2030, Mohammad Bin Salman, the crown prince explains what the new vision is about
“Our country is rich in its natural resources. We are not dependent solely on oil for our energy needs. Gold, phosphate, uranium, and many other valuable minerals are found beneath our lands. But our real wealth lies in the ambition of our people and the potential of our younger generation. They are our nation’s pride and the architects of our future.“ (Vision2030)
The new vision of Saudi Arabia which is directed by its crown prince is very wide and has more than one pilar. The first pillar is political, it depends on the status of Arabia as the heart of the Arab and Islamic worlds and the vision aims for the country to play a more effective role in many issues in the region. For the last decade Iran has been intervening in the Arab states deeply, arming militias, drawing strategies and exporting its ideology. Saudi Arabia that view the Iranian regime as a challenge in the region didn’t do a lot to oppose Iran power in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and finally Yemen until the rise of Mohammed Bin salman and his vision for a new Saudi Arabia. Going to Yemen -the first war for Saudis since ever- to fight al Houthi, Iran backed militants was the choice of MBS. There is a funny joke in the Arab world that says; Saudis didn’t go to a war before Yemen since the battle of Badr in the Prophet’s time. Not only in Yemen, but Saudi Arabia started to take tough stance on Iran behaviors in different places in the Arab world. After the new vision Saudi Arabia seemed to be taking more strategic steps to play a greater role in the region. Recently, MBS took a positive step toward Iraq in an attempt to move Baghdad away from Iran influence. After long years of bad relations “Al-Abadi -Iraq PM- visited Riyadh for the second time in four months”(AL Jazeera)
Under the new vision, the world is watching a big transition for Saudi Arabia for a new era of talks with Israel. Most of the breaking news in the Arab media that’s against Saudi Arabia today is about the new rapprochement to Israel. Few days ago “Israeli minister revealed covert contacts with Saudi Arabia” (reuters). The threats that’s coming from Iran over the years have bothered the crown prince MBS, who finally found out that Arabia has no better ally than Israel to block the influence of Iran in the region. Even the United States didn’t seem very interested in fighting Iran directly. Today, on daily basis there is news about the advanced relation between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, Saudi Arabia had Fatah and Hamas to reconcile which is a sign for a potential peace treaty in the future. As part of the vision 2030, Saudi Arabia is totally changing its political approach inside and outside the country. It seems courageous and positive for many but also dangerous and destructive for other people.
The second pillar of the vision is economical, it aims to diversify the revenues of Saudi Arabia and stop its dependency on oil. The kingdom holds strong investment capabilities and the new vision is giving a lot of facilities for the investors to invest in Arabia. As part of the economical reform, MBS is waging a war on corruption. According to the crown prince orders, the Saudi police ensnared dozens of royals, officials and high-profile businessmen earlier this month. According to (Newsweek) “ 70 percent of the wealth or assets in what amounts to a state-sponsored appropriation of funds from those suspected of corruption will be returned to the government.”
The Third pillar of the vision 2030 is dependent on the unique strategic location for Arabia into a global hub connecting three continents, Asia, Europe and Africa. The vision of the MBS aims to emerge Saudi Arabia into a more open, liberal, touristic state.
The area of the social change witnessed the greatest change in Saudi Arabia since the arrival of MBS. For the first time ever the Saudi women are allowed to drive cars, they’re allowed to attend public parties with men and apply for almost any job in the country.
Also vision 2030 gave big attention to the fun part in Saudi Arabia, new Cinemas are being built, public parties are being held and big facilities for tourism are being built. Visas to Saudi Arabia will be way easier and less pricey. Tourist visas would be part of a bigger push to build a lucrative tourism sector in a country that has traditionally relied on oil for everything. The Kingdom already started in building a sprawling resort on Saudi’s Red Sea coastline, covering 34,000 square km. The development will include hotels, luxury apartments, air, sea and land transport links and, according to the Kingdom, will create 35,000 jobs, contributing £3 billion to the economy. Completion of the first phase is expected by 2022. (Vision 2030)
The promotion of so many younger princes into senior positions is unprecedented in the kingdom’s history, and is a reflection of a big change. Appointing young princes is not a positive sign itself but it tells a lot about the big coming change. The essence of the current change in Saudi Arabia stands on the fact that those “Wahhabis” who dominated the country for well over a half century are no longer in charge. After all, This may bring Saudi Arabia closer to the west and make it stronger but it also draws new threats. Threats from the majority of the Saudis who believe in Wahhabism and ultra conservative Arabia, especially that today they’re backed by princes from Saud family who are being abandoned for their tough religiousness.
read more: https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.822797
Http://vision2030.Gov.sa, vision2030.gov.sa/sites/
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/10/renewed-saudi-iraq-ties-rival-iran-influence-171024151411564.html
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-saudi/israeli-minister-reveals-covert-contacts-with-saudi-arabia-idUSKBN1DJ0S1 http://www.newsweek.com/saudi-royals-detained-ritz-carlton-are-being-forced-pay-their-freedom-714802