VICE News Saudi Arabia's New Propaganda Puppet.

Saudi Arabia buys VICE News and then systematically stops publishing any article that might offend the Saudi Regime. Like any company the basic idea is that their owner asked them to not publish anything contrary to the narrative the Saudi Regime wants to push. Which is good for all of us to know because now we can all disregard every article they publish on Saudi Arabia as nothing but paid advertising and propaganda. 

If anyone is curious why Saudi Arabia would buy @VICENews here are my thoughts on the issue:

1. MBS is very good at finding ways to distract not just the western media but the internal media as well to avoid having all the human rights violations happening in Saudi Arabia highlighted. 

2. His population is young and he saw something not many leaders (Irans’s Supreme leader being case and point) see, that a young population can and will if not properly distracted by bread and circuses stand up and say “Where are my rights”. Vice News is hip and distracting to look at, perfect for his population and it used to be respected in the west as well but no longer. 

If we look back to MBS’s behavior of locking every powerful royal or business man who could have come against him in the Ritz Carrollton in Riyadh. We start to understand how his clam to power came into being and how it will continue. 

To many people it seems like his succession to power was simply a wise decision to give the next generation a go. While in fact it should more properly be called the most masterful coup we have seen in our lifetime. 

What all successful coup’s have in common are the following key elements: 

1. Control of the media

2. Control of the economy 

3. The capture of administrative targets 

4. The loyalty of the military 

Three of these were accomplished in the Ritz Carrolton in Riyadh on a dark night in 2017. 

The 5th element is legitimacy which he has internally because of his father and that he is indeed a prince of the Royal House of Saud. But abroad he struggles. Todays world is not the world of his grandfather and while he obviously knows how to take control of three of the above key elements, externally there are two elements that elude and frustrate him - Control of the Media and legitimacy/integrity. 

We are moving into an age of news reporting where is it no longer a handful of news stations that we all turn to for updates. Instead we are turning to the people and every individual is now a reporter. He can buy all the media outlets and silence every article but the only way he makes sure the press on Saudi Arabia is entirely reporting on only the regimes approved narrative is to get to and silence every dissent he can. Which he is already doing.

Muhammad Al-Hajji

Selma Al Shehab

Members of the Huwaitat tribe

Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja

Essa Al-Nukheifi

Loujain Al-Hathloul

Manahel and Fouz al-Otaibi… The list is endless. 

Why? Because they either criticized, disobeyed and were seen as a possible disruption to his evil plans, questioned the laws currently in place or were simply seen as a possible leader to cause others to ask the same questions. Loujain Al-Hathloul is a powerful symbol both internally and abroad which is why she is under a travel ban. Send your friends to harass dissident's abroad and keep your enemies close by. 

The other option which he is unwilling to consider is to actually take a step back and actually fix the human rights issues on the ground, fix his courts, set clear laws, teach his police force how to uphold the laws (once they get written), have an independent body set in place that represents the will of the people and does not answer to the Royal Family. But, surrendering power or appearing not to be in complete control is not something the House of Saud is known for. Simply put he needs to start actually making Saudi Arabia great but we already know which path he has chosen. 

After all why make Saudi Arabia Great, When you can make it shinny. 

Elise Evans