Worth noting a few things here
For one, we don’t know how much oil Saudi Arabia has left, but it is a finite resource
Second, since their economy is based on oil, obviously a higher price benefits them
Not to mention the domestic political gains of sticking it to the US. Or the personal satisfaction. Sure, MBS doesn’t need an election, but he does need a compliant population
They’re making a push to attract foreign investors and boosting SMEs. I’m seeing more people in the entrepreneurial sphere interested but I’m still very skeptical.
Won’t happen until they reform bankruptcy law in Saudi…it’s archaic and uber-risk adverse…
And startups? The same incubators they were puffing up when I was there are still being touted like camel sellers in heat–like 7 years after I left.
I thought the startup mantra was fail fast, fail often…I could tell you numerous fucked up startup stories from these medieval jackasses.
How many accelerators and STEM events pushing the same shit PR by fascist Western fluffers? The sad reality is the Saudis can’t differentiate and determine talent. As a result, often similar to some Taiwan laobans in education, they prefer the foreign clowns. Anyone who truly believes in capitalism, individualism and creative collisions should stay the fuck away.
Abdullah was a really good King (Rashidi side) but the Sudairi side of the Sauds??? 
Taiwan impressed me in high tech…The Saudis, for the most part, absolutely fucking disgusted me in their hypocrisy. Would love to see the Free Princes movement re-emerge: Free Princes Movement - Wikipedia
Mercenary and unprincipled expats abound.
Not surprisingly, the Chinese negotiated detente didn’t last
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2023-10-31/saudi-forces-clash-with-iran-backed-houthis-video
This could never in any way come back to bite the world in the ass.
And all so Trump’s son in law can grift a few billion more in kickbacks. I guess it really is true - he cares more for the financial returns for him and his family than he does for the future of humanity.
The conventional wisdom is that since Saudi Arabia largely funded the Pakistani nuclear program, and they have a defence agreement, Saudi has access to nukes off the shelf when they are needed
What they need more is electricity. They are burning oil now for water desalination and AC and so on, but if they had nuclear power they could sell that oil and also build data centers
