Guns and business: Riyadh welcomes Trump but ‘hides’ Gaza and the Neom climate bomb
The US president is in Saudi Arabia, the first stop on a regional trip that includes the United Arab Emirates and Qatar (but not Israel). His agenda is centred on business and billion-dollar deals (including weapons), relegating other issues to the margins. Economics and Saudi money overshadow human rights issues and environmental concerns linked to the Red Sea megaproject.
Milan (AsiaNews) – Saudi Arabia welcomed US President Donald Trump on his first visit to the Middle East since his return to the White House last January, his second trip abroad after the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome.
The agenda will focus on major economic issues, starting with tariffs, which Trump partially froze or cut, as well as diplomatic matters related to regional tensions, the war in Gaza, US attacks against Yemen’s pro-Iranian Houthis, a possible nuclear deal with Iran and, in the background, the second leg of the Abraham Accords.
The latter includes, among other issues, the normalisation of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu views with interest.
One of the major issues that seem to be marginal at present, but is no less important, is Saudi Arabia’s megaprojects and their serious environmental impact, most notably Neom, a futuristic megacity promoted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
A climate bomb?
Recently, a scientist involved in the project has warned about possible disasters. University of Illinois Professor Donald Wuebbles, who is an expert in atmospheric physics and chemistry and a consultant on Neom for years, believes that the new city could alter the local environment and weather patterns, affecting winds and storms.
Speaking to the Financial Times, he repeatedly raised doubts about the project’s impact on the climate. Potential damages have not been sufficiently studied, including changes in rainfall and the amplification of desert winds and storms.
With a price tag of US$ 500 billion, the futuristic megalopolis will be 33 times larger than New York, and include The Line, a 170-km-long straight-line city, an eight-sided city that floats on water, and a ski resort, called Trojena, with a folded vertical village slated to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games.
This is part of the economic reforms included in Vision 2030, a plan to modernise the kingdom in open competition with the megacities built in the Persian Gulf, starting with the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The new planned city is set to rise from the desert overlooking the Red Sea, with everything intended to be eco-sustainable and reachable on foot in five minutes, but with the possibility of moving from one end to the other in just 20 minutes on high-speed rail.
The development of The Line is divided in several phases, along a coastline of 170 km; the first is set to be completed by 2026, with a population of 1.5 to 2 million people in 2030, and nine million in 2045. However, according to the latest update from last year, plans have been scaled down so that only a 2.4-km stretch is expected to be completed by 2030.
Tabuk province, northwestern Saudi Arabia, where The Line is expected to be built has a dry and desert climate. According to the plans presented in 2022, it is expected to include two mirrored buildings, nearly 500 metres tall each, running along a portion of the straight-line city.
For Prof Wuebbles, some issues are important, including emissions from cement use and the slow transition away from combustion engine vehicles and construction machinery.
Saudi authorities have tasked some scholars to assess the project’s environmental impact and risks, but the results of the research have not been made public.
The University of Illinois scholar notes that climate and environmental issues deserve a “higher priority”, especially since former Neom chief Nadhmi al-Nasr quit.
Environment and human rights violations
The use of technology in turning the project into reality is massive, according to experts, and, for Wuebbles, it has “much that could be learned”. However, environmental concerns remain a priority given the huge impact the project will have, starting, for example, with the use of steel. Building The Line is expected to use 20 per cent of the world's steel.
To build the futuristic city, the Saudi government is not only putting the ecosystem of the region at risk, but is also turning a blind eye on serious and egregious violations of human rights, largely swept under the carpet.
One of the most recurrent accusations is that of forcibly displacing members of the Howeitat tribe, who have lived in Tabuk province for centuries. At least 47 members have been arrested or detained for opposing the eviction. In addition, in April 2020, security forces killed activist Abdul-Rahim al-Howeiti shortly after he made protest videos.
Last year, Middle East Eye (MME), citing a Saudi intelligence source, reported that security forces have been ordered to use force – even lethal – to remove anyone who opposed evictions from the areas intended for the city. Senior project officials have also been accused of racism, misogyny, and corruption.
To lessen the country’s dependence on oil, which is the goal of Vision 2030, Crown Prince bin Salman has also begun to carefully tweak with Saudi Arabia’s more radical version of the Muslim faith and social life.
The reforms introduced since 2019 have touched the social sphere. Women have been allowed to drive and given access to stadiums, albeit in reserved section; similarly, the country’s entertainment industry was given a boost, while new technologies have been promoted.
In the religious sphere, there has been a progressive move away from strict Wahhabism.
By contrast, senior officials and businessmen have been arrested, activists and critical voices have run afoul of the authorities, while the Jamal Khashoggi case casts a long shadow over the process of reforms, which lack a major component: religious freedom.
Trump and Abraham II
Economics rather than the environment and human rights dominate the agenda of Saudi Arabia and other regional powers, like Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, who are set to welcome Trump for his first state visit abroad since he began his mandate.
The US president is aiming to return home with US trillion worth of deals and investment pledges from Riyadh, Doha, and Abu Dhabi to revive the US economy and maintain US hegemony over rivals, starting with China.
The package would include the purchase by Saudi Arabia of weapons and military equipment for 100 billion dollars, including missiles, radar systems, and transport aircraft.
Economics tops the agenda more than geopolitics at a time of great regional tensions, so much so that the war in Gaza has been overshadowed by Qatar’s pledge to gift the US leader with a luxury aeroplane.
Thus far, there have been no reports about US diplomatic action to get Saudi Arabia to normalise relations with Israel as part of the so-called Abraham Accords-II.
The same thing is true regarding US overtures vis-à-vis Iran, which remain in the background, something that the predominantly Sunni Gulf states have not failed to see.
Trump himself, who arrived in the Saudi capital to meet bin Salman, was careful not to include a stop in Israel as part of his tour of the region.
He did not even mention his idea of turning Gaza into a luxury riviera by driving out the Palestinian population, a proposal that infuriated the Arab world and annoyed – to put it mildly – the Saudis.
GATEWAY TO THE EAST IS THE ASIANEWS NEWSLETTER DEDICATED TO THE MIDDLE EAST. WOULD YOU LIKE TO RECEIVE IT EVERY TUESDAY? TO SUBSCRIBE, CLICK HERE.
.png)
23/11/2020 17:16
18/09/2021 14:40
08/10/2022 18:15
27/07/2022 18:50
