Saturday, May 14, 2016

Ian Black's fawning praise of Muhammad bin Salman in the Guardian

There is so much praise in this piece but this suffices to summarize: "Another novelty is greater transparency in a famously opaque system. There has been a careful drip feed of media signals that culminated in the formal launch of a still sketchy but hugely ambitious set of economic reforms last month."  Where exactly is the transparency?  How is it manifested. And he says that "The prince talked about opportunities for women but stopped short of saying whether the longstanding ban on driving could end."  No, he didn't stop short he said it clearly and precisely the next day.  And please, I have had it with stories about how he speaks through interpreters but he corrects the English of his interpreters. If his Enlish is that good, why can't he speak it instead.  And Arafat, how command of English was lousy, used to correct his interpreters. It is an old trick.  And I liked the reference to how the prince is working hard "under the watchful eye of the father". Watchful eye? The father does not know which planet he is on for most of the day.