The Dark Reality Behind Saudi Arabia’s Utopian Dreams – The New York Times

The Dark Reality Behind Saudi Arabia’s Utopian Dreams (Published 2021)

The Dark Reality Behind Saudi Arabia’s Utopian Dreams (Published 2021)

Mohammed bin Salman’s absurd plan for the Line — a 106-mile long city with no cars and no roads — comes with a grisly human price.

Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/28/magazine/saudi-arabia-neom-the-line.html

The film’s final words, spoken as a multicultural parade of faces flickers across the screen, are deliciously preposterous: “A home to all of us — welcome to the Line.” As I heard it, I couldn’t help wondering about the woman who spoke those words. Would she even consider moving to a remote desert city, to be subject to 24/7 surveillance and the whims of a murderous prince? My guess is that she did what so many others who work for the Saudis have done: spoke her lines, picked up the check and fled.


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