Catch a movie in Saudi Arabia for the first time in 35 years

But in this case, despite my ™ joke, I didn’t use it to compare with the situation in another place. Perhaps these concessions show that their grip on power is not as solid as they would like.

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The old cinemas were probably all demolished years ago. The new ones will be shopping mall megaplexes with shoebox-sized auditoriums. That’s how you go from zero to 2,000 screens in twelve years.

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The decades old deal was to keep the royal family in power by military and “internal security” assistance, eg. Vinnell “They conducted training of portions of the Saudi Arabian National Guard”.
US companies are only allowed to do this in favoured countries.
“The national guard is under the administrative control of the Ministry of the National Guard, instead of the Ministry of Defence. It differs from the regular Saudi army in being forged out of tribal elements loyal to the House of Saud and tasked with protecting the royal family from internal dangers such as a coup d’état.[5]”

Don’t blame the people, there were pro-democracy demonstrations a few years ago which were brutally suppressed with nary a whisper from Western leaders and media.

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I don’t blame them at all. This is entirely at the feet of the royal family. That’s why I don’t participate in cheering their token “improvements”.

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You’re tearing me apart Sludge

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Insufficient likes for that one. Well playedprojected.

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Cinema queues.
Social cues.
(sorry - full pedant mode on today)

Pixellation would take it to the next level.

And what would you have them do?

People need their resources. Strong arming regimes and replacing them in hopes of a democratic revival hasn’t worked out very well in other parts of the region. They may not like it, but until we don’t need oil or their money, destabilizing the area is a fools errand.

Also Qatar is also a monarchy, but has pushed progressive reforms. They are the ones behind Al Jazzeera as well.

And interesting note - they are doing so poorly in Yemen despite superior firepower and money because the military heads are part of the royal Saudi family, and they aren’t necessarily the best military leaders.

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You’re missing my point. Do you think those anachronistic poobahs would have survived all these decades if they were not the kind of regime the West wanted?

That’s why secular nationalism was suppressed in the Mideast.

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“Catch a movie in Saudi Arabia for the first time in 35 years”

Or >35 years if you’re older than 35 and have never been there.

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By “regime the wanted”, they wanted something stable that they could work out trade relations with. This is why the west has been willing to work with dictators. It takes a strong arm to get the various cultures in line who are now in conflict because of poorly drawn national boarders that ignored the cultures of people living there.

Not by the west. You think the West wanted the Ayatollah to take over Iran and make it probably the biggest thorn in their side in the region?

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