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Sunday, December 15, 2024 5:30:01 AM
Long-time CEO of NEOM goes as Saudi Arabia scales back mega-projects
---
"brooklyn13, I said you cherry picked your Arab countries.
"You're fucking kidding me, right? Let the Jews return to their homes in Iraq,
Iran, Syria, Lebanon, from which they were expelled in the mid 20th century. "
Here's why i see saying you cherry picked is fair comment: The Arab world is re-embracing its Jews
[...]
THE SLOGAN of the Houthi rebels, who control northern Yemen, is blunt. “Death to Israel, curse on the Jews,” it reads in part. So it was no shock when the group chased Jews out of its area of control. What might be surprising is where some of those Jews ended up. Yusuf Hamdi and his extended family were rescued in a mission organised by the UN, America, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2021. Mr Hamdi and company then passed up a chance to go to Israel, instead becoming the first Yemenite Jews to settle in the UAE.
Listen to this story. Enjoy more audio and podcasts on iOS or Android. [..inside..]
The UAE offered inducements: a rent-free villa, fancy car and monthly welfare cheques. It is all part of an effort to seed new Jewish communities in the country. Since the government declared 2019 the year of tolerance, and officially recognised the existence of Jews in the UAE, new kosher restaurants and a Jewish centre have sprung up. During the festival of Hanukkah last year the state erected large menorahs in city squares (pictured). It plans to open a state-financed synagogue later this year. “Jews are back in the Middle East,” says Edwin Shuker, an Iraqi Jew who fled to Britain, but resettled in Dubai last year.
From Morocco to the Gulf, a surprising number of Arab countries are welcoming back Jews and embracing their Jewish heritage. The reasons vary. The failures and excesses of Arab nationalism and Islamism have forced many countries to rethink chauvinist dogmas. Modernising autocrats have jettisoned communal tropes and pursued multicultural agendas. And the Israeli-Palestinian conflict .. https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2021/05/27/how-the-israeli-palestinian-peace-process-is-failing .. is no longer seen as a priority in the region. “The Arab world has too many problems to still care about Palestine,” says Kamal Alam, an expert on Syria and its Jewish diaspora. “Instead they begrudgingly look at Israel and Jews as models for running a successful country that feeds itself without oil.”
Before the establishment of Israel in 1948, more Jews lived in the rest of the Arab world than in Palestine. At least a quarter of Baghdad’s population was Jewish. So was Iraq’s beauty queen in 1947. But after the creation of Israel and its displacement of Palestinians, Arab rulers turned on their Jewish subjects. Many were stripped of their citizenship and their property. State media and school textbooks promoted anti-Semitism, and the sermons of Muslim preachers fanned the flames. Arab states chased away all but a few thousand of the region’s non-Israeli Jews.
In recent years, though, the mood has drastically changed. Most Arabs have no memory of the big Arab-Israeli wars of last century. Milder opinions have been encouraged by leaders who see the Jewish state as a potential trade partner .. https://www.economist.com/business/2021/01/25/emirati-and-israeli-bosses-cannot-wait-to-do-business .. and ally against Iran, and who seek more acceptance in the West. The rulers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, for example, host multicultural gatherings and often muzzle clerics who step out of line. Sympathetic portrayals of Jews have appeared in Arab films and TV shows; documentaries have explored the region’s Jewish roots. Some Arab universities have opened departments of Jewish history. Such is the change in attitude that when four Arab countries—Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan and the UAE—agreed to normalise relations with Israel in 2020, there were no big protests.
Saudi Arabia has not formally made peace with Israel. But the kingdom—once one of the world’s most closed and intolerant countries—now welcomes Jews, even Israelis (if they are travelling on foreign passports). Hebrew can be heard at fairs and festivals. An Israeli psychic performed at a recent royal party. Anti-Jewish calumnies have been culled from Saudi textbooks. To the consternation of some, an Israeli rabbi called Jacob Herzog is a frequent visitor to Riyadh, the capital. He sits in cafés wearing ultra-Orthodox garb and distributes prayer books. Sometimes he posts pictures of himself dancing with merchants in the bazaar. “Jews used to be afraid of saying they were Jews in the kingdom,” says Mr Herzog, who calls himself the chief rabbi of Saudi Arabia. “Now we’re getting embedded.”
This goes hand in hand with Muhammad bin Salman’s push to attract tourists and investment .. https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/the-reinvention-of-the-saudi-economy-is-going-slower-than-planned/21806192 . The crown prince and de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia has defied the clerics by sponsoring archaeological digs of Jewish sites in the hopes of one day attracting Jewish sightseers. In November an Israeli opened Habitas, a luxury hotel in Al Ula, an ancient rock city. Prince Muhammad has located one of his pet projects, a planned $500bn high-tech city called Neom, on the kingdom’s north-west coast—the better to attract Israeli expertise, say his advisers. “Saudis are becoming closer to Jews than to Palestinians and Lebanese,” says Sultan al-Mousa, the author of a bestselling Saudi novel about a Jewish revolt against the Roman Empire."
---
-----
Insert: Why NEOM will nearly BANKRUPT Saudi Arabia? (Explained!)
SkyBuilds
56,533 views Oct 12, 2024 #NEOMCity #MBS #Megaprojects
SAUDI ARABIA’s FUTURISTIC MEGA-CITY doomed before it even begins? NEOM, the $1.5 trillion vision of a utopia, promises flying taxis, robot employees, luxury resorts, and a futuristic lifestyle straight out of a sci-fi movie. But behind the shiny promotional videos and mind-blowing concepts lies a darker reality—financial struggles, scaled-back plans, and an impossible design in the heart of the desert.
In this video, we take a deep dive into the ambitious dream of NEOM and uncover the cracks forming in its foundation. From Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund posting massive losses to the project’s shrinking scale, we’ll explore how this once-promising mega-project is now struggling to survive. Is this the next big thing, or will it become yet another expensive failure like other ghost cities around the world?
Learn why NEOM may face the same fate as failed developments like KING ABDULLAH ECONOMIC CITY and Forest City, and how socio-political events, harsh government policies, and unrealistic design concepts have pushed it to the brink.
If you’re interested in futuristic city designs, megaprojects, or even cautionary tales of failed developments, this is the video for you!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIvdrcyOX-g
-----
The futuristic city is central to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's plan to create new engines of
economic growth beyond oil. But some of the schemes have had to be scaled back due to rising costs.
Nadhmi Al-Nasr, chief executive officer of NEOM, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 2021.Tasneem Alsultan / Bloomberg via Getty Images
Nov. 13, 2024, 11:34 PM GMT+11 / Source: Reuters
By Reuters
Nadhmi al-Nasr, the long-time chief executive of the $500 billion NEOM mega-project at the heart of Saudi Arabia’s drive to diversify away from oil, has departed, NEOM said on Tuesday without giving a reason.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has poured hundreds of billions of dollars into development projects through the kingdom’s PIF sovereign wealth fund.
NEOM, a Red Sea urban and industrial development nearly the size of Belgium due to house nearly nine million people, is central to the prince’s Vision 2030 plan to create new engines of economic growth beyond oil.
But some of the schemes have had to be scaled back due to rising costs, including The Line, a futuristic city between mirrored walls extending 106 miles into the desert within NEOM.
Reuters reported in May that the $925 billion PIF was weighing a reorganization, aiming to sharpen its focus on investments that have a higher chance of success.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, is still heavily reliant on hydrocarbon revenues, and low oil prices and production have hit state coffers.
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NEOM did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reasons for Al-Nasr’s departure.
Project leaders have been working under extremely tight deadlines to deliver massive developments by the 2030 deadline with several schemes falling behind schedule or facing delays.
Aiman al-Mudaifer was named as NEOM’s acting CEO. He has been the head of the PIF’s Local Real Estate Division since 2018 and has a deep understanding of NEOM and its projects, NEOM said.
“As NEOM enters a new phase of delivery, this new leadership will ensure operational continuity, agility and efficiency to match the overall vision and objectives of the project,” it said.
In his role at PIF, Al-Mudaifer oversees all local real estate investments and infrastructure projects, and he is a board member of several prominent companies in the kingdom.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/long-time-ceo-neom-goes-saudi-arabia-scales-back-mega-projects-rcna179925
---
"brooklyn13, I said you cherry picked your Arab countries.
"You're fucking kidding me, right? Let the Jews return to their homes in Iraq,
Iran, Syria, Lebanon, from which they were expelled in the mid 20th century. "
Here's why i see saying you cherry picked is fair comment: The Arab world is re-embracing its Jews
[...]
THE SLOGAN of the Houthi rebels, who control northern Yemen, is blunt. “Death to Israel, curse on the Jews,” it reads in part. So it was no shock when the group chased Jews out of its area of control. What might be surprising is where some of those Jews ended up. Yusuf Hamdi and his extended family were rescued in a mission organised by the UN, America, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2021. Mr Hamdi and company then passed up a chance to go to Israel, instead becoming the first Yemenite Jews to settle in the UAE.
Listen to this story. Enjoy more audio and podcasts on iOS or Android. [..inside..]
The UAE offered inducements: a rent-free villa, fancy car and monthly welfare cheques. It is all part of an effort to seed new Jewish communities in the country. Since the government declared 2019 the year of tolerance, and officially recognised the existence of Jews in the UAE, new kosher restaurants and a Jewish centre have sprung up. During the festival of Hanukkah last year the state erected large menorahs in city squares (pictured). It plans to open a state-financed synagogue later this year. “Jews are back in the Middle East,” says Edwin Shuker, an Iraqi Jew who fled to Britain, but resettled in Dubai last year.
From Morocco to the Gulf, a surprising number of Arab countries are welcoming back Jews and embracing their Jewish heritage. The reasons vary. The failures and excesses of Arab nationalism and Islamism have forced many countries to rethink chauvinist dogmas. Modernising autocrats have jettisoned communal tropes and pursued multicultural agendas. And the Israeli-Palestinian conflict .. https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2021/05/27/how-the-israeli-palestinian-peace-process-is-failing .. is no longer seen as a priority in the region. “The Arab world has too many problems to still care about Palestine,” says Kamal Alam, an expert on Syria and its Jewish diaspora. “Instead they begrudgingly look at Israel and Jews as models for running a successful country that feeds itself without oil.”
Before the establishment of Israel in 1948, more Jews lived in the rest of the Arab world than in Palestine. At least a quarter of Baghdad’s population was Jewish. So was Iraq’s beauty queen in 1947. But after the creation of Israel and its displacement of Palestinians, Arab rulers turned on their Jewish subjects. Many were stripped of their citizenship and their property. State media and school textbooks promoted anti-Semitism, and the sermons of Muslim preachers fanned the flames. Arab states chased away all but a few thousand of the region’s non-Israeli Jews.
In recent years, though, the mood has drastically changed. Most Arabs have no memory of the big Arab-Israeli wars of last century. Milder opinions have been encouraged by leaders who see the Jewish state as a potential trade partner .. https://www.economist.com/business/2021/01/25/emirati-and-israeli-bosses-cannot-wait-to-do-business .. and ally against Iran, and who seek more acceptance in the West. The rulers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, for example, host multicultural gatherings and often muzzle clerics who step out of line. Sympathetic portrayals of Jews have appeared in Arab films and TV shows; documentaries have explored the region’s Jewish roots. Some Arab universities have opened departments of Jewish history. Such is the change in attitude that when four Arab countries—Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan and the UAE—agreed to normalise relations with Israel in 2020, there were no big protests.
Saudi Arabia has not formally made peace with Israel. But the kingdom—once one of the world’s most closed and intolerant countries—now welcomes Jews, even Israelis (if they are travelling on foreign passports). Hebrew can be heard at fairs and festivals. An Israeli psychic performed at a recent royal party. Anti-Jewish calumnies have been culled from Saudi textbooks. To the consternation of some, an Israeli rabbi called Jacob Herzog is a frequent visitor to Riyadh, the capital. He sits in cafés wearing ultra-Orthodox garb and distributes prayer books. Sometimes he posts pictures of himself dancing with merchants in the bazaar. “Jews used to be afraid of saying they were Jews in the kingdom,” says Mr Herzog, who calls himself the chief rabbi of Saudi Arabia. “Now we’re getting embedded.”
This goes hand in hand with Muhammad bin Salman’s push to attract tourists and investment .. https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/the-reinvention-of-the-saudi-economy-is-going-slower-than-planned/21806192 . The crown prince and de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia has defied the clerics by sponsoring archaeological digs of Jewish sites in the hopes of one day attracting Jewish sightseers. In November an Israeli opened Habitas, a luxury hotel in Al Ula, an ancient rock city. Prince Muhammad has located one of his pet projects, a planned $500bn high-tech city called Neom, on the kingdom’s north-west coast—the better to attract Israeli expertise, say his advisers. “Saudis are becoming closer to Jews than to Palestinians and Lebanese,” says Sultan al-Mousa, the author of a bestselling Saudi novel about a Jewish revolt against the Roman Empire."
---
-----
Insert: Why NEOM will nearly BANKRUPT Saudi Arabia? (Explained!)
SkyBuilds
56,533 views Oct 12, 2024 #NEOMCity #MBS #Megaprojects
SAUDI ARABIA’s FUTURISTIC MEGA-CITY doomed before it even begins? NEOM, the $1.5 trillion vision of a utopia, promises flying taxis, robot employees, luxury resorts, and a futuristic lifestyle straight out of a sci-fi movie. But behind the shiny promotional videos and mind-blowing concepts lies a darker reality—financial struggles, scaled-back plans, and an impossible design in the heart of the desert.
In this video, we take a deep dive into the ambitious dream of NEOM and uncover the cracks forming in its foundation. From Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund posting massive losses to the project’s shrinking scale, we’ll explore how this once-promising mega-project is now struggling to survive. Is this the next big thing, or will it become yet another expensive failure like other ghost cities around the world?
Learn why NEOM may face the same fate as failed developments like KING ABDULLAH ECONOMIC CITY and Forest City, and how socio-political events, harsh government policies, and unrealistic design concepts have pushed it to the brink.
If you’re interested in futuristic city designs, megaprojects, or even cautionary tales of failed developments, this is the video for you!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIvdrcyOX-g
-----
The futuristic city is central to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's plan to create new engines of
economic growth beyond oil. But some of the schemes have had to be scaled back due to rising costs.
Nadhmi Al-Nasr, chief executive officer of NEOM, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 2021.Tasneem Alsultan / Bloomberg via Getty Images
Nov. 13, 2024, 11:34 PM GMT+11 / Source: Reuters
By Reuters
Nadhmi al-Nasr, the long-time chief executive of the $500 billion NEOM mega-project at the heart of Saudi Arabia’s drive to diversify away from oil, has departed, NEOM said on Tuesday without giving a reason.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has poured hundreds of billions of dollars into development projects through the kingdom’s PIF sovereign wealth fund.
NEOM, a Red Sea urban and industrial development nearly the size of Belgium due to house nearly nine million people, is central to the prince’s Vision 2030 plan to create new engines of economic growth beyond oil.
But some of the schemes have had to be scaled back due to rising costs, including The Line, a futuristic city between mirrored walls extending 106 miles into the desert within NEOM.
Reuters reported in May that the $925 billion PIF was weighing a reorganization, aiming to sharpen its focus on investments that have a higher chance of success.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, is still heavily reliant on hydrocarbon revenues, and low oil prices and production have hit state coffers.
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https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/iraq-child-marriage-girls-personal-status-law-change-clerics-rcna180968
NEOM did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reasons for Al-Nasr’s departure.
Project leaders have been working under extremely tight deadlines to deliver massive developments by the 2030 deadline with several schemes falling behind schedule or facing delays.
Aiman al-Mudaifer was named as NEOM’s acting CEO. He has been the head of the PIF’s Local Real Estate Division since 2018 and has a deep understanding of NEOM and its projects, NEOM said.
“As NEOM enters a new phase of delivery, this new leadership will ensure operational continuity, agility and efficiency to match the overall vision and objectives of the project,” it said.
In his role at PIF, Al-Mudaifer oversees all local real estate investments and infrastructure projects, and he is a board member of several prominent companies in the kingdom.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/long-time-ceo-neom-goes-saudi-arabia-scales-back-mega-projects-rcna179925
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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