I get it—the bling is intoxicating. Saudi Arabia still dazzles at first glance, all marble, gold leaf, and ego monuments rising from the desert. But I can’t shake the feeling that MBS knows something is rotten in his kingdom, and he’s scrambling to fortify his realm for the next half century—with himself enthroned at the center, naturally. His urgency reeks not of confidence, but of suspicion. He senses the rot and is trying to beat it with spectacle.
The real problem is painfully simple: Saudi Arabia’s fortunes cling almost entirely to the black goo pumped from its soil. And this endlessly publicized “economic diversification” is, in practice, little more than a state-led shopping spree—an attempt to smother structural weakness beneath mountains of cash and glitter. But glitz, historically, is not a business model. It’s a distraction.
Yes, Dubai managed to turn glamour into a revenue stream for a while, but only up to a very clear point. Dubai’s marketing was brilliant—arguably world-class—but beneath the glossy veneer sits a bubble held aloft by Abu Dhabi’s oil-fueled generosity. Without that money gusher, Dubai’s grand illusions would deflate faster than its expats could pack their suitcases.
But here’s the universal truth: tricks don’t build lasting prosperity. Glossy megaprojects don’t create real economic depth. Sustainable success comes from freeing a population—allowing people to innovate, compete, fail, rebuild, and rise again. And that, I suspect, is the one avenue MBS has no interest in exploring. Real liberation threatens absolute power. And he knows it.So instead, the kingdom buys glitter and calls it transformation. It’s easier than confronting the foundations crumbling beneath the gold.