Welcome back to The Deep Dive, the show built
entirely around your sources, your reports, your
complex articles, and your research distilled
into the focused knowledge you need. Today, we
are opening up a file on a nation that is really
defined by paradox. A place where immense global
power rests on, well, a foundation of absolute
rule. We're talking about the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia, or KSA. It is, and I don't think this
is an exaggeration. arguably one of the most
compelling political and social laboratories
in the world right now. I mean, our sources make
it really clear that this isn't just another
oil -rich state. This is an absolute monarchy
that is currently attempting one of the world's
most rapid, profound, and... you know, often
deeply contradictory transformations. It's like
a clash of centuries. Exactly. You're looking
at where a vast 21st century oil wealth crashes
directly into an 18th century ideological pact.
It's forcing modernization into a head -on conflict
with ultra -conservative tradition. Okay, let's
untack this right from the foundational facts.
We have to start with the sheer scale of the
place. Oh, it's massive. I mean, the KSA is the
largest country in the Middle East, covering
about 2 .15 million square kilometers. That puts
it, what, 12th in size globally? Yeah, and for
context, that's about 80 % of the entire Arabian
Peninsula. It's also geographically unique. In
what way? It's the only country to have coastlines
along both the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.
Which is a huge strategic advantage. A huge one.
And that size, that geography, it really underpins
its political structure. Officially, the KSA
is a unitary Islamic absolute monarchy. Okay,
so when we say absolute monarchy, what does that
actually mean in practice? Well, it means you
have to understand that the country doesn't operate
under a secular constitution or common law like
you'd see elsewhere. Instead, the ultimate law
of the land is defined by the Quran and the Sunnah.
The traditions and practices of the Prophet Muhammad.
Exactly. That religious authority is, well, it's
absolute. And the state's very identity seems
to reinforce that, that theological and monarchical
control. Their official motto is the Shahada.
There is no God but God. Muhammad is the messenger
of God. But there's a fascinating detail about
the country's name itself that really, you know,
highlights this political structure. It's a really
powerful linguistic marker of ownership, actually.
Oh, so. The official Arabic name, Al -Mamlaka
Al -Arabiya Asudiyya, translates literally as
the Saudi Arab Kingdom. The Saudi Arab Kingdom.
Right. And that inclusion of Saudi. derived directly
from the dynastic name Al Saud, is unique in
global politics. It expresses the view that the
country is not merely governed by the royal family,
but is In essence, the personal possession of
the House of Saud. That is an incredibly potent
statement of absolute power. It's woven directly
into the nation's identity, into every passport
stamp. And it's an identity that rests on incredible
financial muscle. Precisely. That absolute power
sits on top of an economy categorized by the
World Bank as high income. It's the 19th largest
economy by nominal GDP globally and critically
the largest in the entire Middle East. And that
wealth, of course, is rooted in. its status as
an energy superpower. It controls the world's
second largest proven oil reserves, which gives
it this completely disproportionate global leverage.
So our mission today is to go deep into those
dualities. We need to understand how that 18th
century alliance between the sword and the scripture,
how that functions alongside 21st century ambition,
oil wealth, and the massive geopolitical influence
that comes with it. We'll be looking at the history,
the politics, and the massive, often tense, societal
shifts that are happening right now as we speak.
To truly contextualize the modern state, we really
have to start by grounding ourselves in the geography
and the, well, the deep past of the Arabian Peninsula.
Yeah, because the landscape itself has profoundly
dictated the history and the challenges of just
survival there. Absolutely. I found the geographical
details genuinely staggering. As we noted, the
KSA occupies about 80 % of the entire Arabian
Peninsula, which is the world's largest. But
here's something you might not know. The exact
size of the country is technically undefined.
Right, because its land borders with the UAE
and Oman are still not precisely marked. It's
a remnant of historical tribal boundaries, not
modern national ones. And that ambiguity speaks
to the vastness of the empty spaces there. The
terrain is just dominated by arid desert, lowland
steppe, and mountains. And the most famous feature
is the Rabaul Qali. The empty quarter. And it's
not just a desert, it's the world's largest contiguous
sand desert. It covers an immense 647 ,500 square
kilometers. That's just a number. It's hard to
even picture that. It is. The sheer size of this
uninhabitable landmass means the kingdom has
always been highly concentrated along its coasts
and, of course, in its oases. And that concentration
is dictated by one thing, water. Yes. Our sources
highlight this critical defining factor. Saudi
Arabia is the largest country in the world by
area that has, and this is key, no permanent
rivers. Think about that for a second. That constraint
on development, on life itself, it's a constant
struggle for existence. So where does the water
come from? The supply depends on sparse rainfall
that feeds what they call Wadi's non -permanent
riverbeds, as well as basins and oases. But survival
for the modern large population is dependent
on industrial solutions. You mean desalination.
Exactly. Currently, desalination provides roughly
50 % of the country's drinking water, a massive
technological undertaking that requires staggering
amounts of energy. So while we think of Saudi
Arabia as uniformly hot and sandy, our sources
revealed some surprising geological features
that defy that image. One fascinating detail
is that the kingdom is home to over 2 ,000 dormant
volcanoes. Yeah, that's something that catches
most people off guard. These are ancient volcanic
fields. Large lava fields, known locally as Heret,
cover a vast area 180 ,000 square kilometers
in the Hejaz region. And it's not always hot
either. No, not at all. To challenge that image
of perpetual heat even further, annual snowfall
is not uncommon in the northern mountainous regions,
particularly in Tabuk province. It just demonstrates
the extreme temperature fluctuations the peninsula
experiences. If scarcity and extremes define
the physical landscape, let's look at how deep
human history shaped the societal landscape,
you know, long before the unification or the
rise of Islam. The human history here is globally
significant. The prehistory of Saudi Arabia shows
some of the earliest traces of human activity
outside of Africa. How far back are we talking?
We're talking about tools and remains dating
back an incredible 125 ,000 years. archaeologists
see the region as pivotal in understanding humanity's
dispersal across the world. And it wasn't just
a migratory path, right? There were genuine innovations
in early civilization. Oh, absolutely. In the
Neolithic period, around the 4th millennium BC,
a prominent civilization known as the Almagar
culture flourished in what is now southwestern
Nasht. And they're known for something specific.
Yes. This culture is recognized as one of the
world's first to involve the widespread domestication
of animals, specifically the horse. Rock engravings
discovered there suggest horse domestication
dates back more than 8 ,000 years. So they were
pushing back the timeline for this crucial advancement
in human history. A huge advancement. And that
level of settlement and advanced organization
links directly to the ancient trading empires
that followed. Right. We see settlement phases
linked to the Dilman civilization, which began
in the early third millennium B .C. And moving
forward, large portions of North Arabia. were
ruled by the Nabataeans. The civilization famous
for Petra. The very same. Their monumental rock
-cut tombs at Hegra, also called Al -Hijr, are
preserved today as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
It demonstrates a sophisticated, multicultural,
and importantly, a pagan past. And this millennia
-long history of trading routes and unique civilizations
was completely reshaped in the 7th century. With
the emergence of Islam in Mecca, led by the Prophet
Muhammad, this event effectively united the entire
Arabian Peninsula under a single theological
mandate. And the immediate political consequence
was the creation of some of the most influential
empires in history. That's right. Arab dynasties
that originated from KSA territory founded the
four great early caliphates, the Rashidun, Umayyad,
Abbasid, and Fatimid. Which expanded Muslim rule
into massive areas of North Africa, Asia, and
Europe in a really short period of time. A remarkably
short time. And although the political capital
shifted away to Baghdad, Damascus, later Cairo
or Istanbul, the religious heart remained in
the peninsula. So Mecca and Medina were still
central. Always. From the 10th to the 20th century,
the holy cities were governed by the Sharif of
Mecca, who acknowledged the sovereignty of whichever
great Islamic empire dominated at the time. This
sustained link to the wider Muslim world, combined
with local governance, really sets the stage
for the dramatic and much more localized story
of the House of Saud's rise. Now we arrive at
the political crucible. This is the unique ideological
pact that led directly to the creation of the
modern Saudi state. This is where the religious
impulse and the dynastic ambition really become
one. The current state is essentially the third
attempt by the Al Saud dynasty to consolidate
power. It began in 1727 in Diriyah. But the critical
moment, the real turning point, came in 1744.
That's when Mohammed bin Saud, the local ruler,
formed an alliance. He joined forces with Mohammed
ibn Abd al -Wahhab, the founder of the fiercely
ultra -conservative Wahhabi movement within Sunni
Islam. So why was this particular alliance so
pivotal? What made it stick? It was a symbiotic
deal. A perfect partnership, in a way. Bin Saud
provided the military and political protection,
the sword. And Ibn Abd al -Wahhab provided the
ideology. Exactly. The theological justification
for conquest and the ideological glue necessary
to unify these disparate, often warring tribes.
This 1744 pact provided the essential radical
ideological impetus for expansion, and it remains
the constitutional and religious basis of dynastic
rule to this day. The actual unification process
was long and it was bloody. The sources trace
the final push to Abdulaziz, known as Ibn Saud.
He recaptured Riyadh in 1902, establishing the
final Saudi state. And he relied heavily on a
powerful, religiously motivated fighting force
to do it. The Ikhwan. The Ikhwan, which means
the Brotherhood. They were a tribal army, but
they were more than just mercenaries. They were
fanatical Wahhabi adherents. Ibn Saud utilized
them brilliantly to seize territory. He captured
the fertile Al -Asar region in 1913. And it culminated
in the conquest of the rival kingdom of Hejaz
in 1924 -25, which gave him control of Mecca
and Medina. For the Ikhwan, their mission was
to purify the peninsula of what they saw as religious
deviations. So the Ikhwan were this indispensable
tool of unification, but they ultimately proved
to be too radical, even for Ibn Saud's political
goals. Exactly. This is a perfect example of
the tension between ideology and real politic.
The Ikhwan viewed any compromise as a betrayal
of their pure vision. And they rebelled. They
did. They rebelled against Ibn Saud's tentative
steps toward modernization and, more critically,
his decision to stop reading British protectorates
in Kuwait and Iraq. They saw his pragmatism as
insufficient Islam. So this fundamental ideological
conflict just erupted into a localized civil
war. It did. The ultimate showdown came in 1929
at the Battle of Sevilla. Ibn Saud, using modern
weaponry supplied by the British, crushed the
Ikhwan. So he defeated the very radical religious
element that had helped to build his state. Yes.
Asserting that state power, the dynastic rule,
was ultimately above the dictates of the most
hardline clerics. This was a necessary step for
the formation of a sovereign state that could
be recognized by international powers. And then
three years later, in September 1932, the kingdoms
of Hejaz and Nej were formally unified. Proclaiming
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This foundational
history sets the political stage, but the economic
transformation that truly globalized the KSA
that was still pending. Right. Before 1938, the
kingdom was poor. Its economy was incredibly
modest, relying mostly on limited agriculture
and the relatively small revenue stream from
the annual Hajj pilgrimage. And then everything
changed. Everything changed with the 1938 discovery
of vast oil reserves in the Al -Asa region. It
was a turning point that shifted global tectonic
plates. The full scale development that followed
starting around 1941 under the American controlled
Aramco, the Arabian American oil company, it
just catapulted Saudi Arabia into a position
of geopolitical power almost overnight. The oil
boom gave the KSA substantial international political
leverage, which they learned to wield very, very
quickly. The most famous early example was the
1973 OPEC oil boycott. Where Saudi Arabia led
this action against Western nations supporting
Israel in the Yom Kippur War. And the result
was dramatic. Global oil prices quadrupled almost
instantly. That demonstrated the KSA's ability
to destabilize the global economy as a political
tool. And they eventually asserted full ownership
over that wealth. Yes. They gained 20 percent
control of Aramco in 1972 and then completed
the process by buying out American interests
entirely by 1980, creating the Saudi Arabian
Oil Company, now one of the most powerful corporations
on Earth. But that period, the late 70s, proved
to be a pivotal point that really shook the stability
the oil money had promised. It was a year. 1979
specifically, that acted as a major turning point.
It led to a profound, decades -long shift toward
stricter religious adherence by the state. Why
did 1979 matter so much? It was a dual threat
that struck at the core legitimacy of the House
of Saud. First, you had the Iranian Islamic Revolution.
led by Ayatollah Khomeini. This was a massive
blow to regional Sunni authority. Because it
was led by Shia clerics. Right. And this caused
deep concern in Riyadh over the possibility of
a Shiite minority rebellion within Saudi Arabia,
particularly in the eastern province where the
majority of the oil fields are located. They
feared ideological contamination. And the second
threat was internal and arguably more immediate.
That was the Grand Mosque seizure in Mecca. A
large group of Sunni Islamist extremists, led
by Juhayman al -Ataibi, captured the holiest
site in Islam. And what was their charge against
the ruling family? Their central charge against
the Al Saud was that the monarchy was corrupt
and un -Islamic, citing modernization and lavish
spending. This was essentially the Ikhwan rebellion
all over again, but right in the holy city. So
what was the monarchy's calculated political
response to being squeezed between these radical
Shia and radical Sunni elements? The government's
response was definitive and lasting. After they
regained control of the mosque with French and
Pakistani assistance and executed the militants,
the royal family made a strategic political calculation.
Which was? They decided to neutralize the Sunni
fundamentalist threat by, in effect, adopting
some of its close. They deliberately strengthened
the power of the Ulema. the religious scholars,
giving them greater authority to enforce stricter
observance of religious and social norms across
the entire kingdom. So the state doubled down
on that 1744 pact to shore up its legitimacy.
Exactly. This is when the cultural crackdown
began. Our sources note this included closing
all public cinemas, enforcing much stricter dress
codes and separation of sexes, and ramping up
support for religious education both domestically
and internationally. So this shift essentially
inoculated the Al Saud against charges of being
un -Islamic from domestic fundamentalists. But
at the cost of decades of social and cultural
stagnation. To understand the KSA today, we have
to look at this unique, highly centralized nexus
of power where the absolute monarchy and the
religious establishment are completely interwoven.
It's a system unique in the G20. And it is absolute
rule in the truest sense. The king currently,
Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, he combines the
legislative, executive, and judicial functions
of the state. Royal decrees are the basis of
all legislation. And as our sources clearly state,
there is no pretense of democracy. No political
parties are permitted, and there are no national
elections for leadership. They do have a body
called the Consultative Assembly, the Shura Council.
Right, comprised of 150 appointed members. But
its role is purely advisory. It has no real legislative
power. The key to understanding political stability
is recognizing that the real political mechanism
is the vast Al Saud family itself. Which is estimated
to include at least 7 ,000 princes. 7 ,000. How
does that vast family network actually translate
into governance? It sounds unwieldy. Well, the
functional power is concentrated among the roughly
200 male descendants of Ibn Saud. These senior
princes dominate the political landscape. They
control all the key ministries, defense, interior,
foreign affairs, and the governorships of the
13 regions. So this massive network serves as
a form of royal consensus. It does. While the
king is absolute, policy is often achieved through
internal family discussion and agreement among
these senior members, which makes the rule absolute,
but not. entirely unilateral this concentration
of wealth and power inevitably leads to the issue
of corruption where the lines between state revenue
and personal family wealth become totally blurred
it's a systemic issue and it's sometimes even
acknowledged by senior royals they defend the
use of state assets for family patronage as necessary
to maintain the internal coherence of the ruling
elite This inherent tension was dramatically
addressed or maybe redefined during the 2017
anti -corruption purge. That purge, staged largely
at the Ritz -Carlton in Riyadh, was unprecedented.
It was a shocking show of force. As many as 500
prominent individuals, including powerful princes,
ministers and influential business magnates,
were detained. And it was less about eliminating
corruption across the board and more about consolidating
power under the crown prince. It signaled a clear
willingness to challenge the traditional structures
of royal privilege and patronage that had defined
the kingdom for decades. So that's the political
pillar. The second crucial pillar, of course,
is the religious establishment, the ulema. The
KSA really stands apart among Muslim states for
giving the ulema, the body of Islamic jurists,
a direct official role in government. They are
the proponents of the Salafi movement, which
is commonly known as Wahhabism. And they are
historically led by the al -Ash 'aq family. The
descendants of Muhammad ibn al -Wahhab, reinforcing
that 18th century ideological pact. So the pact
isn't just history. It's a functioning power
sharing arrangement today. Exactly. It's a mutual
support mechanism. The Al Saud protect and propagate
the Al -Ash 'aq's religious authority, allowing
them to control the judiciary, influence the
vast state educational system, and promote Wahhabi
doctrine. And in exchange? In exchange, the Al
-Ash 'aq legitimize the Al Saud's political rule
and mandate obedience from the populace. While
King Abdullah took some steps post -2005 to chip
away at their institutional power, their influence
was solidified dramatically after the 1979 events,
and they still wield tremendous influence over
social life and the courts. This religious foundation
dictates the character of the entire legal system.
It does. The legal system relies on Islamic Sharia
as its primary source, and critically, it is
largely uncodified. What does that mean in practice,
uncodified? It means there isn't a system of
judicial precedent where past rulings strictly
bind current judges. Instead, judges are allowed
wide use of independent legal reasoning. They
tend to follow the Hanbali school of jurisprudence.
Why is the adherence to the Hanbali school so
significant here? Well, the Hanbali school is
known for its particularly strict and literalist
interpretation of the Quran and Hadith. When
you combine that literalism with a lack of codification
and precedent, it leads directly to legal unpredictability.
You can have divergent judgments for similar
crimes. Exactly. It depends heavily on the judge's
individual interpretation. This inconsistency
is a major hurdle for any modernizing economy
or for individuals seeking justice. But there
appears to be state recognition of this problem
and an attempt to modernize the legal mechanism
itself. A huge, potentially revolutionary shift
was announced in 2021. The kingdom announced
plans for comprehensive judicial reform aimed
at entirely codifying its laws, covering everything
from personal status to commercial law. And the
goal is to eliminate those discrepancies. Right.
To introduce consistency and make the legal system
more predictable for international businesses
and for citizens alike. Despite these reform
attempts, the punishments mandated by the system
are often what draw the most global attention
and condemnation. They're stark. Retaliatory
punishments, known as Kisas, are practiced. This
is a system of eye -for -an -eye justice. The
sources detail instances where, for example,
a victim who has lost an eye can insist that
the court order the surgical removal of the perpetrator's
eye. That is legally brutal. How does the state
reconcile this highly individualized, victim
-driven justice like Kisa's or the payment of
DIA, blood money, with the concept of a modern,
predictable legal system they are attempting
to codify? And that is the central paradox. Sharia
-based justice often emphasizes the victim or
the victim's family as having sovereign power
over the sentence, such as the ability to choose
between the death penalty or payment of DIA for
unlawful killing. This contrasts sharply with
Western state -driven criminal justice. And capital
punishment is applied very broadly. That's correct.
The death penalty can be imposed for a wide range
of offenses. Murder, rape, armed robbery, drug
trafficking, apostasy, adultery, even witchcraft
and sorcery. Methods include beheading with a
sword, stoning, or firing squad. But there are
signs of easing. Slow signs, yes. The crown prince
pledged in 2022 to eliminate all capital punishments
except for one category mentioned in the Quran,
which is essentially homicide under certain conditions.
And separately, flogging was eliminated from
the court system entirely in 2020. Despite these
internal tweaks, the human rights record remains
a massive international challenge for the kingdom.
Oh, absolutely. Saudi Arabia is consistently
denounced globally for its human rights violations
and ranks not free by Freedom House. Historically,
this tension is baked right in. Saudi Arabia
famously abstained from the U .N. vote, adopting
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and
their reasoning. They stated explicitly that
the declaration contradicted Sharia law. that
historical rejection defines its judicial philosophy
to this day. Shifting our focus now, let's look
outward. Saudi Arabia's oil wealth doesn't just
fund the state apparatus. It projects influence
across the globe. But the kingdom is desperately
trying to lessen its crippling dependency on
that single commodity through what they call
Vision 2030. The challenge of diversification
is monumental because the reliance is just so
deep. Oil still accounts for about 45 percent
of nominal GDP. And structurally, the economy
is reliant on foreign labor. Hugely. Roughly
80 percent of private sector employees are non
-Saudi. This creates significant internal pressures
and vulnerabilities, especially with a rapidly
expanding native population needing jobs. Vision
2030, championed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin
Salman, is the comprehensive plan designed to
address this. What does it entail beyond just
the big, shiny megaprojects we see in the news?
It's an entire restructuring plan. It aims to
stimulate the private sector, increase non -oil
revenue and provide jobs for that rapidly growing
young Saudi population. Key elements include
massive privatization efforts, selling off state
assets and telecommunications, water and even
parts of education. And how's that going? Well,
our sources indicate consumers have already raised
serious concerns about the performance and cost
of these newly privatized services. But the push
is still on. And part of that redesign is repositioning
themselves geographically for global trade beyond
just moving oil tankers. Exactly. Since joining
the WTO in 2005, they are rapidly expanding massive
maritime hubs, such as the Jeddah Islamic Port
and the enormous King Abdullah Economic City.
The goal is to move the KSA from being just an
energy source to becoming a logistical powerhouse.
Right. Linking trade between Europe and China
and connecting directly to the Maritime Silk
Road. They want to be a critical, indispensable
nexus for global logistics. But the paradox of
their resource management is highlighted perfectly
by what happened to their domestic agriculture.
This is a critical case study in resource mismanagement
funded by oil wealth. This is a devastating example
of short -term political vanity overriding environmental
science. For decades, the KSA pursued ambitious
self -sufficiency in agriculture, particularly
wheat, through heavy subsidies. And the problem?
The problem was they were using ancient, non
-renewable groundwater supplies water that took
millennia to accumulate. Our sources state that
this over -cultivation resulted in the catastrophic
loss of estimated four -fifths of total groundwater
reserves by 2012. Four -fifths? That's a stunning
self -inflicted environmental wound that cost
them a massive non -renewable resource. What
was the immediate global consequence? Since they
had ruined their domestic water supply by trying
to grow crops in the desert, they were forced
into becoming major global buyers of agricultural
land in foreign countries. So buying up farmland
in the U .S., Argentina? Sudan, Ethiopia. Yeah.
All to secure their national food supply. It
perfectly illustrates the paradox. The world's
most prominent energy superpower is facing a
critical, looming water and food scarcity crisis
that they engineered themselves. Moving from
economic power to military power, the KSA is
a massive global defense player, and their expenditure
reflects both their wealth and their insecurity.
The figures are striking. Saudi Arabia consistently
ranks among the world's highest military spenders.
The 2024 estimate places them seventh globally,
spending approximately $80 .3 billion. And that
investment has made them the world's second largest
arms importer. Yes. Between 2019 and 2023, they
are building a high -tech arsenal designed to
project power regionally. This high -tech arsenal
is supported by key strategic alliances, most
notably with the United States. The U .S. remains
their longstanding strategic ally and primary
arms provider, accounting for 12 % of all U .S.
arms exports in 2024. But their security relationships
are diverse, involving major contracts with the
U .K. and France as well. And there's this enduring
speculation about a relationship with Pakistan.
A persistent speculation noted in our sources,
yes, specifically that Saudi Arabia may have
secretly funded Pakistan's atomic bomb program
with the intention of securing a potential future
nuclear capability for themselves. That speculation
ties directly into their primary regional rivalry,
Iran. This proxy conflict has defined Saudi foreign
policy since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The
KSA views Iran's revolutionary Shiite ideology
and its proxies across the region, in Lebanon,
Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, as the single greatest
threat to the survival of the House of Saud.
And their fears over Iranian influence just intensified
after the 2003 U .S. invasion of Iraq. That destabilized
the region, and then the chaos of the Arab Spring
poured fuel on the fire. This rivalry has led
to direct military engagement, most visibly in
Yemen. Saudi Arabia launched a major intervention
in the Yemeni civil war in 2015, mobilizing 150
,000 troops and 100 jets. This was a direct response
to the perceived takeover of Yemen by Iranian
-backed Houthi forces. So a sustained bombing
campaign and a naval blockade. All aimed at preventing
weapons shipments and restoring the internationally
recognized government. Given that deep security
anxiety, the ultimate projection of power nuclear
capability has been explicitly mentioned by Riyadh.
They've been very clear about their nuclear ambitions
since 2018. The KSA has repeatedly expressed
a public willingness to acquire or develop nuclear
weapons if its regional rival, Iran. develops
one. So it's about deterrence. It's tied to national
security, but fundamentally it is about securing
ultimate deterrence against Iranian regional
ambition and ensuring the long -term survival
of the absolute monarchy. Before we move on,
we have to address the serious, persistent allegations
regarding the KSA's historical role in funding
and exporting religious extremism. This is a
complex and dark part of the file. Saudi Arabia
has been repeatedly accused by various high -level
international figures of being a critical financial
support base for Sunni terrorist groups. I mean,
former U .S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
stated that donors in Saudi Arabia constituted
the most significant source of funding to Sunni
terrorist groups worldwide, including al -Qaeda.
That is a staggering accusation against a key
U .S. strategic ally. The Saudi government, for
its part, vehemently denies exporting terrorism
or extremism. But there have been policy shifts.
Yes. In response to intense international pressure
and domestic modernization efforts, there have
been some noticeable policy shifts since 2016.
Our sources highlight that they curbed the operational
powers of the religious police, the Mudaween,
and crucially, they stopped the direct funding
of mosques and religious centers in foreign countries.
Which represents a calculated effort to shift
their international image. away from the radical
elements of Wahhabism that were previously supported
or, at the very least, tolerated. Let's turn
now to the fabric of Saudi society, where the
changes driven by Vision 2030 are often the most
contentious and visible. It's creating intense
tensions between rigid tradition and rapid liberalization.
And the pace of change is amplified by the unique
demographic profile. The total population is
about 32 .2 million. And critically, Saudi Arabia
is a very young nation. Over half the population
is under the age of 25. And that young population
is connected globally, which makes the pressure
for reform and entertainment even more urgent.
They coexist uneasily with a massive foreign
labor force. Close to 42 percent of the inhabitants,
over 10 million people, are immigrants, making
it one of the world's largest immigrant populations.
These individuals are essential to running the
private sector, yet they often live under the
kafala system. The kafala system is widely criticized
by human rights organizations globally. Can you
just break down its functional mechanism for
us? Sure. The system requires foreign workers
to have a designated employer or sponsor who
is responsible for their visa, residency, and
work permit. This means the worker cannot leave
their job, change employment, or often even leave
the country without the sponsor's explicit permission.
And that's where the abuse comes in. Human rights
groups link this system to severe abuses, often
describing it as a form of modern slavery, particularly
impacting vulnerable domestic workers who have
no recourse against abusive employers. Meanwhile,
the government's goal of Saudization, replacing
foreign workers with Saudis, is constantly complicated
by that growing young population and the economic
necessity of cheap foreign labor. Precisely.
The state is trying to solve the labor paradox.
reducing reliance on foreigners while maintaining
economic competitiveness, and absorbing a huge
wave of young, educated citizens into the workforce.
When we look at religious demographics, the dominance
of Wahhabi Sunni Islam is overwhelming, and religious
pluralism is, well, it's nonexistent. Virtually
all citizens are Muslim. Sunni Islam, the Wahhabism
-Salafism movement, is the official and dominant
form, making up 85 to 90 percent. The remaining
10 to 15 percent are Shi 'i Muslims, mainly concentrated
in the oil -rich eastern province. The same area
that caused concerns during the 1979 Iranian
revolution? Exactly. And the state actively prohibits
non -Muslim religious expression in public spaces.
And the state's definition of a religious freedom,
even for its own citizens, is incredibly rigid.
It is absolute. Religious conversion from Islam,
apostasy, is strictly forbidden and is punishable
by death. Furthermore, our sources reveal the
state's official stance toward atheists and agnostics.
They are officially classified as terrorists.
Equating a lack of religious belief with a capital
threat to the state. It highlights the profound
ideological rigidity inherent in the system.
Let's turn to culture and social life, specifically
the highly visible reforms related to women's
rights and entertainment, starting with dress
codes. Dress strictly follows the principles
of hijab or modesty. Men typically wear the long
ankle -length saab with the traditional headdress.
Women are required in public to wear a black
abai or other black clothing that covers everything
under the neck, with the exception of their hands
and feet. And this strict requirement has long
been a key marker of Saudi public life. A very
visible marker. But the most symbolic element
of the recent liberalization push has been the
reintroduction of public entertainment. reversing
that cultural crackdown of the 1980s. A direct
reversal of the 1979 consequences. Absolutely.
Cinemas and theaters were closed for decades.
However, since 2017, the General Entertainment
Authority has been actively promoting public
entertainment, hosting massive international
music concerts, sporting events, comedy shows.
The first public cinema in 35 years reopened
in 2018. And the plans are ambitious. Over 2
,000 screens are slated to be running across
the country by 2030. This is an attempt to address...
the demands of that young, globally connected
population. This cultural shift is running parallel
to the highly publicized, though still incomplete,
reforms concerning women's legal and social status
since 2017. We have seen a series of gradual,
limited reforms. The most famous was the lifting
of the ban on women driving in 2018. Right. More
fundamentally, the male guardianship system,
which required women to seek permission for many
basic life functions, was partially amended in
2019. And this amendment exempted women over
the age of 21 from needing guardian permission
to travel abroad, register for marriage or divorce,
or apply for official documents. It's a significant
shift, and the progression continued. In 2022,
women were granted the right to initiate divorce
without their guardian's approval. Economically,
the female labor force participation rate has
doubled and women have been appointed to several
senior roles. Including the first female deputy
minister and the first female head of the Saudi
Stock Exchange. These visible changes are marketed
internationally as proof of modernization. They
are. However, our sources provide an essential
reality check that highlights the gap between
public perception and legal reality. Persistent
discrimination remains deeply entrenched. The
judicial system is where this gap is most evident.
Women still face clear discrimination in courts.
For example, in family and inheritance law, the
testimony of one man is deemed equal to that
of two women. And men retain the unilateral right
to divorce. They do, simply by saying the word
talaq. It's a right not afforded to women without
judicial intervention. And beyond the courts,
the sources painted a disturbing picture regarding
the institutions meant to protect vulnerable
women. This is a necessary moment to slow down
and consider the implications. While the guardianship
system was partially amended, reports from 2025
highlighted the reality of Daryl Araya, which
are officially designated care homes. But they
function more like... They often function as
effective jails for women institutionalized by
their own families for vague reasons like disobedience
or absence from home. Treatment in these facilities
was reported as severe, involving harsh treatment,
solitary confinement and even punitive flogging.
So it showcases the vast, often unseen gap between
international facing social reforms and the internal
personal reality for many women. The weight of
tradition and family control is still immense.
Finally, let's look at the final paradox, the
approach to cultural heritage. The kingdom is
destroying its immediate religious past while
promoting its deep secular past. This contradiction
stems directly from the Wahhabi ideology, which
is fiercely hostile to the reverence of historical
or religious sites at a fear of promoting idolatry
or shirk. This has led to truly immense destruction,
especially in Mecca and Medina. In the name of
religious purity. And, of course, expansion projects.
What is the extent of this destruction? It is
breathtakingly total. One critical fact highlighted
by our sources is the estimate that 95 % of Mecca's
historic buildings, some dating back over a thousand
years, have been demolished. 95%. For religious
reasons or to make way for massive hotels and
infrastructure projects. This includes sites
directly linked to the Prophet Muhammad, his
family, and companions. The physical history
of early Islam. is largely being erased. Yet
simultaneously, Vision 2030 is pouring vast resources
into promoting and preserving the country's pre
-Islamic heritage. This is the dual approach
in action. The state is actively preserving and
promoting non -Islamic historical sites. Eight
are currently designated as UNESCO World Heritage
Sites like Al -Hijr and Historic Jeddah. And
they're funding archaeology? Aggressively. The
kingdom has allocated 900 million euros just
to heritage preservation under Vision 2030, leading
to exciting finds, such as the recently discovered
4 ,000 -year -old Bronze Age city of Al -Nattah.
They are essentially leveraging a deep, distant
past to broaden the national identity beyond
solely the restrictive Wahhabi religious interpretation.
We have completed a comprehensive deep dive into
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a nation that is
fundamentally defined by these interwoven tensions
and contradictions at every single level. That
is the necessary conclusion. Saudi Arabia is
a nation rooted in that 18th century alliance
of religious ideology and dynastic rule, an alliance
that was massively empowered and fundamentally
transformed by the discovery of 20th century
oil wealth. The profound tension we see today
flows directly from that heritage. It's defined
by the absolute political structures of the House
of Saud colliding with highly publicized social
and economic liberalization efforts under Vision
2030. It's a massive, delicate balancing act.
And it's designed entirely to ensure the perpetuation
of absolute dynastic rule in a modernized, economically
sustainable context. And when we synthesize the
sources on its military and geopolitical positioning,
that need for absolute security becomes... still
clear. We see staggering high spending on modern
military hardware and repeated explicit expressions
of a willingness to acquire nuclear weapons if
its primary regional rival, Iran, develops them.
So here is our final provocative thought for
you to consider as you wrap up this deep dive.
Considering the KSA's position as a major G20
economy, the world's second largest arms importer
and the only nation on Earth literally named
after its ruling family, what does this aggressive
pursuit of ultimate military deterrence, this
desire for nuclear capability, tell you about
the House of Saud's underlying perception of
regional stability and its willingness to go
to any length necessary to secure its unique
absolute power structure for the long -term future.
Think about what it means for a family to feel
they need the ultimate protection over their
personal kingdom of Arabia.