After more than a week of indecision, the Biden administration has confirmed that the president will travel to Saudi Arabia next month to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country’s ruler. When I spoke with bin Salman—known universally as MBS—in December, he all but dared President Joe Biden not to meet with him. He told me that Biden’s job is to look out for American interests, and that if Biden thought that meant pissing off Saudi Arabia, then he should give that theory a try and see what happens. “Go for it,” MBS said to me in English, which he speaks well but not perfectly. I believe the idiom he was searching for was “make my day.”
As a candidate, Biden called MBS a “pariah.” The Mario Cuomo line about campaigning in poetry and governing in prose applies here: Biden undoubtedly continues to dislike MBS. But the United States does not exist in some ethereal realm of gumdrops and friendship bracelets, and eventually […]
Do you have anything thats good and constructive for the betterment of humans or is all just doom and gloom news all the time?
Melissa —
I search for positive trends every day, SR is about trends shaping the future, just as it says, that’s the point. It is not about local happy stories. Unfortunately, the trends in the United States at this time tend to be negative. It makes me very unhappy, but I report facts, not fiction or aspirations. If you know any happy trends please send me the URL of those stories.
— Stephan
While I agree there are not too many ‘happy’ stories, there ARE heroic stories related to positive change. And I believe those stories are invaluable to the greater gestalt. They provide examples of epic heroism to a wave of people who are practicing love and healing of the earth.
That said, what I find so interesting about Saudi Arabia is related to what happened about 10 years ago, when the US and the Saudis were working on projects that had to do with alternative energy.. solar, of course. There were universities, labs, etc in the desert and then once the power shifted in the Royal house, those projects vanished.And, as you and I know much of the population receives royalties from fossil fuels. It became a matter of ‘live large, get the $$$ while you can.’ One shudders to think what will happen in S.A. when and if we are alive to see the tipping point, when the wells begin to run dry.
That’s not what SR is about. “Trends that are Shaping the Future” is the reason I do SR. I am deeply unhappy about the state of the United States at this time, as I think anyone who reads my comments should understand, but I report facts not fantasies. Everyday I check for positive trends and go to sites like Grist News or Yes! Magazine that focus on that. Go to the Grist News site today, and look at what they are reporting. All reports on negative trends. America is in parlous condition. Our social outcome data is appalling, our democracy may end in November if the Republicans take control of the Congress.
I believe that we need more stories of the kind that gave people hope during world wars.. and during the FDR years. And frankly, I believe there are plenty of those right now. Epic stories of heroism that highlight the ‘boots on the ground’ work being done by thousands, millions worldwide. From people like Warnock in Congress to Staci Abrams in her voting movement, to millennials and Get Zers who are doing the work in agriculture, community work and in schools. There’ve been protests with huge crowds of people marching for better gun laws and unfortunately, as is too often the case, there was only one news outlet that reports these heroes.