DM 🇸🇦

The Economist’s Hateful Obsession With Attacking Saudi Arabia Is at It Again Again and again, The Economist attacks Saudi Arabia. Another red cover. Another sensational headline. Another sweeping verdict predicting Mohammed bin Salman’s failure. What I see is a hateful editorial obsession with Saudi Arabia, masquerading as serious journalism. They call 2026 Mohammed bin Salman’s annus horribilis. I see the opposite — one of the greatest years of his leadership. This was the year he emerged as a wartime leader. Not just a reformer in peacetime, but a leader defending his country and people against real threats. He did not start this confrontation. He defended Saudi Arabia. - Saudi Arabia has emerged as a major regional power. - Stronger ties with Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Sudan, Somalia, Djibouti, Bangladesh, Yemen, and the Comoros. - Fourteen-member Red Sea maritime coalition, with British Typhoon deployments and French naval support. - The Mecca Pact: Saudi Arabia, nuclear-armed Pakistan, and Turkey (NATO’s second-largest army). Collective defense, ten-year commitment, secretariat in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia is no longer just buying security. It is shaping it. Military modernization: advanced fighters (including pursuit of F-35s), air defenses, naval expansion, modern warships, destroyer-class vessels. I believe Saudi Arabia’s efforts to secure Bab el-Mandeb have been more decisive than America’s on the Strait of Hormuz. Protecting the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb serves global trade. Energy power remains decisive. East-West pipeline, production capacity, civilian nuclear ambitions, and the U.S. relationship. Does this look like collapse? Or a country growing stronger? Iran’s network is weakened: nuclear and military infrastructure, Hezbollah, Iraqi militias, Houthis. A historic shift in the balance of power. I want those militias dismantled permanently and Yemen liberated from Houthi control. The world should recognize Saudi Arabia’s role — and Mohammed bin Salman’s leadership. What The Economist will never understand: he emerged as a wartime leader in the eyes of his people. That bond is stronger than ever. We respect him. We love him. We believe in his vision. The Economist sees an annus horribilis. I see a defining year. Mohammed bin Salman is a man of this era. What matters is not a magazine cover. What matters is what his people think of him. The Economist has written its verdict. History has not. The Economist can keep writing its hateful headlines. Saudi Arabia will keep writing its history. – at Washington, DC