Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud

According to the civil service minister in 2016, many Saudi government employees really only work one hour per day.

Under Mohammed bin Salman's Vision 2030 project, Saudi Arabia is aiming to diversify its economy away from fossil fuels and become a global hub for technology and innovation.

Vision 2030 is not just megaprojects like the Line.

It calls for more women in the workforce, more investment, a focus on tourism, and better education to build a knowledge-based economy.

No details of the defense agreement were released.

He met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

It was their second meeting in the kingdom in under a month.

The two leaders called for an immediate halt to all actions that threatened maritime navigation in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, and the Strait of Hormuz.

And so at the beginning of the Trump administration, the first time they set out to sort of remake the dynamics in the Middle East.

And that was something that the leaders of Israel at the time, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed, also known as MBZ, and the leader or the aspiring leader of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS.

And what happened was sort of like this... meeting of similar interests in 2017, which was to go after Iran and undo the last of the Arab Spring.

They basically wanted to reverse everything that the Obama administration had done in their eight years in office and Trump and Kushner needed these very wealthy Gulf Arab leaders to fund some of the work that they wanted to do in the Middle East, which was namely to force the Palestinians to the negotiating table with the Israelis and to potentially accept a deal that Israel would be in favor of, that the Israelis could agree to.

They've dug up the ground for it, but it looks like that's stalling as well.

The Saudis have built some pretty big buildings over the last couple of years, but Some of these more outlandish megaprojects, which have been pushed ahead more on the will of MBS and his inner circle than any realistic prospect of completing them, those have fallen to the wayside for a number of different reasons.

Obviously, engineering and technical problems are one aspect, but also the economic situation is not as good as it once was.

You have the war going on and you have the Saudis canceling just basically a lot of things, not just these giga projects, but you have a crisis with their attempts to purchase culture as well.

So the live golf circuit, which was going to be this competitor to the PGA, that's fallen by the wayside.

There's some issues with their investment in video games companies, et cetera, et cetera.

These mega projects, these giga projects, as they call them, were very paradigmatic of some of the more hubristic goals of the MBS administration to drive Saudi Arabia into the post-oil future.

That was the kind of fundamental logic behind it.

Saudi state news agency SPI yesterday reported the kingdom's defense ministry signed a cooperation agreement with its Syrian counterpart.

The agreement was signed during a visit by Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharah to Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh, where al-Sharah met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Mena Ala-Eldin and Yomna Ihab report for Reuters.

Iran War, Other Developments The U.S. Treasury Department yesterday issued new sanctions against companies and individuals based in India and Turkey for their support of Iran.

And they've kind of dug up the ground for it, but it looks like that stalling as well.

The Saudis have built some pretty big buildings over the last couple of years, but some of these more outlandish megaprojects, which have been pushed ahead more on the will of MBS and his inner circle than any realistic prospect of completing them, those have fallen to the wayside for a number of different reasons.

Obviously, engineering and technical problems are one aspect, but also The economic situation is not as good as it once was.

You have the war going on and you have the Saudis canceling just basically a lot of things, not just these giga projects.

So the live golf circuit, which was going to be this competitor to the PGA, that's fallen by the wayside.

There's some issues with their investment in video games companies, et cetera, et cetera.

These mega projects, these giga projects, as they call them, were very paradigmatic of some of the more hubristic goals of the MBS administration to drive Saudi Arabia into the post-oil future.

That was the kind of fundamental logic behind it.

Trump.

Mohammed bin Salman.

Mohammed bin Zayed.

Putin.

It's a horrible combination.

You think Bashar served in the military? He did not.

You think Mohammed bin Salman served in the military? He did not.

You know Trump did not serve in the military.

He believes that President Trump could launch a nuclear strike against the Middle East and could erupt a devastating 27-year war and the United States could lose its superpower status by September of 2028.

He also predicts the possible assassination of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Of course, these are one man's interpretations of ancient prophecies and astrology, not a scientifically supported forecast.

Apparently, he couldn't find anything good in the crystal ball.