When a country is ruled by a single man obsessed with video games—someone who wants control over every detail and believes “if you don’t shine, you don’t exist”—the result isn’t innovation. It’s collapse in disguise. Mohammed bin Salman, praised by some in the West as a “tough reformer,” is in fact an authoritarian ruler imposing a shallow vision on an entire society through fantasy projects and theatrical reforms—while silencing dissent and burning billions on vanity ventures.
Between Final Fantasy and a Nation’s Misery
In a country grappling with soaring unemployment, economic hardship, and systemic repression, it’s unsettling—if not surreal—that major reports like the New York Post highlight the crown prince’s obsession with the video game Final Fantasy XVI, which he reportedly plays every morning. As Saudis endure growing inequality and fear, their leader escapes into pixelated kingdoms—while reality unravels outside his palace gates.
Reforms for the Spotlight, Repression in the Shadows
The so-called “reforms” led by Mohammed bin Salman are not change—they’re camouflage. Women may drive and go out without a male guardian, but those who demanded these rights were jailed. Movie theatres are open, but journalism remains gagged. Pop concerts echo in the night while prison cells echo with the voices of silenced critics.
These reforms serve only one purpose: to sell a polished image to foreign allies, media outlets, and investors. They are not meant to empower Saudis—they are designed to distract them.
Vision 2030: An Unhinged Fantasy
Bin Salman’s much-hyped Vision 2030, which journalist Karen Elliott House bizarrely praises, is built not on economic fundamentals—but on delusions. NEOM, its flagship, is less of a city and more of a hallucination: an artificial moon? Glowing beaches? AI-controlled air? Meanwhile, the Saudi state struggles to fund these spectacles, issuing debt to cover ballooning deficits.
While citizens worry about rent and food prices, the prince dreams of sci-fi utopias—funded by draining public resources.
Western Media: Infatuated or Complicit?
It is alarming that a veteran journalist like Karen House would reduce her portrayal of bin Salman to compliments about how he noticed her abaya, or how “modern” he seems. Her failure to mention his role in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi is more than an oversight—it’s part of a larger pattern of Western media whitewashing dictators when they serve geopolitical or commercial interests.
Where’s the journalism? Where’s the integrity?
Obsession with Control, Not Reform
House writes that “nothing seems too small to escape his attention.” This isn’t leadership—it’s obsession. In Saudi Arabia, no policy, concert, or media event happens without the crown prince’s direct approval. This micromanaging mindset, when paired with unchecked power, produces disasters—because when the leader is wrong, no one can stop him.
This isn’t “visionary governance.” It’s authoritarian perfectionism.
And the People?
We’re told that young Saudis “support” him. But what does support mean in a country where tweeting a joke can land you in prison? Where dissent is outlawed under draconian cybercrime laws? Fear is not loyalty. And forced silence is not consent.
How can a nation “support” a man who imprisons its youth, drives them to emigrate, and squanders their wealth on failed spectacles?
A New Dictatorship, Wrapped in Modern Branding
What MBS offers is not reform—it is rebranded tyranny. He has traded the robes of clerics for the suits of investors, but the power structure is unchanged: one voice, total control, zero accountability.
The only difference is that the prisons are sleeker, and the repression is more “innovative.”
Mohammed bin Salman is not the reformer Western media want him to be. He is a modern autocrat leading his country toward a cliff—covered in sci-fi glow and video game aesthetics. He confuses governance with gameplay, reform with PR, and the nation with his personal startup.
No matter how much he spends on silencing the press or dazzling global audiences, the truth is plain:He is a ruler obsessed with power, who has failed to reform, and succeeded only in turning Saudi Arabia into a high-tech prison draped in NEOM’s neon lights.
