What Is Going On With Saudi Arabia: Here’s What We’re Reading
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Here’s what we’re reading today.
1. What is going on in Saudi Arabia?
From Robin Wright: “With the tacit support of President Trump, King Salman of Saudi Arabia and his powerful son launched an unprecedented purge of their own family over the weekend. The major targets were royal brethren who controlled money, the media, or the military. Among the dozens arrested were eleven senior princes, several current or former ministers, the owners of three major television stations, the head of the most important military branch, and one of the wealthiest men in the world, who has been a major shareholder in Citibank, Twentieth Century Fox, Apple, Twitter, and Lyft.”
+1: What the royal purge means for Saudi Arabia and its oil – Washington Post
2. Paradise Papers leak reveals secrets of the world elite’s hidden wealth
“The world’s biggest businesses, heads of state and global figures in politics, entertainment and sport who have sheltered their wealth in secretive tax havens are being revealed this week in a major new investigation into Britain’s offshore empires.
“The details come from a leak of 13.4m files that expose the global environments in which tax abuses can thrive – and the complex and seemingly artificial ways the wealthiest corporations can legally protect their wealth.”
+1: Trudeau’s chief fundraiser held millions in offshore trust – Toronto Star
+1: The Paradise Papers leak is about one thing: growing inequality – Quartz
3. Trump Jr. hinted at review of anti-Russia law, Moscow lawyer says
“A Russian lawyer who met with President Donald Trump’s oldest son last year says he indicated that a law targeting Russia could be re-examined if his father won the election and asked her for written evidence that illegal proceeds went to Hillary Clinton’s campaign.”
4. Something is wrong on the internet
“What we’re talking about is very young children, effectively from birth, being deliberately targeted with content which will traumatise and disturb them, via networks which are extremely vulnerable to exactly this form of abuse. It’s not about trolls, but about a kind of violence inherent in the combination of digital systems and capitalist incentives. It’s down to that level of the metal.”
– Medium
5. The running bubble has popped
“But not every race is so popular. Road races have hit the wall. The number of finishers in events in the United States has fallen from a peak of about 19 million in 2013 to just over 17 million in 2016.
“High fees, a glut of race options and competition from other fitness activities have shrunk the fields at many races.”
