The Washington Post: PGA golfers who play in Saudi Arabia accept blood money
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An article in The Washington Post concludes that the PGA golfers who play in Saudi Arabia are accepting blood money.
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Saudi Arabia has been using the star-studded faces of international celebrities to whitewash its slate.
Barry Svrluga, a sports columnist at The Washington Post, says in the opening of his article that there are two separate camps of golf gamers who are making decisions that matter and represent their views. The PGA Tour's Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which began as a clambake hosted by crooner Bing Crosby, features the first group. The other will go halfway around the world to compete in the Saudi International, “an Asia Tour-sanctioned event sponsored by a murderous regime”.
Recently, Saudi Arabia has been using the star-studded faces of international celebrities to whitewash its slate, in addition to hosting sports and cultural events, such as the most recent Formula One event that 'enjoyed' a Justin Bieber performance, among many others.
Read More: Saudi film festival another facet to whitewash horrendous rights abuses
Svrluga went on to say that the stars who congregate in Saudi Arabia — including Mickelson, a six-time major champion, as well as Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, and Sergio Garcia — are there for the money, which will supposedly be massive just for showing up. It's impossible to hide the reality that this is blood money.
“It’s not that difficult. In October, former world No. 1 Greg Norman was named CEO of LIV Golf Investments, an entity that created a “strategic partnership” with the Asian Tour to sponsor 10 tournaments in 2022 and pump $200 million into the circuit over the next decade,” he added.
Saudi pool of blood in Yemen
The article stressed that the first is the Saudi International, which will be held on February 3-6 at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and is sponsored by SoftBank Investment Advisers. The Public Investment Fund, which is essentially the financial arm of Saudi Arabia's autocratic Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's dictatorship, is Norman's principal investor.
Read More: US Arms in Saudi's Pool of Blood: The Yemeni Massacre
Svrluga estimated that the golfers who compete in the Saudi International will claim to be independent contractors who are there to "develop the game" abroad.
The article tersely rejects such claims, stressing that the golfers who compete in the Saudi International will steal millions of dollars from a regime that has fueled an unfathomable war on Yemen for nearly seven years.
The #UN Children's Fund reported that the ongoing #Saudi aggression in #Yemen has resulted in the death or maiming of 10,000 children, at a rate of 4 children per day. pic.twitter.com/q6BRPfs9Tr
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) October 21, 2021
Women’s golf in Saudi Arabia!
“And Saudi Arabia, they’re trying to change. They started with women’s golf, started supporting women’s golf, and then they started supporting men’s golf. There’re women’s tournaments already that they sponsor. Trying to grow the game.”
Commenting on such rhetoric, Svrluga further elaborated that “Bin Salman needed to modernize Saudi policies toward women if he hoped to do business with the West. His motives are economic, not altruistic."
Remember Khashoggi
The article demanded those who still have doubts to listen to what Sarah Leah Whitson, the executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) had to say, "The notion that the PIF is some independent financial authority that isn’t used to carry out murders and assassinations at the beck and call of Mohammed bin Salman is just patently untrue,” Whitson said by phone. “He does and has been using the PIF as a fig leaf, as a cover, as an intermediate step between his face on things and Saudi Arabia’s face on things.”
DAWN, a nonprofit organization that promotes democracy and human rights throughout the Middle East and North Africa, was founded by Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi Arabian journalist who became a contributor to The Washington Post in 2017.
Read More: Bin Salman’s “Cyberweapon”: Not Only Against Saudis
That murder should hang over the field at the Saudi International. As should the senseless war in Yemen, which the United Nations estimated had caused 377,000 deaths by the end of 2021. As should the hit squad bin Salman allegedly sent to Canada for the attempted murder of a former Saudi intelligence official. As should the fact that, according to Human Rights Watch, prominent women’s rights advocates have remained in Saudi jails since 2018 merely for their advocacy.
The columnist goes as far as saying that the golfers competing in the Saudi International are making a decision, and it is a decision to accept money from a man who murders his critics, the article concluded.
Human Rights Watch concurs
Human Rights Watch, within this context, contended that “Saudi Arabia has a history of using celebrities and major international events to deflect scrutiny from its pervasive abuses.”
A report by the Human Rights Watch reveals that Saudi Arabia is funneling billions of dollars into entertainment and events aimed at whitewashing its horrendous slate of human rights abuses, from torture reports to murdering journalists, to executing dissidents.
“The Saudi government is going all out to bury its egregious human rights abuses beneath public spectacles and sporting events,” said Michael Page, Deputy Middle East Director at HRW. “Unless they express concerns over Saudi Arabia’s serious abuses, Formula One and participating performers risk bolstering the Saudi government’s well-funded efforts to whitewash its image despite a significant increase in repression over the last few years.”
This is an intricate plan: With the Vision 2030 that MBS set for Saudi Arabia, in 2016, a General Entertainment Authority was created, and billions of dollars were used to invest in the local entertainment industry. Over 64 billion dollars were planned to be invested in music, entertainment, sports, art, film, and more, complementing sports, tourism, and culture ministries.
