Okaz

The powers that were conspiring against the country were exposed and the Saudis got to know who their real friends are. Most importantly, the Saudi government faced these insane and vicious attacks with calm and wisdom, turning the tables on those who tried to mess with our country.

OVER the past several days, Saudi Arabia has become the target of an unprecedented media and political campaign on an international level. This smear campaign used newspapers, TV channels and social media platforms as well as heads of government and members of parliaments to attack the country. They all participated in this vicious attack, which was the biggest of its kind yet. Then what happened?

Saudi Arabia was not shaken by the magnitude of the propaganda campaign against it. The Saudi government carried out internal legal procedures and let the law take its course. It took 20 days for Saudis to see how great their country is. It also revealed to them the enemy lurking nearby.

The powers that were conspiring against the country were exposed and the Saudis got to know who their real friends are. Most importantly, the Saudi government faced these insane and vicious attacks with calm and wisdom, turning the tables on those who tried to mess with our country.

The real slap came on the 21st day with the inauguration of the Future Investment Initiative in the capital city of Riyadh. Saudi Arabia received the highest level of delegations from all over the world in a way the enemies of the Kingdom did not expect.

Saudi Arabia proved to be a great country in action, not in words. The conference proved that nothing in this world could shake the country, or change its reality, which many enemies tried to by taking advantage of an unfortunate criminal incident.

On the margins of this initiative, media reporters were rushing to ask the Saudi minister of energy one specific question, which explicitly expressed the fear of those who entered the political gambit to defame Saudi Arabia. The question was: Is there any intention on the part of Saudi Arabia to start an oil embargo on the West as it did in 1973 in case the West imposed sanctions against the Kingdom? With confidence, the minister replied that there were no such intentions. This signaled to those who understood global politics that Saudi Arabia had many cards to play and would use them to return the monkeys inside the cages before they think of such procedures.

The success of the Future Investment Initiative hit the last nail on the coffin of the vicious media campaign against Saudi Arabia. The first hour of the Initiative did not pass before Saudi Arabia signed 25 commercial deals with a total value that exceeded SR200 billion. Not only that, Saudi Arabia signed huge economic deals with investment companies in the US, Russia, China, France, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, New Zealand and even Germany, the country whose politicians had threatened to suspend relations with the country.

Many German companies came in search of investment opportunities in Saudi Arabia. The German Schmidt Group signed an MoU with the Saudi petrochemicals giant SABIC.

All what I mentioned here proves one thing: messing with a great and political economic power like Saudi Arabia is suicidal.

Those who think of imposing sanctions on Saudi Arabia are only punishing themselves. Most importantly the leftist forces in the West exposed their weaknesses to the whole world and they cannot do more than barking through their media. That is why I will repeat what I said in a previous article: the Saudis will have the last laugh when this game is over.