The Price of Freedom for Saudi Arabia’s Richest Man: $6 Billion - WSJ
▻https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-price-of-freedom-for-saudi-arabias-richest-man-6-billion-1513981887
Saudi authorities are demanding at least $6 billion from Saudi Prince al-Waleed bin Talal to free him from detention, people familiar with the matter said, potentially putting the global business empire of one of the world’s richest men at risk.
Le reste en payant si vous en avez envie. #prison_dorée
▻https://mideastsoccer.blogspot.fr/2017/12/challenging-saudi-crown-prince-alwaleed.html
In what appears to be the largest settlement demand, Prince Al-Waleed has, according to The Wall Street Journal, resisted pressure by the government to hand over $6 billion.
Instead, the prince has reportedly offered the government a significant stake in his Riyadh-listed Kingdom Holding that has invested in blue chips such as Citibank, Twitter, Four Seasons hotels, and Disney, and operates a media and entertainment empire. Kingdom Holding has lost 14 percent of its $8.7 billion market value since Prince Al-Waleed’s detention. The prince has also insisted that he retain a leadership position in his conglomerate.
With a fortune estimated by Forbes at $16.8 billion, Prince Al-Waleed reportedly believes that the cash settlement demanded by the government would put his empire at peril and amount to an admission of guilt.
That may indeed be the purpose of the exercise. A social reformer, who already years ago implemented within his own company changes of women’s status announced in recent months by Prince Mohammed, is Saudi Arabia’s most prominent entrepreneur who is continuously welcomed around the world by heads of state and government and business moguls.
Suite du feuilleton saoudien : Al-Waleed bin Talal (Rotana) aurait été prévenu par des services secrets occidentaux des menaces contre sa personne, mais il n’en a tenu cure. MbS pensait qu’il serait totalement à ses côtés mais al-Waleed bin Talal a eu la mauvaise idée de critiquer, ou plutôt de s’interroger, sur certaines décisions économiques, y compris sur Twitter.
هذه هي قصة الخلاف الحقيقية : جهات غربية نبهت الأمير بن طلال من الاعتقال ولكنه استهان بالتحذير ولم يستفد من حادث اعتقال ولي العهد محمد بن نايف | رأي اليوم
▻http://www.raialyoum.com/?p=774566
WATCH Trump Explain How To Buy A SuperYacht From An Arms Dealer - gCaptain
▻https://gcaptain.com/watch-trump-explains-how-to-buy-a-superyacht-from-an-arms-dealer
In his first appearance on “Late Night with David Letterman,” presidential candidate Donald Trump talks about his purchase of a superyacht from the Saudi Arabian arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, one of the Middle East’s most notorious men at the time.
The yacht in questions is the Trump Princess. Built in 1980 and christened the The Nabila , the 282-foot megayacht, was worth the equivalent of more than $250 million today. She was originally built for Saudi billionaire Adnan Khashoggi and was featured in the James Bond movie “Never Say Never Again” as the ship of super-villain Maximillian Largo. Khashoggi needed to liquidate his assets and sold the yacht to the sultan of Brunei, who sold it to Trump in 1987 for just $29 million.
During Khashoggi’s ownership, it was one of the largest yachts in the world but is now ranked down at 65th and continues to fall down the rankings, due to the trend of larger and larger personal yachts being built. In fact the largest yacht as of 2016 is 180 metres so Trump Princess falls short of even half that size.
Trump sold it when he ran into financial problems in 1991 to Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal for $20 million.
The Alliance Between Israel And Saudi Arabia
▻http://www.mintpressnews.com/the-alliance-between-israel-and-saudi-arabia/209548
In particular, according to information of a Jerusalem Post correspondent citing diplomatic sources of both countries, since the beginning of 2014 there have been as many as five secret meetings between the Saudis and Israelis, in India, Italy and the Czech Republic. Reports appeared in the Arab press that senior members of the Israeli security forces, including the head of Mossad, secretly visited Riyadh and held discussions there with their Saudi equivalents. Apparently there were even negotiations between the then director general of the Saudi Intelligence Agency, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, with senior officials of the Israeli secret services in Geneva.
On June 5, 2015 Director-General of the Israeli Foreign Ministry Dore Gold met Saudi met with General Anwar Majed Eshki at a conference in Washington, when the latter presented his strategic MER plan. Key highlights of this document are devoted to establishing cooperation between the Arab countries and Israel and the need for joint efforts to isolate the Iranian regime.
King Salman of Saudi Arabia commissioned prince and media magnate Al-Waleed bin Talal to start a dialogue with the Israeli intellectual community with the aim of reestablishing contact with the neighbouring country. Prince Talal called on all inhabitants of the Middle East, which were torn apart by war, to end their hatred of the Jewish people. He also declared that his visit to Jerusalem signifies the beginning of ‘peace and brotherliness’ between Israel and its Arab neighbours. Arab media reported that Saudi Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi confirmed that his country is ready to export ‘black gold’ to any place in the world, including Israel. Saudi Minister pointed out that the majority of the Arab world does not see any obstacles to trade relations. In August 2014 the head of the Saudi Foreign Ministry Prince Saud Al Faisal declared at the world assembly of Islamic scholars in Jeddah: “We must reject planting hatred towards Israel and we should normalize relations with the Jewish state.” Dore Gold, mentioned above, told the news agency Bloomberg: “Our standing today on this stage does not mean we have resolved all the differences that our countries shared over the years. But our hope is we will be able to address them fully in the years ahead and Riyadh can become a strategic partner of the Jewish state”.
Israël et Arabie saoudite : les discussions secrètes
Unis face à la menace d’un Iran nucléaire, les deux pays que tout oppose se sont rencontrés à cinq reprises depuis 2014 pour contrecarrer Téhéran.
Par Armin Arefi
Publié le 12/06/2015
▻http://www.lepoint.fr/monde/israel-et-arabie-saoudite-les-discussions-secretes-12-06-2015-1936005_24.php
Moi aussi je veux une Bentley : je dois bombarder qui ? Saudi prince criticised for offering Bentleys to pilots bombing Yemen
▻http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/saudiarabia/11558419/Saudi-prince-criticised-for-offering-Bentleys-to-pilots-bombing-Yemen.h
A member of Saudi Arabia’s royal family has offered luxury cars to fighter pilots taking part in the country’s bombing campaign in Yemen.
“In appreciation of their role in this operation, I’m honoured to offer 100 Bentley cars to the 100 Saudi [fighter] pilots,” Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal announced to his three million Twitter followers on Tuesday evening.
The prince, once described by Time magazine as the “Arabian Warren Buffett”, later deleted the tweet, but not before it had been re-posted more than 5,000 times.
(Si tu n’as pas un chasseur-bombardier sous la main, tu dois tout de même pouvoir te faire offrir un Rolex en zigouillant quelqu’un. Ou au moins une Apple Watch.)
موجـة من التعليقات الساخرة بعد تغريدة للوليد بن طلال ذكّر فيها القيادة السعودية بـ’تطلعات ومتطلبات’ الشعب
▻http://www.alquds.co.uk/?p=87344
موجـة من التعليقات الساخرة بعد تغريدة للوليد بن طلال ذكّر فيها القيادة السعودية بـ’تطلعات ومتطلبات’ الشعب
Ca bouge en Saoudie... L’émir Al-Waleed bin Talal (milliardaire saoudo-libanais à ambitions politiques) tweete le jour de la fête naitonale pour rappeler aux dirigeants du pays (sa famille en fait) qu’il faudrait peut-être songer à se bouger un peu pour être à l’écouter des demandes du pays, telles qu’elles se font entendre ailleurs dans la région.
C’est déjà quelque chose, mais le plus étonnant c’est que cela déclanche un déluge de Tweets en retour, pas du tout dupes de la manoeuvre et qui suggèrent au prince grand patron des médias (Rotana et Cie) de commencer les réformes par lui-même...
الوليد بن طلال يقيل مدير عام قناة الرسالة لإنتمائه للإخوان المسلمين
▻http://www.alquds.co.uk/?p=75247
الوليد بن طلال يقيل مدير عام قناة الرسالة لإنتمائه للإخوان المسلمين
Al-Waleed bin Talal, prince saoudien milliardaire et en principe libéral, vire le directeur général d’al-Risala, une des chaînes religieuses du groupe Rotana, parce qu’il appartient aux Frères musulmans.
A mon avis, il aurait également dû, au minimum,le fouetter !
Dans Elaph, ils inventent le mot d’"ikhwanitude" (ikhwâniyya) : ▻http://www.elaph.com/Web/news/2013/8/830642.html?entry=SaudiArabia.
Le profile de l’homme en question:
TV manager fired over Muslim Brotherhood links | GulfNews.com
▻http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/saudi-arabia/tv-manager-fired-over-muslim-brotherhood-links-1.1221473
Manama: Saudi businessman and investor Al Waleed Bin Talal has fired the manager of a television station after he admitted he was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.
In a letter addressed to Tariq Al Suwaidan, the manager of Al Risala (The Message), Al Waleed reportedly said that there was no room for any Muslim Brotherhood member in his group. Al Waleed heads the TV station’s board.
According to Saudi media, Al Waleed said that Al Suwaidan, 59, had violated the policy of the station against affiliation with any party.
Reacting to the news of his dismissal, Al Suwaidan said he had been honoured to lead the station into moderation and success.
Al Risala has slots on the Arabsat and Nilesat satellites and serves the Middle East, North Africa and Europe.
“I thank HRH Prince Al Waleed on this great opportunity that I was honoured to have to manage Al Risala channel and achieve its current levels of moderation and success that will, God willing, continue,” Al Suwaidan wrote on Twitter. “We have built Al Risala Channel according to high professional standards and clear principles and criteria and through an outstanding and fully integrated team. It does not depend on a single person. I wish everyone success and urge them to support the channel."
“Only those who do not rely on God fear about livelihood and only those who are concerned only about life are ready to give up their principles,” he added.
Al Suwaidan does not fit the stereotypical image of a bearded, grim religious leader.
The prominent 59-year-old Kuwaiti Islamist and leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Kuwait is also an entrepreneur, author, motivational speaker, and TV personality with shows ranking among the highest in Middle East satellite channels ratings.
He is also a management, leadership and strategic planning consultant and is often consulted by prominent regional governmental and private sector organisations.
Al Suwaidan studied in the United States and received a bachelor’s degree in petroleum and natural gas engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master’s degree and PhD in petroleum engineering from the University of Tulsa.
Describing himself as a “moderate Islamist”, he has often called for peace and understanding with Christian leaders, supported women’s rights within the Islamic sharia law and pushed for reforming the traditional understanding of Islam.
His popularity is based on the more than 30 books he authored and on his social media activity. He has posted close to 10,000 tweets and his account on Twitter has over 1.9 million followers. His Facebook page has over 1,208,203 “likes.”
In his lectures, he often defended individual freedom as a major principle in Islam as long as “it is in a polite manner and without hurting others.”❞
Tiens, au détour d’une dépêche, Angry Arab livre un détail intéressant :
►http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/06/serving-all-arab-dictatorships.html
PS ADC [American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee] is now a tool of Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, who is a close friend of Bashshar Al-Asad.
Saudi Prince al-Waleed’s land ’frozen’ | Al-Masry Al-Youm : Today’s News from Egypt
►http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/394606
Egypt’s public prosecutors’ office said on Sunday it had ’frozen’ land in southern Egypt controlled by Saudi billionaire Prince al-Waleed bin Talal because the original sale of the land violated the law.
Yeah !
The spokesman said Al-Waleed’s contract violated Egyptian law because the area KADCO bought was twice the legal limit and because it improperly exempted al-Waleed’s company from all taxes and fees.
C’est énorme ! Les rachats de terre par les séoudiens sont un fait marquant dans le monde arabe : impact sur le développement, impact sur l’agriculture, impact sur la politique, etc.
