Fox News producers Steve Kurtz and Kristine Kotta have penned a piece published on their network’s website lauding Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince for his role in pushing reforms across the Gulf kingdom.
Titled “Saudi Arabia's reformist crown prince pushes to bring the Kingdom, and its work force, into the future,” the article spoke to several analysts who agreed with the authors that “like a certain other world leader, he is putting the focus on jobs”.
“There is a lot riding on the success of Vision 2030,” Gerald Feierstein, director of Gulf affairs at the Middle East Institute and former US ambassador to Yemen, said in the Fox News article. “The risk, if the project fails, is that you will see in Saudi Arabia the same kind of demographic and societal pressures that led to the Arab Spring explosions in 2011.”
Karen Elliott House, a retired “Wall Street Journal” editor and publisher who won a Pulitzer Prize for her coverage of the Middle East and authored the book “On Saudi Arabia: Its People, Past, Religion, Fault Lines--and Future”, said noticeable changes have already been made especially when it comes to women’s rights.
“I have seen Saudi women working in a restaurant on my visit [in January],” House told Fox News. "And many young Saudis now have bought and run food trucks they take around to sell and serve their fellow Saudis at the new entertainment events. Seeing Saudis do something like this would have been unheard of two years ago.”
