Mariah Carey, Tiësto, as ‘progressive’ fig leaves for Saudi regime

This 14 January 2019 video about Saudi Arabia says about itself:

While US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in Riyadh, he is expected to bring up sensitive issues like the wars in Yemen and Syria and the backlash against the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Many are hoping that human rights will be among them.

Alia al-Hathloul is calling on Pompeo to raise the plight of all activists in Saudi jails. She describes how her sister Loujain has spent months in prison without being charged. In the New York Times article, her sister accuses royal advisor Saud al-Qahtani of laughing while he watched the torture being carried out. Al Jazeera’s Raheela Mahomed reports.

This 15 January 2019 video says about itself:

The sister of detained women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul has revealed for the first time the details of her alleged torture in Saudi Arabia.

Translated from Dutch NOS TV today:

Controversial Saudi performance by Tiësto and Mariah Carey will go on

A controversial performance by Dutch DJ Tiësto and singer Mariah Carey will go on tonight. …

Human rights organizations had urged the artists to withdraw, because the kingdom is acting harshly against dissidents. Women are oppressed, activists end up in prison and crown prince Mohammed is allegedly behind the notorious murder of the Saudi journalist Kashoggi in Istanbul.

And the killing of yet another journalist … the killing of pro-democracy demonstrators … Saudi armed forces killing in Bahrain … killing in Yemen. Etc.

“Tiësto can not pretend that Saudi Arabia is a country where nothing is going wrong”, said a spokesperson for Amnesty International. “If the DJ will perform, then he must be aware that he is being used by the Saudi public relations machine, which wants to pretend that the country is progressive.”

The Brabant province DJ has not yet responded to the commotion; Mariah Carey has. She points out that she is the first big female star to perform in the country, after years of strict rules about music and entertainment. …

Carey and Tiësto are performing tonight at a golf tournament in King Abdullah City, a city specially founded for trade, a two-hour drive from Mecca. The concert fits in with the efforts of the Saudi royal family to give the country a more modern image.

Basically, what is ‘modern’ about the Saudi government are the ‘modern’ royal palaces constructed in Mecca after destruction of historic buildings there from the time of the prophet Mohammed. And their ‘modern’ warplanes and other weapons, sold to them by merchants of death from NATO countries. Also ‘modern’ is the electricity with which women, arrested for activism for the right of women to drive cars, are tortured now.

Recently, shows by DJ David Guetta, The Black Eyed Peas and US American wrestlers were also staged.