PL charge City for alleged breaches of financial rules

Dribble said:
The Saudis are desperately trying to bring in sweeping reforms, but it's seriously difficult to do when surrounded by religious enemies who want you dead, & the constant wars that keep erupting around them.

The current conflict in Palestine, & the US/UK attacks on Yemen in response to Yemeni piracy & them attacking US/UK warships are a case in point. Things are never straightforward when religion is thrown into the mix. \0/
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When we were first taken over I read an article by a Canadian journalist that talked about the issue of modernisation in the Middle East and the push back from the religious right over there.
The article was mostly about Formula 1, as I think it was around that time that they had the first Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but City were mentioned in passing as part of the various international sports that were being invested in by Middle Eastern owners.
The gist of the article was saying the reason that there was more and more investment in things like sport and entertainment was partly to promote the region to the wider world but mostly to allow the population of these countries to have some access and view into the wider world.
It talked about how most of the leaders of these countries were western educated and they could see that the particular brand of religious extremism popular in that part of the world isn't going to allow them to become a tourist destination easily and would eventually hold them back in their financial diversification efforts.
The trouble they have is that the Imam's still have lots of power and cultural sway over the populace but if it becomes easier for people to see and meet other cultures from around the world then that would erode the power that the religious leaders have, kind of in the same way that the most racist people you meet live in areas with very few non-white people, it's easy to vilify and be scared of what you don't know or understand.
I've no idea how it's working out for them or even how true it is but it seems to link in with what you have said about Saudi Arabia. It was certainly more interesting and nuanced than the various articles about sportswashing or whatever else the UK press were screeching about at the time.
 
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