The (Final) Saudi century?
Let’s start this post with a little live OSINT investigation. Readers will probably be familiar with the concept of OSINT (open-source intelligence). Journalistic networks such as Bellingcat and a whole host of Ukraine-focused sources have achieved amazing results drawing on openly available information to debunk official Russian disinformation, or prove the presence of certain military units at a particular moment. If you look up Neom - the Saudi megacity project spearheaded by Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman (MbS) you find all kinds of exciting images online, including a video proclaiming Neom is Real. When an authoritarian government feels the need to tell you that a city is “real”, it is reasonable to wonder if in fact the opposite is the case. And the answer to that question tells us a lot about the crisis in MbS’s Saudi Arabia.
Rather than rely on a flashy promo video, much of which appears to be CGI footage rather than pictures of an actual city, the OSINT analyst should look for unfiltered data. A good place to start is Google Earth’s brilliant Explore New Satellite Imagery Tool which shows the latest satellite captures and the date of the images. Click on this link and zoom into the bit of Saudi Arabia where the Gulf of Aqaba meets the Red Sea. This is the proposed site of Neom and thanks to Google Earth we can see that the area inside the boxes has the most recent satellite imagery, allowing us to get a good sense of whether Neom is, in fact, “real”.
Zoom a bit closer to the ground and you’ll find that there is very little actual Neom in existence. A few isolated resorts and a golf course. No evidence of human habitation, or economic activity. Certainly not what could be called a city. The video promises direct flights from London to Neom on Saudia airlines. Again, a quick online search demonstrates that these direct flights are not in fact available…
