Pushback against Saudi funding endangers Silicon Valley valuations
Whether this murder-scandal blows over or not, it makes the case for a random &quot;one-damned-thing-after-another&quot; version of history.<p>One day, the real-politic thing works. All money is green. A feudal monarchy makes a fine ally. The next it isn&#x27;t, it doesn&#x27;t. The next day, one little murder in the journalist persecution capital of the world threatens to blow up the entire alliance, military, political &amp; economic.<p>Saudi Arabia&#x27;s had an erm.. &quot;eventful&quot; power transition (MBS&#x27;) but it isn&#x27;t <i>fundamentally</i> different. It&#x27;s a monarchy in the real, undiluted sense. Laws and courts are mostly religious. There are no rights, on paper or in practice. No freedom of speech, affiliation, religion or concious. No pretense of these either. Religion &amp; Monarchy share power with eachother. Neither are bound by rule of law or by the people in any way.<p>Are these barriers to alliance, trade or investment? Whatever your answer, I don&#x27;t see what Khashoggi&#x27;s murder changes. Yet, this murder (or some other catalyst event, if this blows over) <i>can</i> change everything.<p>It really does seem like random chance.