Look Who Just Pledged $32 Billion To Promote Islam And Sharia Law In America

WESTERN JOURNALISM: Anti-Islam activist Pamela Geller sees Alwaleed’s generosity as a Trojan Horse.

Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a senior member of the Saudi royal family, announced that he will be giving away his entire $32 billion fortune to charity–but his past statements and commitment to promote Islam in the United States have raised red flags for some.

Alwaleed Philanthropies’ statement regarding the prince’s intentions indicates his donation would “help build bridges to foster cultural understanding.”

“Philanthropy is a personal responsibility, which I embarked upon more than three decades ago and is an intrinsic part of my Islamic faith. With this pledge, I am honoring my life-long commitment to what matters most – helping to build a more peaceful, equitable and sustainable world for generations to come,” says Prince Alwaleed. » | Randy DeSoto | Friday, July 10, 2015

Iran Is Playing Obama, Says Savvy Saudi Prince

IRAN FOCUS: Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the Saudi royal who seems to own most everything there is to own -- a chunk of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, a piece of Twitter, all of Paris’s George V Hotel, the Savoy in London, and a Boeing 747 for his personal use -- was sitting in the lobby of the Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago the other evening (he and Bill Gates own most of Four Seasons Holdings), offering up the view -- the view of an experienced negotiator from the Middle East -- that U.S. President Barack Obama is outmatched by the Islamic Republic of Iran.

“There’s no confidence in the Obama administration doing the right thing with Iran,” he told me, with a directness that would make Benjamin Netanyahu blush. “We’re really concerned -- Israel, Saudi Arabia, the Middle East countries -- about this.”

It is quite something for a Saudi royal to state baldly that his country is part of a tacit alliance with Israel, but Saudi leaders, like Israel’s leaders, are frantic with worry that an overeager Obama will accede to Iran’s desire to become a threshold state, one whose nuclear program is so advanced that it would only need several weeks to assemble a deliverable weapon. Alwaleed, like Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, believes that Iran, in its ongoing negotiations with the world’s major powers, will pocket whatever sanctions relief it gets without committing to ending its nuclear program. “Why are they offering relief?” he asked. “Keep the pressure on. Sanctions are what brought about the negotiations to begin with! Why not keep the pressure up?”

Obama, Alwaleed says, is a man who is in desperate political straits and needs a victory -- any victory -- to right his presidency. “Obama is in so much of a rush to have a deal with Iran,” he said. “He wants anything. He’s so wounded. It’s very scary. Look, the 2014 elections are going to begin. Within two months they’re going to start campaigning. Thirty-nine members of his own party in the House have already moved away from him on Obamacare. That’s scary for him.” » | Jeffrey Goldberg | Bloomberg | Saturday, November 23, 2013

Saudi Prince to Fight Forbes Over Rich List
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: In a rare interview, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal tells Christian Sylt about his anger over the Forbes Rich List, which estimated that he is worth $20bn – $9.6bn less than he claims and not enough to place him in the coveted top 10.


There is something about the world’s wealthiest people and it tends to show.

An army of waiters swarmed around hotelier Sir Rocco Forte when I interviewed him in the Grill at London’s Savoy hotel. Bernie Ecclestone prefers to meet journalists in his personal playground, the Formula One paddock, whilst Guy Laliberté, billionaire founder of circus company, Cirque du Soleil, chooses his penthouse suite which sits atop the Metropolitan hotel and has floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over Hyde Park. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal outdoes them all.

Prince Alwaleed is the 58-year-old grandson of the founder of Saudi Arabia but not one drop of his fortune comes from oil or inheritance. Instead, he made his money by investing in global brands at a time when their share prices were depressed. Along the way he has built up significant stakes in trophy assets such as Apple, Citigroup, Disney and the Savoy Hotel in London. His portfolio spans the globe and he likes people to know it.

When I first interviewed Prince Alwaleed in 2002 we met on his glitzy 282-ft yacht which was moored off the coast of Cannes. He bought it from Donald Trump in 1991 and the two are kindred spirits.

On board there is a room containing a long golden table laden with magazines showing Prince Alwaleed on their covers. On another occasion, the interview took place at the historic George V hotel in Paris, which Alwaleed rescued in 1996. We met in a reception area lined with 17th century tapestries and armed bodyguards.

Given his penchant for displays of grandeur it is not hard to imagine how he must have felt when, two weeks ago, Forbes, the business magazine, published its annual ranking of the world’s billionaires. It estimated that Prince Alwaleed is worth $20bn – which is $9.6bn less than he claims and not enough to place him in the coveted top 10. » | Christian Sylt | Saturday, March 16, 2013

Forbes List Understates My Wealth, Saudi Prince Says

BBC: Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal has accused Forbes magazine of understating his wealth.

In its 2013 list of the world's richest people, Forbes estimated Prince Alwaleed's net worth at $20bn (£13bn), putting him in 26th place.

However, the prince's office said the magazine used flawed valuation methods.

According to some reports, the prince estimates his net worth to be $29.6bn, a figure that would put him in the top 10 of the magazine's latest rich list.

The list, published on Monday, saw Mexico's Carlos Slim retain the top slot for the fourth straight year with a net worth of $73bn.

The 10th spot on the list went to Bernard Arnault and family of the luxury goods group LVMH, with a net worth of $29bn. » | Tuesday, March 05, 2013

FORBES: Prince Alwaleed And The Curious Case Of Kingdom Holding Stock » | Sunday, March 03, 2013

Saudi Money Is Finite after All!
The history attached to Raffles Hotel may lure buyers at $450m. Photo courtesy of TimesOnline
TIMESONLINE: A byword for colonial grandeur, and a favourite watering hole of such literary luminaries as Somerset Maugham, Joseph Conrad and Rudyard Kipling, Raffles Hotel, home to the Singapore Sling cocktail, has been put up for sale for up to $450 million (£300 million). Apparently, the hotel's owner, Prince Alwaleed of Saudi Arabia, is feeling the pinch.

The Times understands that Fairmont Raffles Hotels International, in which the Prince's Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) has a controlling stake, is seeking buyers for its remaining hotel assets, despite the depressed state of the property market, and it is understood he may even be prepared to sell his stake in the company itself.

Hotel industry sources believe that the Prince, dubbed the Warren Buffett of the Gulf, is looking at a range of disposals in response to the sharp fall in value of some of his biggest investments. KHC has seen a big drop in the value of its investments in companies including Songbird Estates, the majority owner of Canary Wharf, Euro Disney and News Corporation, parent company of The Times. Kingdom Hotel Investments, a small London-listed vehicle in which he has a 55 per cent stake, has lost more than two thirds of its value in the past 12 months. Raffles Hotel Put On Market as Prince Alwaleed Attempts to Stop Wealth Draining Away >>> Dominic Walsh | Thursday, April 16, 2009

£16m to Spread Islam
Photo of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Abdulaziz al-Saud courtesu of Google Images
THE INDEPENDENT: Two of the country's best known universities are to set up research centres aimed at promoting a better understanding of Islam.

Cambridge and Edinburgh universities will share a £16m endowment from Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Abdulaziz al-Saud, a member of the Saudi Arabian royal family and chairman of the Kingdom Foundation – a charitable and philanthropic foundation set up to alleviate suffering around the world.

Both universities, members of the 20-strong Russell Group, which represents the leading research institutions, will set up study centres with the aim of fostering better understanding between the Muslim world and the West.

In Cambridge, the HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Centre of Islamic Studies will seek to develop a "constructive and critical awareness of the role of Islam in wider society". There will be research programmes on Islam in the UK and Europe and the portrayal of Islam in the media. Public lectures, conferences and summer schools will be organised to promote better understanding, with policy makers from both worlds invited to become visiting fellows at the centre.

At Edinburgh, the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Centre for the Study of Islam in the Modern World will aim to concentrate on promoting understanding of the history of Islamic civilisation and of Muslims in Britain.

Professor Carole Hillenbrand, head of the department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at Edinburgh, said the centre's programme would have "twin emphases on both the past and the present and how they reinforce and illuminate each other". Saudi Prince Gives Universities £16m for Study of Islam >>> By Richard Garner | May 8, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)