Princes, ministers and a billionaire are ‘imprisoned’ in the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton while the Saudi Arabian Army is said to be in an uproar
by Pepe Escobar for the Asia Times (posted by special arrangement)
The House of Saud’s King Salman devises an high-powered “anti-corruption” commission and appoints his son, Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, a.k.a. MBS, as chairman.
Right on cue, the commission detains 11 House of Saud princes, four current ministers and dozens of former princes/cabinet secretaries – all charged with corruption. Hefty bank accounts are frozen, private jets are grounded. The high-profile accused lot is “jailed” at the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton.
War breaks out within the House of Saud, as Asia Times had anticipated back in July. Rumors have been swirling for months about a coup against MBS in the making. Instead, what just happened is yet another MBS pre-emptive coup.
A top Middle East business/investment source who has been doing deals for decades with the opaque House of Saud offers much-needed perspective: “This is more serious than it appears. The arrest of the two sons of previous King Abdullah, Princes Miteb and Turki, was a fatal mistake. This now endangers the King himself. It was only the regard for the King that protected MBS. There are many left in the army against MBS and they are enraged at the arrest of their commanders.”
To say the Saudi Arabian Army is in uproar is an understatement. “He’d have to arrest the whole army before he could feel secure.”
Prince Miteb until recently was a serious contender to the Saudi throne. But the highest profile among the detainees belongs to billionaire Prince al-Waleed Bin Talal, owner of Kingdom Holdings, major shareholder in Twitter, CitiBank, Four Seasons, Lyft and, until recently, Rupert Murdoch’s Newscorp.
Al-Waleed’s arrest ties up with a key angle; total information control. There’s no freedom of information in Saudi Arabia. MBS already controls all the internal media (as well as the appointment of governorships). But then there’s Saudi media at large. MBS aims to “hold the keys to all the large media empires and relocate them to Saudi Arabia.”
So how did we get here?
The secrets behind the purge
The story starts with secret deliberations in 2014 about a possible “removal” of then King Abdullah. But “the dissolution of the royal family would lead to the breaking apart of tribal loyalties and the country splitting into three parts. It would be more difficult to secure the oil, and the broken institutions whatever they were should be maintained to avoid chaos.”
Instead, a decision was reached to get rid of Prince Bandar bin Sultan – then actively coddling Salafi-jihadis in Syria – and replace the control of the security apparatus with Mohammed bin Nayef.
The succession of Abdullah proceeded smoothly. “Power was shared between three main clans: King Salman (and his beloved son Prince Mohammed); the son of Prince Nayef (the other Prince Mohammed), and finally the son of the dead king (Prince Miteb, commander of the National Guard). In practice, Salman let MBS run the show.
And, in practice, blunders also followed. The House of Saud lost its lethal regime-change drive in Syria and is bogged down in an unwinnable war on Yemen, which on top of it prevents MBS from exploiting the Empty Quarter – the desert straddling both nations.
The Saudi Treasury was forced to borrow on the international markets. Austerity ruled – with news of MBS buying a yacht for almost half a billion dollars while lazing about the Cote d’Azur not going down particularly well. Hardcore political repression is epitomized by the decapitation of Shi’ite leader Sheikh Al-Nimr. Not only the Shi’ites in the Eastern province are rebelling but also Sunni provinces in the west.
As the regime’s popularity radically tumbled down, MBS came up with Vision 2030. Theoretically, it was shift away from oil; selling off part of Aramco; and an attempt to bring in new industries. Cooling off dissatisfaction was covered by royal payoffs to key princes to stay loyal and retroactive payments on back wages to the unruly masses.
Yet Vision 2030 cannot possibly work when the majority of productive jobs in Saudi Arabia are held by expats. Bringing in new jobs raises the question of where are the new (skilled) workers to come from.
Throughout these developments, aversion to MBS never ceased to grow; “There are three major royal family groups aligning against the present rulers: the family of former King Abdullah, the family of former King Fahd, and the family of former Crown Prince Nayef.”
Nayef – who replaced Bandar – is close to Washington and extremely popular in Langley due to his counter-terrorism activities. His arrest earlier this year angered the CIA and quite a few factions of the House of Saud – as it was interpreted as MBS forcing his hand in the power struggle.
According to the source, “he might have gotten away with the arrest of CIA favorite Mohammed bin Nayef if he smoothed it over but MBS has now crossed the Rubicon though he is no Caesar. The CIA regards him as totally worthless.”
Some sort of stability could eventually be found in a return to the previous power sharing between the Sudairis (without MBS) and the Chamars (the tribe of deceased King Abdullah). After the death of King Salman, the source would see it as “MBS isolated from power, which would be entrusted to the other Prince Mohammed (the son of Nayef). And Prince Miteb would conserve his position.”
MBS acted exactly to prevent this outcome. The source, though, is adamant; “There will be regime change in the near future, and the only reason that it has not happened already is because the old King is liked among his family. It is possible that there may be a struggle emanating from the military as during the days of King Farouk, and we may have a ruler arise that is not friendly to the United States.”
‘Moderate’ Salafi-jihadis, anyone?
Before the purge, the House of Saud’s incessant spin centered on a $500 billion zone straddling Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, on the Red Sea coast, a sort of Dubai replica to be theoretically completed by 2025, powered by wind and solar energy, and financed by its sovereign wealth fund and proceeds from the Aramco IPO.
In parallel, MBS pulled another rabbit from his hat swearing the future of Saudi Arabia is a matter of “simply reverting to what we followed – a moderate Islam open to the world and all religions.”
In a nutshell: a state that happens to be the private property of a royal family inimical to all principles of freedom of expression and religion, as well as the ideological matrix of all forms of Salafi-jihadism simply cannot metastasize into a “moderate” state just because MBS says so.
Meanwhile, a pile-up of purges, coups and countercoups shall be the norm.
Wow that was fast! Just put in the request 5 minutes ago asking for analysis of the Saudi “Purge” and voila: the first article. I can’t wait till we get the run down of the situation there from a local expert on Saudi Arabia and the GCC. Would love to hear/read Saker’s analysis too (after he’s had a chance to digest multiple sources and access his personal contacts). This is a very interesting development.
1) A purge; 2 princes killed in 24 hours, blowhard bin-talaal who openly attacked Trump during the US elections is under arrest.
2)Sudden legal changes allowing women the right to drive. Among other “liberalizations”
3)Open criticism by the current guys in control of Saudi Arabia about the wasteful meddling into the affairs of local countries by the previous Saudi regime personalities (now being purged) at the behest of the west along with Qatar.
4) Announcement of austerity plans by the Saudis.
Iran’s leaders must be ROFL a lot today.
I fear all these machinations, including the resignation of Hariri, are in lieu of a planned attack against Iran/Hezbollah. The Zionists are shifting to plan B following the abject failure of their Syria policy.
yawn – an defeatist
Read Animal Farm to see the origin of the zionist abuse that is labelling comment as ‘defeatist’. Orwell knew these people back-to-front and inside out.
It is Tony Blair’s own organs of the press that laughably describe the warlord Blair and the Deep State have placed into power as a ‘moderate’ and ‘reformer’. It is the BBC and Guardian that highlight the pathetic ‘convincer’ (a term used by conmen to describe an action that gets the ‘mark’ to finally believe in the con) – his allowing of women to drive- a meaningless and cost free gesture to fool fools.
Meanwhile people who can think have been shocked to their core at Saudi’s official statements about war with Iran and Lebanon. Traditionally, the last thing coup leaders do is risk their coup by talking war in the midst of the purges. So when war ***is*** mentioned, it is because was is the whole intention of the coup without an atom of a doubt.
You may well be right. We could be in for an action replay of the 2006 Lebanon war.
Pls. read.
Veracity unknown. Seems coherent.
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http:%2F%2Fal-akhbar.com%2Fnode%2F286011&edit-text=
Thank you, that was informative: 39 emirs under arrest and counting, according to the article you supplied.
Quite interesting. Couldn’t get all about Lebanon as I don’t know the politics and various actors well enough to understand – at first panic and scramble to demand Hariri’s return, seeking help from the French to no avail (US declined to intervene, what’s up with that? ), then calm returning with Hezbollah’s measured response…
An article on the Duran suggested that the tech conference on the proposed economic zone initiative was used to draw all the principles back to the Kingdom for the big ‘party’.
Events in the region seem to be accelerating on many fronts at once. Abbas to visit Riyadh?
War is coming and very soon now. The neo-con outlets are full of the talk, yet two days ago they completely denied the possibility, and were totally transfixed by the N Korea fake-out.
Israel is in the final stages of preparation for large scale war on Lebanon with Saudi Arabia as a partner. There is a massive air training event in Israel as I type, in partnership with the major catholic nations like Poland and Italy.
Extreme fools on our side have bought the ‘moderate reformer’ BS pushed by the BBC and Guardian newspaper hook-line-and-sinker. All Blair had to do was get his warlord to announce women could drive in KSA, and 90% of our side fell for this classic ‘convincer’.
There is no chaos in KSA, just the removal of anti-war forces amongst the elite.
Pepe is an amazing bloke. He gets it from the horse’s mouth,at lightening speed, on a wide range of, the most important subjects.
Pepe I love the way you write, but more importantly, this is one of the finest pieces I have read today. I am trying to read all of my favorites and sort what has happened. My Saudi Student (I teach at a local college) intimated something like this was in the offing last spring. Keep up the good work.
Yes, I agree that Pepe Escobar is impressive. I read his articles for years in The Asia Times. Now, he is all over the place. Well done!
TUE NOV7:
Saudi Arabia has barred Yemen’s ex-president, along with his sons, ministers and military officials, from returning home for months, Yemeni officials tell The Associated Press, a sign of how much the leader-in-exile has been deeply weakened in a war fought in his name by the Saudi-led coalition against Ansarullah in his country.
(AP) — The officials said the ban was prompted by the bitter enmity between ex-President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and the United Arab Emirates, which is part of the coalition and has come to dominate southern Yemen, the portion of the country not under Ansarullah control. Hadi and much of his government have been in the Saudi capital Riyadh for most of the war.
en.alalam.ir/news/3133211/yemeni-ex-president-under-house-arrest-in-saudi–barred-from-returning-home—associated-press
Another insightful article by the inimitable Pepe Escobar.
A comment on Bin Nayef being a darling of the CIA. While I’m not disputing this claim, which has been made by other reputable analysts, this does not necessarily mean that the CIA opposes this consolidation of power by MBS. Judging by the rather positive spin of MBS’s purge in the Western Zionist Mockingbird-infected media, one can speculate that a Mossad-led Israel-first CIA decided to throw their support behind MBS at the expense of Bin Nayef – and other potential rivals. MBS’s inexperience, average intelligence and exploitable manipulability make him the perfect Manchurian candidate for off-camera Zionist puppeteers, the Saudi version of dimwit W. Bush.
I agree – since when are we concerned about the CIA and their feelings ? Double crossing two headed snake that it is.
Here’s my admittedly creative interpretation of what’s going on in Saudi Arabia right now:
“The young leader devised a brilliant strategy to capture the corrupt Saudi elite and potentially seize billions of dollars’ worth of their assets in an historically unprecedented transfer of wealth from private pockets to public socio-economic programs on the centenary of the Russian Revolution.”
http://theduran.com/mohammed-bin-salman-unlikely-anti-oligarchic-bolshevik/
——————————————–
Here’s what I shared on Facebook on the day of the event:
Exactly as I previously predicted, Saudi Arabia is embroiled in a “deep state” war:
“To summarise today’s even more bizarre Saudi news day:
* Trump urges Aramco IPO
* Lebanon PM resigns
* Saudis intercept missile
* Major cabinet reshuffle; 3 Saudi princes – who run the anti-graft committee – arrested for money-laundering
* A total of 11 princes, >30 ministers arrested on corruption”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-11-04/shocking-purge-saudi-king-arrests-billionaire-prince-bin-talal-others-anti-money-lau?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook
——————–
For background information, please refer to my earlier analysis asking “Is Saudi Arabia’s Grand Strategy Shifting?”:
“The combined effect of these two multipolar realignments with China and Russia, as well as the likely downscaling of the War on Yemen and the “Damocles’ Sword” potential that Saudi Arabia has for dealing a deathblow to the dollar, are increasingly turning Mohammed Bin Salman into the “Saudi Saddam”, in that he’s now being targeted for elimination by the US because this one-time American subordinate was brave enough to chart his country’s own sovereign path in the world.
If he can successfully withstand the US-encouraged “deep state” coup against him being waged through the Hybrid War mechanisms of a rebelling clergy, a possible domestic terrorist insurgency (as partial blowback from Saudi Arabia’s support for such groups abroad), and a royalist plot, among whatever other means might soon make themselves available, then it’s expected that the end result will be a considerable moderation of the Kingdom’s destabilizing activities in the region.”
https://orientalreview.org/2017/10/06/saudi-arabias-grand-strategy-shifting/
——————–
This week’s Trendstorm also touched upon the issue as well, with crucial commentary from Syed Ali Zia Jaffery and Tayyab Baloch:
“Mohammed Bin Salman’s reforms might cause a conflict with some of Saudi Arabia’s most hardline clerics, which is why his solution is to, as he daringly put it during an investment forum in Riyadh two weeks ago, “return to the former state or affairs, to moderate Islam”, and to also “swiftly deal a blow to extremist ideologies”, which observers interpreted as the monarchy announcing its moves to soften the previously pervasive influence of the Kingdom’s Wahhabi clerics.”
https://sputniknews.com/radio_trendstorm/201711041058789677-saudi-arabia-modernizing-the-wahhabi-kingdom/
——————————————–
And this is my wrap-up summary of the Wild Week in Mideast Geopolitics:
“This past week was geopolitically very eventful for the Mideast, even by the region’s dynamic standards, which shows that a new international order is indeed being formed there; but serious challenges still remain to its ultimate fruition.”
https://www.globalvillagespace.com/the-wild-week-in-mideast-geopolitics/
Since this is the same MBS who is totally anti-Shia,and anti-Iranian,which means also anti-Syrian and anti-Hezbollah. Is friendly to Israel.Who started the Yemen war and the trouble with Qatar. I strongly doubt he has all of a sudden become a moderate.A far more likely thought is he wants to keep his power and his head.After all his past mistakes.And is trying to purge all his enemies,for that purpose.He thinks if he makes some tiny moves and statements to show to the West he wants to “moderate” the country.He will have a better chance to get them on his side,and save his skin.Its yet to be seen if that will work for him in the long run.The lunacy of his 2030 Vision plan,doesn’t say much for that.But in no way should we ever think he is serious about bringing in a new “moderate Wahhabi” Kingdom.
Andrew you are on to a very important point:
“seize billions of dollars’ worth of their assets in an historically unprecedented transfer of wealth”
This is one of the main goals of this entire MBS operation !!
If you connect the dots you will see this is one of the main if not the main issue here. And you can understand this by making a list of who was arrested and even killed:
– Mansour bin Muqrin….”died in an helicopter crash”, with some activists claiming it was an assassination (I would not be surprised actually)……He is also a multi-billionaire and son of the ousted crown prince Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz (former intelligence director).
https://southfront.org/saudi-prince-killed-helicopter-crash/
– Alwaleed bin Talal, owner of Kingdom Holding group –> Multi billionaire
– Prince Mitaab bin Abdullah, minister of the National Guard
– Prince Turki bin Abdullah, former governor of Riyadh
– Prince Turki bin Nasser, former head of meteorology, environment
– Waleed al-Ibrahim, chairman of MBC media group…..this is an interesting one!!
Waleed al-Ibrahim is uncle of Prince Abdul Aziz bin Fahd…who has been reportedly killed in a stand-off to arrest him:
https://southfront.org/second-saudi-prince-is-dead-in-24-hours-this-time-in-firefight-with-security-forces/
– Prince Abdul Aziz bin Fahd (KILLED) is connected to Saad al Hariri via the Saudi Oger company. And he is also a multi-billionaire.
– Khaled al-Tuwaijri, former president of the Royal Court
– Adel Faqih, minister of economy and planning
– Amr al-Dabbagh, former president of the General Investment Authority
– Saleh Abdullah Kamel, chairman of Dallah al Baraka Group
– Saud al-Tobaishi, head of Royal ceremonies and protocols
– Ibrahim al-Assaf, state minister and executive of Saudi Aramco
– Bakr Binladin, owner of construction company Saudi Binladin Group
– Saud al-Dawish, former CEO of Saudi Telecom Company
– Khaled al-Mulhem, former director general of Saudi Arabian Airlines
By the way Andrew, on what basis are you claiming there is a
“US-encouraged “deep state” coup against him being waged through the Hybrid War mechanisms of a rebelling clergy”
and that
“he’s now being targeted for elimination by the US because this one-time American subordinate was brave enough to chart his country’s own sovereign path in the world” ??
Do you have any information or evidence for this theory/scenario ?
Is MBS perfect example of son of dictator who is becoming radical “Bolshevik”?
He is a very intelligent man.
The Kushner-Trump-MBS love triangle is trying its luck with a surprise palace coup in Riyadh. What a brilliant idea!
Simply by pushing a dozen or so half-brothers over the cliff, $20-30 billion pocket money is instantly freed up for the good cause, that is: bribing, silencing, coercing, hoaxing, faking, and yes, hiring the baddest bad-asses.
Lebanon needs to be put on fire, it says in the books, and Iran anyway.
After two years of enduring daily humiliation and ridicule for the abysmal failure of Zion’s pet proxy-army ISIS, at least three of our heroes feel exceptional and chosen again.
Could the Kushner-Trump-MBS axis even achieve what the cryptos Napoleon and Hitler failed to do? Wreck havoc across the globe in the service of Stupid?
The sum total of our three subjects’ character traits is simply stunning. No lack of retardation, nihilism and peripheral blindness. An abundance of ruthlessness, arrogance and imbecile righteousness…
Cabalistic alchemy in perfection – only banging one’s head against the wall feels better.
Two points worth noting:
1) most of the princes, businessmen, generals and ministers arrested by MBS were anti-Trump Clintonistas, and among their US asset portfolios are big stakes in Zionstream media corporations that could be very useful for Trump.
2) On Oct. 28 Kushner returned from secret four days visit in Riyadh, meeting MBS daily, often deep into the night.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5055653/Saudi-crown-prince-arrests-ally-Kushner.html
Not to be missed – b’s (Moon of Alabama) authoritative take on the palace coup in Riyadh.
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/11/defeated-elsewhere-saudi-ruler-declares-war-on-lebanon.html#comments
Nothing surprising here. Saudi Arabia is a feudal state, run by feudal traditions and mentalities. What we have here is a quarrel between feudal barons. Had it not been for the oil it has, Saudi Arabia would have been a forgotten state somewhere in the desert.
Best comment I’ve read on the current situation in KSA!
Indeed, the Saudi princes are just that: ‘feudal barons’. But, the kingdom is based on some powerful stuff…
Oil: it has been pumped with injection of saline water for years, and sometimes what comes out is just asphalt mixed with salty water (I lived there 8 years and heard a lot about this). Saudi Arabia is in the cross holds. The Vision 2030 plan makes a lot of sense.
Wahhabism: it is a fundamental part of the kingdom – the UK, the US benefitted a lot from this interesting link. It is difficult to imagine Saudi Arabia without the religious police. However, as the war in Syria was lost by their ‘followers’ and their allies, perhaps this is a good time for change.
As I said before, MbS is a very intelligent man, albeit inexperienced – however, I am sure he can learn fast.
The Empire’s alliances are unraveling nicely. First Turkey stopped playing ball, then Qatar threw a fit, now the Saudi princes are busy killing each other thus saving the Yemenis the trouble of having to kill those prince’s themselves. Lots of Eastern Europe want nothing to do with immigrants, and are getting increasingly intolerant of the EU.
Putin’s strategy is masterful.
Putin is playing the waiting game. He knows perfectly well that no empire in the world has ever succeeded. He also knows that the US bit more than it can chew. All he had to do was concentrate on improving Russian infrastructure and creating an alliance of sovereign states, whose sovereign status would be guaranteed, as opposed to the American imperial policy of placing puppets at the head of those states, like Porky in Ukraine. And ofcourse this strategy worked. Countries now have more confidence in Russia than they do in the US, which not only is becoming tremendously unpopular in the world, but also has to worry about its gigantic foreign and domestic debt, not to mention the fact that it’s printing the dollar in huge amounts backed by nothing. This cannot last too long.
Yes, and still “Assad Must Go … On!” … lol
Yes, ‘masterful’… Those leading Saudis who were against war with Iran in the understanding that such a war would see KSA completely destroyed as well have been neatly removed- arrested, executed or exiled. A warlord has been placed in power who is hell bent on taking KSA to war with Lebanon (in partnership with Israel) and Iran. How clever Putin has been indeed. Walking the region perfectly to the very war desired by the Deep State all along.
The coup to ready KSA for the new wars happened ***after*** Putin rolled out the red carpet in Russia for the wahhabi beast. The West told the beast that he would witness first hand the supine weakness of Putin, and he did- so the coup immediately followed.
Putin does not control the internal situation in Saudi Arabia. Putin walked into nothing. The Deep State was interested in ousting Assad and breaking up Syria. It has failed. Putin blocked this. As for the internal situation in Saudi Arabia, it is too early to make conclusions. Things need to play out. Do you really expect that Saudi Arabia will continue honoring the deal it made with Nixon in the 1970’s about selling it’s oil in dollars when China has announced its intention of introducing the petro-yuan ? Political love affairs rarely last permanently.
Like any two-bit Western supremacist, twilight is deeply offended by the fact that Putin and Russia stir up more trouble to Western imperialism — by several orders of magnitude, at that — than their axiomatic inferiority would permit. Proof: Whenever there is a post congratulating Putin and Russia, twilight submits a copious blog barf of defeatism, utopianism, and Western imperial arrogance. Sadly for him though, “To hell with Russian public opinion” is slowly but surely becoming “To hell with World public opinion”. twilight and his invincible West are on the losing side of History. Enter reactionary hasbara for some consolation.
There are not enough Jews in Israel nor enough Arabs in Saudi Arabia and Jordan to bother Iran. Historically, the Persians have always kicked Jewish and Arab butts, and they can do so yet again. Even Yemen by itself can handle Saudi Arabia, Yemen just needs some anti aircraft assistance.
Even Lebanon could prove too much for Israel and Saudi Arabia. Syria, Iran and Russia would just lend a surreptitious helping hand there and leave matters at a stale mate, basically the same tactic Russia used in Ukraine.
So no need for war with Lebanon or Iran to lead to WW3, just stale mate the situation and attrition the opposition. And those ballistic missiles seem excellent for causing disruption behind stale mated enemy lines, as the Yemenis have shown. In Ukraine, Russia can survive the stale mate, while Ukraine and the West cannot. In Lebanon, everyone can survive a stalemate except Israel and Saudi Arabia, they can’t handle heavy casualties. Some ballistic missile strikes (non nuclear) to Israel’s water infrastructure (Golan heights) and electrical infrastructure would be nice, that is what they have been doing to their neighbours for decades now. If Israel uses nukes, well then give nukes to Lebanon also. (WW3 can only break out if the US / NATO sends hundreds of thousands / millions of troops to the ME, then Russia would have to respond, else its just a regional hum ding).
Its interesting that both Israel and the US seem to have stopped production of their heavy tanks, do they think they have a wonder weapon that can solve a war as Hitler had hoped with his wonder weapons, or do they both expect not to be involved in heavy, high intensity front line clashes in the future?
Hello! My compatriots are talking about the issue “why do so many users of zhihu (Chinese quora)think that the 2018 election of Russia is just a show of Putin.” As I’m unfamiliar with Russian politics, I want to know your opinion! Zhihu is filled with Chinese liberals, I can’t expect many positive words of Putin there.
I’m not sure how they mean a “show of Putin’s”. But the fact is in someways they are right. There is no meaningful candidate in Russia with “anywhere” near the popularity of Putin. And I don’t see anyone else stepping up.Most people in Russia seem to think (correctly) that Putin has done from a great job as President to an acceptable job as President.Even those that really don’t like him think that.So you have those that love him,those that like him,those that respect him,those that tolerate him,who will vote for him.And the tiny numbers on both of the fringes of left and right who just really hate him,and will vote against him.If he decides to run,(I’d be shocked if he didn’t) he should be reelected without any trouble at all.
They cite a theory that Surkov is the puppet master and hires the oppositon, even Navalny is Kremlin’s man.The political activity in Russia is just a puppet show and all Russians are perfectly aware of that.
I learned the conspiracy theory from a documentary of BBC named Supernormalization. I found that the west began calling Surkov Kremlin boss before 2011. And in 2011, Prokhorov claimed on radio there was a “puppeteer who misinforms the Russian government, putting pressure on the media, and the puppeteer’s name is Vladislav Surkov.” The story hit its peak in 2014, when the Atlantic pubished an excerpt from a book of PETER POMERANTSEV (I know he’s the lobbyist for Bill Browder).
But John Helmer in his article just called Surkov a courtier.
WaRu,
You answered the question yourself superbly. All Liberals — Russian ones especially — hate Russia, her Government, and her people with a passion. Unintendedly, they do have a point in that the upcoming election is “just a show of Putin’s”, precisely because of his rock-solid mass base. Not even our own dear contributor twilight would come even close if he were to candidate.
Thank you for replying! I post the details of their discussion above.
Various commenters fret about the character and intelligence of MBS, the deviousness of the Zionists, the CIA, and so forth. Only Erdogan escapes paranoic mention.
One error is the pretense that MBS would need to liberalize SA in order to please the Empire. When on earth was THAT ever a requirement?
Though Pepe and Andrew K may differ in terms of some sources and details It seems that they agree on the basic macro-reality at work, GLOBALLY: There is a gravitational shift underway, where the Empire is losing pull.
Trump is distrusted by 80% here, and I am wary, but I will state the following: More crucial than anything occurring on the Arabian Peninsula on which I was born is what occurs in the next week or so in Asia between DT and Xi….and also VVP…..in Vietnam, I am told.
For much better, OR for worse. But it will be more “gravitational”, affecting ALL other persons and entities on the planet…..IMHO………….. Including the Thousand and One Arabian Nights…….than any secondary crescent moons and satellites of doubtful life expectancy in the vicinity of Riyadh.
It does not seem that MBS is using this coup to seek peace in the middle east:
“Explosive” Leaked Secret Israeli Cable Confirms Israeli-Saudi Coordination To Provoke War
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-11-07/leaked-secret-israeli-cable-confirms-israeli-saudi-coordination-lebanon
Anonymous: What else is new?
Trump will sell weapons. So will Putin, to “untrustworthy India”.
The Saudis are between Iraq and a hard place. Collectively they will dance the Dance of a Thousand Veils confusing as many of the more powerful outside influences as they have to, in order to survive, another day, another week, another year. A few are looking a decade or two ahead……. How could it be otherwise?? Put yourself in their situation…..
Individually they will also dance the Dance of A Thousand Veils, for the same purposes of camouflage and survival, with some daggers underneath their robes, for the right opportunities, foreign and domestic.
Israel and Empire gravity is weakening. Hezbollah, Iran and Multi-polar gravity is strengthening.
Did I say it’s “presto” we are in a new universe overnight? No. No magic. Instead, the slow, grinding inevitability of Natural Law, like the planets revolving around the sun, adjusting for comets and asteriods and even influences from the galaxy, outside of the solar system itself…..
We are in a tense and fascinatingly complex transition, system-wide adjustment to a different global geometry. That’s why Putin, who knows 100% what the Saudis are and how far he can trust them (about as far as he can throw a camel) nevertheless talks to them.
A
When israelis leak things like that, it isn’t a leak, it’s a psyop. They want the info known as part of an ongoing strategy.
Amazing that just as the Deep State makes massive progress in its Iran War project, we get a slew of back-patting posts telling us how wonderfully Putin is doing, and how badly Trump.
After a disasterous (for Russia) visit by wahhabi leaders, the warlords concluded that Russia was going to continue to be weak and supine to the will of the West, and fail to prevent the Iran War. So the warlords decided to fully accept the plans of the Deep State, and ready KSA for war with Iran and Lebanon.
First act- the removal of anti-war figures throughout KSA. Since war on Iran will destroy KSA, is it any wonder so many leading Saudis are against that war? They have to go- and go they have.
Meanwhile the zionist mainstream media (that so many here still trust- WTF), describe the Saudi warlord as a ‘reformed’ and point to the lifting on the driving ban for women as the ‘convincer’. Do you know what a ‘convincer’ is? In a con it is the act that gets the ‘mark’ to believe in the lie of the con.
Real analysts focus on the unbelievable announcements of ‘war’ by the warlord against Iran and Lebanon. This is ***not*** what any ordinary coup leader ever does. It is the very ***opposite*** psychology from that which makes a coup successful. So when such astonishing things are said by official spokespeople of the coup warlord, it ***proves*** beyond a shadow of a doubt that the coup is a realignment in readiness for war.
Zionist manipulators encourage you to dissipate your strength by childish name calling. “yay, boo- look at those saddo Saudis self-destructing, giggle”. How can anyone be that stupid.
The coup removed longstanding allies of the USA and by any rational analysis should be seen as destabilising a key West asset if taken at face value. Yet the UK and US governments immediately threw their public backing behind the plotters. Wow, it’s as if the Deep State is behind the coup- sigh.
Why wasn’t Hitler stopped? Go read the millions of words dribbled out by clever-clever analysts before WW2- all of which convinced naive idiots of both the left and right cos wordly nonsense always seems ‘clever’ – all all of which History proved to be garbage. How much similar nonsense do I have to read from our side on KSA?
The ‘ball’ is War on Iran. Keep your eye on that ball. When you do you’ll understand how and why. When you don’t, you’ll fall for echos of the BBC etc psy-ops in the articles of your ‘heroes’. Your heroes simply regurgitate what they read in the NYT, Guardian, etc- tho they put a ‘liberal’ spin on it. When the BBC, Guardian etc invented the lie of WMD in Iraq, our side talked about the lie like it was true.
There is no moderate coup in KSA- that is a BBC lie. There is no chaos in KSA- that is a BBC lie. There is the preparation for war on Iran.
This isn’t a coup – it’s a purge.
Thierry Meyssan has a thorough background analysis packed with facts.
http://www.voltairenet.org/article198630.html
Clearly, this internal disruption will prevent any moves against Iran for the near-future.
The coup is economic at heart, and inter-tribal politically.
MBS’s appeal to the youth of the nation must offer a path of peace not war.
The question is will the unfunding of ISIS and AQ by MBS last for very long?
The CIA and Mossad don’t have the funds for global expansion of Islamic terror wars they are intending for Africa and SE Asia. Their opium dough is spent mostly in Afghanistan and rackoffs to participants in their schemes.
Without proxies, the Hegemon cannot wage land war. All that they can do is devastating vehicle bomb attacks and isolated lone wolf (or small terror cell) truck killings and shootings.
Without the prospect of land war, Iran is unthreatened in existential terms.
The Ukraine paradigm is illuminating. The US and NATO cannot muster enough forces to wage a land war. Russia is essentially impervious to attack. Thus, sanctions and economic war is waged against Putin and the Russians.
What we see is Trump desperate for weapons sales to generate jobs for his voters and revenues for his masters in the MIC.
Everywhere there is “conflict”, Trump has pushed weapons sales.
Ultimate ‘threats’ from Russia, Iran and North Korea (and maybe China) are the triggers for the Master Salesman to close those deals.
Saudi Arabia has fallen to a minor player unable to coerce Yemen or Qatar to obey.
Now, they have lost control in Lebanon.
MBS is riding a tiger. The odds he lasts a few seasons are very long.
-Bahrain has told its citizens to leave Lebanon.
-Israel is carrying out its greatest air movements with the co-operation of 7 other nations- nations that represent the powerbase of the Church of Rome- The Vatican being widely recognised as the true centre of the zionist spider. And by the way a little History here. As we know, jews were very powerful in Ancient Rome. When the Early Christians became a massive force in that Empire,, and seemed destined to take control, the jews set in motion a process to subvert and co-opt christianity, converting it into another judiac cult. The jews gained control of a Roman Emperor, had him declare himself ‘christian’ (even tho in reality he was jewish), and had him take legal control of the christian faith. This emperor redefined christianity, had the leaders of the real christians murdered as ‘heretics’, and forced the jewish holy book, the torah, into the official christian faith- it was, of course, renamed as The Old Testament. The teaching of the early christains, the new testament, was immediately depreciated. This ‘new’ christianity that has nothing to do with original christianity we know as the ‘Church of Rome’ – the catholics.
Some may say “what about WW2, the Vatican and the nazis?” Sorry, the ***real*** zionist leaders sided with Hitler (at the beginning) in order to bring about a zionist homeland. It is a deceit to say that the Vatican ever worked against real zionist interests during WW2. The proof is in the pudding- the events after WW2 and the blood bond between the Pope and jews. The Vatican has always declared that jews are the ‘master race’- ‘god’s chosen’, since that first fake christian Roman emperor.
So Poland and Italy and France and India (India, where it matters, is a ‘catholic’ nation- hence the absolute bond between Israel and India) are today practising bombing Iran, Syria and Lebanon with Israeli jets in and around Israel.
-point 3. There has been a palace coup in KSA where the anti-war pragmatists have been arrested and/or murdered and a Blair puppet placed into absolute power. The BBC and other media in the West is falsely painting this monster as a ‘reforming liberal’, and Blair had him overturn the ban on women drivers in Saudi Arabia as ‘proof’.
-Blair’s puppet in KSA has declared war on Iran and Lebanon by the trick of saying Iran and Lebanon have declared war on Saudi Arabia.
-the entirety of the neo-con right and neo-liberal left in the USA is doing its nut at this moment, all running around warning of imminent war. WW3 is getting mentioned louder and louder. Now these very low ranking fools are not directly in the loop, but as a mass they reflect leaked information trickling down from the top. For the first time I’m seeing people who denied that anything serious could follow from Syria and threats on Iran now shouting that the sky is about to fall.
-forums like this one are being hit by agents demanding that analysis of wider events be banned as ‘defeatism’ – and that all the focus on our side should be in flag waving for the Russian ‘victory’ in Syria. In intelligence circles this is called a ‘blinkers’ psy-op, like the blinkers on a horse that prevents the beast from seeing the actual events around it, so its master can control it better.
-Trump has thrown his whole weight behind the coup in Saudi Arabia, promising full US military asistance to any future KSA adventurism.
We know the Deep State intends a war on Iran. We have know this since PNAC and 911 spelt this out explicitly. We know this last war of phase one is by far the most difficult. We know most leaders of the West are terrified of the consequences, no matter how much their zionist owners try to whip them into line. We know that the West road to war on Iran has been pushed infinitely hard by Tony Blair- and yet still failed.
But today every thinker is completely convinced that a road that goes through the wahhabi kingdom of Saudi Arabia is totally viable. The ***only*** thing that prevented the Saudi ploy was key Saudis knowing that this road would destroy KSA- so in enlightened self-interest they fully opposed it. Now these Saudis are gone- dead, arrested or in exile. And British forces are in KSA working with their new ‘Hitler’ taking out all his enemies. On the outside the zionists, catholic powerbases, and the USA, are giving full support to the new monster.
The window of opportunity will not be long though. While fools on our side are rejoicing at the ‘chaos’ in KSA- which actually does not exist- Blair and the Deep State know that even with the best plans, the instinct for self-survival will soon kick back in amongst the Saudi elite, and they’ll overthrow the Blair warlord within months if he doesn’t act first. No palace coup can keep culling members of the elite. Every palace coup that works must rapidly reach a new equilibrium. A war can be such an equilibrium is launched successfully in time.
This is why one is seeing an insane numbers of balls in the air at one time. This is why every smart person recoils in horror when KSA mentions war with Iran and Lebanon. You see, most coups use ***peace*** and ***stability*** as the carrot to stabilise the coup. It’s self evident that in the midst of a coup you don’t usually threaten wars that the people of the nation were not previously gagging for. Yet this coup leader has done just this. Game theory means we have been told much about the real purpsoe of the coup, and those who are really behind it- for otherwise talking of war is literally the most insane thing a coup plotter could do.
Some really stupid people point to Saudi’s non-existent ***native*** military capability and say “how can a nation that cannot fight poorly armed ‘rebels’ on the ground in Yemen wage war on Iran and Lebanon? How thick can people be. The British RAF has the greatest air base in its history in KSA, and uses this as the basis of Britain’s air war against Yemen- yes the planes that bomb Yemen are actually RAF planes flown by RAF pilots- using the fig leaf (originally entered into UK law by Tony Blair himself) of ‘temporary mercenaries’- in other words acting under Saudi colours. Before each flight the RAF crew go through a 30 second ceremony ‘converting’ themselves ‘legally’ from British military personnel to ‘Saudi’ and when they return the opposite happens. The House of Commons in the UK can then legally deny that the RAF is bombing Yemen.
Saudis real military forces are all first world mercenaries. But ‘mercenary’ in this case means the actual military of variious West nations. And Saudi pays hundreds of billions of dollars for this service- essentially partially funding the military of Britain etc. A Saudi war on Lebanon will, in any case, be in co-ordination with Israeli attacks as well- hence the catholic bloc operating today in Israeli’s unprecedented air wargames.
But Israel will never ever be part of a West linked alliance attacking Iran. If Saudi declares war on Iran, the initial air strikes will be by British, French, German and Canadian jets and bombers. America will be careful to not initially participate directly. The USA military does not operate as part of Tony Blair’s fake ‘mercenary’ initiative where national forces operate under the colour of another nation’s military.
America will wait til Iran responds with massive missile attacks on its neighbours before it joins the fray. Of course if Lebanon is attack by Saudi and Israeli forces first, hezbollah will use its lesser ground-to-ground missile divisions, and Trump will blame this on Iran too. Once Blair’s Saudi puppet kicks off, all roads then directly lead to conflict between America and Iran, whether Saudi attacks Iran, Lebanon, Iranian and hezbollah forces in Syria, or any combination. This is why informed people are now so scared, and this is why certain people will blitz forums like this one telling you to put the blinkers on and focus on flag waving Russia’s ‘victory’ in Syria.
PS the links between Saudi Arabia and Britain are always ignored. Britain’s king-in-waiting (when the queen croaks) is Prince Charles, who is actually a Saudi prince as well. KSA was created by the infamous pervert, Lawrence of Arabia- when Britain backed the slavers of the desert and gave them the means to exterminate their opponents. Britain trains the leaders of Saudi’s police state enforcement divisions. Britain provides the Saudi’s with their torture equipment (a ***fact*** that leads to scandals in Britain’s press about once every decade). London is the second home of all leading Saudis- where they are welocome to bring their slaves- and when some of those slaves are horrifically abused or killed, Special Branch officers protect the Saudis from exposure or punishment.
Funny thing is, from the beginning of the 20th Century to just after WW1, Britain actively worked against the Saudi trade in Human slaves (especially female rape slaves that some disgustingly excuse away as ‘concubines’). But then the policy suddenly reversed, and Saudi leaders were given the greenlight by the British government to trade and use slaves. Astonishingly this continued until 1962 (yes you read that date right). Bandar ‘Bush’ (google him- the most famous Saudi in the USA) actually had a rape slave as a mother.
After 1962, most slaves were freed, but leading Saudis were allowed to keep their rape slaves. Today, all across the major Saudi cities, rich saudis still have harems full of rape slaves- kept in large prison like compounds- many of which were built for this purpsoe many many decades ealier. In Saudi law, while sex with someone who is not your ‘wife’ is ‘illegal’ and can result in execution, Saudi males are still allowed to rape slaves they hold for that purpose. The wahhabis follow ‘islamic’ ‘law’, and the ‘prophet’ clearly laid down the rights of muslims to have sex with rape slaves they own for that purpose. Most muslim nations would and do rightly see this as ***obscene***, but not Saudi Arabia. Even tho the KSA punishes sex outside marriage, it legally recognises concubines (google it), women held for sex ***outside*** the ***five*** women muslims can legally marry.
No West newspaper ever comments or questions this state of affairs. Instead Hollywood zionists make a joke of ‘harems’ and ‘concubines’ as if slavery and rape is ‘funny’.
Saudi Arabia is a nation literally based on rape. You think Weinstein is bad? You think Kevin spacey is bad? In the Saudi Arabia that every West leader loves, including the females Clinton, May, and Merkel, women can only dream of meeting a man as ‘nice’ as Weinstein. Clinton, May and Merkel talk about the importance of Women’s Rights, yet empower the monsters who rule in KSA. Please take a moment to think about this- it really really matters. Too many of us still think our leaders are kinda bad, a bit compomised. They are not. They are literally the most purposely evil monsters you can imagine- far worse than even the most terrible serial killiers.
Any woman in power who cared one whit about women in general would immediately move to end wahhabi rule in KSA- whoever would replace these sex criminals would just as happily sell Saudi oil. Yet wahhabi rule in KSA not only continues, but expands across the once largely secular muslim world, like a cancer. And May, and Merkel, and Clinton are witnessed as active supporters of the wahhabi extension project, cheering as women’s lives are ruined in Libya, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Nigeria, etc- wherever the West backed wahhabi tentacles can reach.
The battle between good and evil could not be more defined. Yet their are people here justifying Putin cuddling up to the wahhabis, and rolling out the red carpet for their depraved leaders in Russia.
True, the place (SA) is the victim of a millenia-long Dark Age.
Some would dare hope that that unfortunate state of affairs might somehow be changed. Is this stupidity?
If not, your recommendations on how to bring about that change, please.
Putin: Please do invite twilight to the Kremlin. You need him more than ever (not).
Twilight, I recommend you check out some actual history books, and find out what the Catholic Church actually teaches, and what the Popes actually said about the Jews and even the modern state of Israel and Zionism.
Sounds like an illuminati rant. Not even a tiny kind of proof on sight, just free affirmations based on nothing serious.
Sorry, I don’t buy that stuff.
MBS beware! The nation known as KSA is also slated for chaos, destruction and break up. As per the Yinon Plan and others. With the petrol yuan on the horizon, zionism and their useful idiots not getting their own way, one belt one road on the march, Eurasion integration in full swing, and the desperate need to free up funds by the parasitic system ruling us, they may decide the days of Saud have run their course. But such a course is full of its own dangers for them.
As they say: strap in and hold on for the ride
Seems to me that Trump team got wind of an upcoming CIA-Clintonistas and Bush klan coup against King Salman in KSA. This was relayed to MBS by Jared. MBS launches a counter coup and jails the CIA-Clintonista-Bush princes coup. CIA-Clintonistas-Bush klan and Saudi princes very unhappy about turn of events re MBS counter coup, Syria’s status quo, JFK declassified file release. Trump crossed the Rubicon with the latter. Trump is hyping the NK threat to put distance between himself and Bibi who is hyping the Hezbollah and Iran threat instead. Trump doesn’t trust Bibi and vice-versa. Trump is seeking Putin’s cooperation to deal effectively with Kim. So, Trump is not going to embarrass Putin’s with kinetic action on Lebanon or Iran which would upset the Europeans also. Bibi will remain: isolated, unhappy and desperate.
Eerrmmm….mintpressnews repoting today that a saudi crown prince was responsible for “encouraging” free syrian army 2011 to spark off the war against Assad….Salman bin Salman…..any relation or relevance to recent events here( if not,apologies) as it is a “bin Salman”….and probably no connection with King of Saudi visiting VVP in October….or a response to that????????
Saudi Arabia’s export of Wahabi has been destabilizing globally. No one will be sorry if the regime collapses.
What would come after such a disintegration is much harder to predict. A couple of key points.
–1– The forces anchored at KKMC have proximity and logistical strength to pick up the pieces locally. They certainly would provide a bulwark against Shia/Iranian aspirations. If Iran chooses to push (highly likely) then one would rationally expect Saudi oil-field supplies to be offline for an extended period of time. Other Gulf oil sales to market would likely to be limited due to; (A) Diversion from market to military use, and (B) Risks to shipping traffic in the Gulf. Big winners would be the non-Gulf major oil producer/exporters such as : Russia, Canada, United States, Venezuela.
–2– What happens to investments held overseas? Given Saudi/Wahabi ties to a variety of international terror incidents, the end of the current Saudi state’s “sovereign immunity” would likely see much of that money flow out as reparations to victims and their families. Expect those funds to be unavailable for reconstruction after the dust settles.
____________
As the Saddam/Iraq FUBAR shows. Any regime change is likely to be messy, lengthy, and have unexpected consequences.
Be careful what you wish for…. You may get it.
So, Trump is good with MBS, MBS got CIA upset and jailed CIA’s Salafi assets, and he is also trying to reform Saudi Arabia.
It means I am behind MBS and his purge 100%, and everyone should do so as well.
For eschatalogical purposes Damascus must be reduced to a smoking ruin.
After Damascus comes Armageddon.
No, this already happened when the fortress of Ephraim ceased. Read the entire chapter not just the first verse
Absolutely correct from the islamic eschatological point of view……here is a hadith from one of the most accepted books of Hadith literature… Sahih of Muslim
Hadith, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) mentioned, “Allah will send Maseeh ibne Maryam (Messiah son of Mary). Thus he will descend near the white eastern minaret of Damascus, clad in two yellow sheets, leaning on the shoulders of two angels.” [Sahih Muslim]
Hmm, nothing mentioned about the attempted assassination of MBS in Vegas a month earlier?