by Ghassan Kadi for The Saker Blog
With the ever-changing and escalating aftermath of the Khashoggi disappearance episode, there remain many fixed marks that are interesting to identify.
But before we do, we must stop and briefly look at the official American, Turkish and Saudi stands on this issue.
The Americans are best seen to be playing yoyo with their Saudi “friends”. One moment they seem to be totally abandoning them and sending them spiraling down in a free-fall, and the next moment they lift them up, clutch them, and give them a sense of safety. Notwithstanding that on the 3rd of October, and just before the Khashoggi story hit the media frenzy, Trump reiterated that Saudi Arabia would not last two weeks without America’s support, and what followed was a series of fluctuations and backflips on the American side. At the time of promising severe measures against the Saudis, Trump said that this will not mean canceling the arms deal with Saudi Arabia. And when Pompeo visited Al Saud to talk to the royals, leaving the Kingdom of Sand with an understanding that his boss Trump articulated by hinting at vindicating the royals and putting the blame on some rogue elements, America turned again supporting Turkish investigations and awaiting their outcome, but just before Erdogan’s speech of the 23rd of October, Trump reiterated that he was prepared to accept the Saudi Government denial of involvement.
And speaking of Turkish investigations, the highly awaited Erdogan speech ended in a pop and a fizzle, and was nothing short of a domestic propaganda speech that had no conclusions and did not provide any evidence as to the details of Khashoggi’s disappearance and alleged murder. And “alleged” it remains until a body is found and identified by an independent reliable coroner.
The speech was not endorsed by America, and America was for a few hours or so once again looking sympathetic towards the Saudi royals, but less than 24 hours later, Trump was talking about the “worst cover-up in history”.
There is no need to flood this article with easy-to-find references to substantiate the above.
Back to Erdogan later.
These swings that are extremely bizarre and hypocritical even by American standards make one wonders what kind of relationship do Saudis and Americans have.
To understand the underlying nature of this relationship, having a look at the events of the last ten years or so are revealing enough without having to dig deeper into history.
To this effect, I am not talking about the strategic alliances, defense agreements, the importance of oil to both countries, the world and the Israeli role in all of this. I am not talking about the Saudi obsession with Iran either. What I am talking about is the personal human relationships between the Americans and Saudis as human beings and how they view each other as men; this is about the personal love-hate-respect-loath relationship between American policymakers and their Saudi counterparts.
This “relationship” is not a simple one. It is embroiled by deep cultural differences and belief systems. Having lived and worked in Saudi Arabia, I can understand the Saudi mindset more than many, but anyone who has had the same “privilege” that I had living there would concur, albeit not necessarily be prepared to sit down and write about it.
In case the reader is unfamiliar with the predominant Saudi mindset, speaking generally of course, allow me to pin point certain pertinent aspects of it:
1. Contrary to the word of the Holy Quran and which clearly states that God chose the Arabic language for the religion of Islam, Saudis believe otherwise. They believe that Islam was God’s gift to them.
2. Saudis also believe that God also gave Arabia another gift; petrol, and the biggest national reserve of them all … perhaps.
3. Al-Saud believe they have been afforded the God-given mandate to rule Arabia at the time when petrol became such an important commodity for the rest of the world.
4. Finally, the above “privileges” give Saudis, especially members of the Royal Family, an illusion of being above others. And this mindset views other nations from the perspective that Saudis are the rich masters of the world and that they have the power and ability to employ members of those other nations to “serve” them.
When I lived and worked in Saudi Arabia, Saudis did not work. They had jobs, but they never really worked. Apart from the security apparatus whose job is mainly to protect the status quo of the Royal Family, the only other real working job that Saudis had was taxi driving. But that was what poor and uneducated Bedouins did.
All other jobs from garbage collectors to doctors to dockyard engineers were contracted to expats from different regions of the world. Professional jobs that needed communication and fluency in the Arabic language were given to Lebanese, Syrians, Palestinians, Jordanians and Egyptians. Blue collar jobs were given to Yemenis and Arabs of the above nationalities without tertiary education. High ranking professional jobs that did not require fluency in Arabic were given to Americans and Europeans.
This mentality produced a generation or two or three of Saudis who are filthy rich, overweight, and engrossed with self-grandeur and superiority that was fed time and time again by their financial prowess.
But this is not restricted to Saudis only. Arabs of the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait all have that same superiority disease. Qatar that has a Qatari population of less than 200,000 has a population of over one and a half million expats to “serve them”. This is exactly how they see it; themselves being masters, and expats beings serving serfs.
In recent times, the Saudi and Gulf youth have increasingly been gaining tertiary education qualifications, receiving generous government scholarships and immediate employment following graduation. The Saudi Government protects its people by imposing quota rules on the percentage of Saudi employees in companies as well as the public sector of course. However, this fact has not been reflected in the work load they perform. These educated Saudis sit at the head of governmental positions and companies in tokenistic managerial supervisory roles over an entire staff of foreign professionals. They often try to assert their positions and feed their egos by yelling and barking irrelevant, and often laughable orders, at their employees and junior staff. And even if they are not in managerial roles, they will still be around the foreign professionals, leaving all the work for them to do and doing nothing themselves.
Saudi professionals I “worked with” were living examples for me to learn this mindset. They did not lift a finger, but when a report was submitted by either myself or other expats around me, a Saudi name had to appear as its senior author, and he received all the accolade.
Saudis genuinely believe that they can buy anything and anyone with money, including buying the stature of being a leading nation.
And if, hypothetically-speaking, the Saudis were to contract a Western company to build them a space ship and send a man to Mars, they will regard this as a Saudi achievement. Surprised? Well, just have a look at Dubai’s “achievement” in building Burj Khalifa, the tallest building on earth.
Once again, that Saudi mentality is not any better or worse than the general oil-rich Arabian one. They are all almost identical.
At a deep and subtle level however, the Saudis (and Gulfies in general) know well that in the eyes of the Empire and its cohorts, they are perceived as a bunch of “uncivilized camel riders” who happen to be horribly rich by sheer luck. They know that they are not really regarded as true allies of the West, but as its milking cow; and some Saudis and Gulfies are trying to change this image.
None tried harder than Prince Bandar Bin Sultan.
Prince Bandar Bin Sultan was Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Washington from 1983 to 2005. He became the Saudi royal who best understood the Western mind and how the West regarded the Arab World, and especially Saudi Arabia. He had his own evil agenda he wanted to use to catapult himself into ascending to the throne as the first grandson of founding King Abdul-Aziz.
He was a close personal friend of the Bushes and many others in the previous and successive American administrations. And, if America ever had a Saudi Prince that American lawmakers could speak to and reciprocate understanding with, it was Bandar Bin Sultan.
He was banking on the fact that his father, Sultan, had been in line for the throne for decades and was Crown Prince ever since King Abdullah took the throne in 2005. But to Bandar’s disappointment, his father died in 2011, before King Abdullah who died in 2015.
As Bandar Bin Sultan was grooming himself to become king after his father, his knowledge of the Western mind and closeness to many key people in the United States led him to realize that he had to present himself as a competent and reliable partner in order to be respected.
Bandar wanted to demonstrate his personal character worth to his American allies by plotting the “War on Syria”. That war was his pet project and his license to achieve equality with his American friends. But Bandar fell on his sword when Syrian resistance proved to be much stronger than his ambitions, and not long after his failed desperate attempt to persuade America to attack Syria after he blamed the Syrian Army for a chemical attack that he staged in East Ghouta in September 2013, Bandar disappeared, vanishing into oblivion.
With the rapid and unprecedented changes in the line of Saudi throne succession that followed Prince Sultan’s death, and which eventually presented Mohamed Bin Salman (MBS) as the new Saudi strong-man Crown Prince, the young prince had big shoes to fill. Haunted by the image, ambition and failures of Bandar, MBS had a bigger “obligation” to prove his worth to his American “allies”.
The war on Yemen was MBS’s own “love-child”. He wanted to kill two birds with one stone; overcoming the Houthis, and proving to America that he is reliable in curbing Iran’s regional influence. He was hoping he could prove that his army was able to fight and win a war against Iran itself. He thus gave his war a name akin to American military operations; “Operation Decisive Storm”. Sounds a bit like “Operation Desert Storm”, does it not? In doing this, he wanted to put himself on par with great military leaders and score a quick and decisive victory in Yemen. Three years later, he cannot even hold his own borders.
In more ways than one, in as much as the Saudis and Gulfies have the afore-mentioned superiority complex, ironically they also possess a huge inferiority complex. They try to prove their own worth by bragging their “friendship” with America, and when President Trump made his first formal visit as President to Saudi Arabia, he was greeted like no other visiting foreign dignitary anywhere in the past. Only Elizabeth Taylor could claim such a reception as Hollywood’s version of Cleopatra.
Trump’s visit was Saudi Arabia’s greatest moment of “pride”.
But even on much smaller matters, Saudis and Gulfies brag their Western employees and they have a special liking for white blue-eyed Westerners. With thousands of Americans and Westerners working in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, it would be rare, if not impossible, to find a black American/Westerner; especially if the post involves being in the public view. And this is because, if you are a Saudi employer and you need a Westerner to fill the position of a public relations officer, you would want a white, blue-eyed person on that desk and not a black person. After all, a black Westerner could be mistaken for a Sudanese, a Somalese or a member of any other “inferior” African nation; as perceived in the eyes of the Saudis/Gulfies.
Back to the Khashoggi debacle and the role of Erdogan. As mentioned above, in his Tuesday the 23rd of October speech, Erdogan did not supply the goods, and it was time for America to pull the rug from underneath his feet, reclaim control of the narrative, and draw the Saudi yoyo back up again to give the Saudis a bit of a breather; until further notice. America can neither afford to keep the fate of the Khashoggi story in Erdogan’s hands any more than it can afford to lose the Saudi milking cow. But the human relationships between Americans and Saudis are now perhaps at their worst, and mostly for the Saudis. The Saudis have again failed the validity and fortitude test and they know they have taken a back step that needs many years, perhaps decades to recover from. In the eyes of the Americans, their credibility as partners and viability as capable men has suffered a big time blow.
The biggest twist perhaps in the Khashoggi debacle is that the Saudis have always felt that they were entitled to the same level of impunity the West affords to itself. After all, this was how Al-Saud got away with persecuting dissent, imposing undemocratic laws, and exporting Wahhabi ideology and the terror acts that come with it. Needless to mention the biggest human tragedy of them all; inflicting war crimes in Yemen, killing tens of thousands and inflicting starvation and disease upon millions others.
But when America lifted the blanket of impunity on the Saudis over the Khashoggi story leaving them out on their own to face the consequences of their crimes for a change, the Saudis indeed did not survive for more than two weeks.
Just imagine how would the world popular opinion could be manipulated if leading Western media outlets suddenly “decide” to start reporting the Yemeni tragedy and the role of Saudi Arabia in creating it, and specifically the role of MBS in creating this tragedy. Will MBS in this instance become the West’s new Saddam?
MBS has been named, his Foreign Minister desperately tried to isolate him from the Khashoggi story, but it is up to America and its “fake news” media to decide whether or not MBS is implicated, and the more they implicate him, the deeper America can dig into his pocket. And as this article was getting ready to be submitted for publishing, MBS himself broke his silence proclaiming that the murder of Khashoggi was a heinous crime and that those responsible will be punished.
Either way, when the Saudis return to the negotiating table with their American “partners”, MBS will not only be facing a bill for American protection of Saudi Arabia per se, but also a bill for protecting his own personal aspirations to become king as well as protecting his own head. He must prepare himself to expect a hefty price of his own head. What will that price be is yet to be seen.
Excellent article. Thank you.
Your best article, Mr. Kadi.
Describing the Saudi/Gulfie mindset of “superiority” (bigotry, prejudice, racism), rings true from Pakistanis I’ve worked with who lived and toiled in SA. The treatment you describe is precisely what they lived through.
How the US will manipulate MBS is predictable. He will be wholly owned and unable to operate without prior approval. His keeper, Jared, will hold the leash. The CIA will hold the whip and taser. The MIC will now have a joint checking account with the Kingdom’s treasury.
Erdogan seems to have lost control as you point out. Maybe he has his deal in place (Magnier seems to think so). His geopolitical moves in Syria have not been abated. But, his assurances about Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood he might be seeking have no currency. Gina Haspel delivered the threat. Next time, the plane will be shot down and the Ottoman dream will be terminated for certain.
He played his hand too long and drawn out. He allowed the Hegemon to sit at the table.
The US must have the Kingdom. They don’t need nor want MBS. But he is now their useful idiot, better than an unknown brother or a fading King who can’t mount the horse any longer. When they have a successor, a plane crash or assassination by a disgruntled guard will do.
Forget Khashoggi and his body parts.
We have pipe bombs sent in the mail today.
And NATO wants to sail the Azov while the USN steams the Taiwan Straits with new Taiwanese F-16s from Taiwan’s Taichung base flying friendly wing wags at the Hegemon’s Freedom of Navigation Operations, all in President Xi’s face.
The US is riding high at the moment. Everything is back under control.
The Mistake in the Consulate has been erased.
No one cleans up blood and body parts better than cleaners from Langley.
Time to watch “Three Days of the Condor” again. It never gets old.
“Gina Haspel delivered the threat. Next time, the plane will be shot down and the Ottoman dream will be terminated for certain.”
The news that Dominatrix Haspel had flown to Istanbul to view the grisly video sent a shudder through me.
Then I thought, so now Erdogan and Haspel are the only sources on the video?
Seems like Craig Murray has seen some still from it.
But, how can anyone be sure that “next time” the plane will be shot down?
This seems to imply that the USA chose not to shoot down Erd’s plane.
Instead of being foiled by the Russians. But is the latter certain?
Anyhow, I guess your main point is that by letting Haspel get in there and stir, Erd lost his grip on the spoon and is now just a bystander.
Would Erdogan have had more clout, or deeper clout, if he has actually stated in public what the video shows, and where it came from?
Katherine
The plane was alerted by Russian Intel. CIA did a shoddy job with the traitors in the Turk AF who were the trigger men.
US failed. They didn’t change their mind.
Erdogan may have what he wants. He may get big investment from SA. But he clearly has lost the leverage he could have used if he wants MBS gone. The issue for today is MBS. Looks like he stays. He’s Jared’s boy toy.
His charisma is gone. But the kingdom’s wealth is what everyone is after.
The Palace will soon devour him. That will be his ending.
Hi Larchmonter – could you give a link for Magnier ? Thanks !!~
This thread seems to be his information:
https://twitter.com/ejmalrai/status/1055105394912227329
When the mark pays off the crooked cops he has a problem…the cops are crooked, and they keep coming back for more… Ivan, on the other hand, maintains a steady policy of probity and honest dealing according to Law and Contract..
In time…
Yeah, like ripe fruit.
Intriguing how the Exceptionalists are so similar. Erdo didn’t spill the beans in his speech because the deal involving Haspel and MbS occurred prior. And as if by magic, it’s announced that Iran won’t be severed from SWIFT, and new arrangements at joint control over Syrian Kurdistan between Outlaw US Empire and Turks are to commence. Further leaks will provide additional details of the deal. This evening, King Salman initiated a telephone conversation with Putin, supposedly about Putin’s upcoming visit to Saudi; but a King doesn’t do such arranging, so something else was the actual subject matter. Given the rise in Russian capabilities and proven abilities in Southwest Asia plus their very different method of engagement and actual understanding of Islam, Saudi seems to want to expand those it deems its closest partners by adding Russia and China to dilute the influence of The Outlaw US Empire and its UK vassal.
“Erdo didn’t spill the beans in his speech because the deal involving Haspel and MbS occurred prior.”
What is the deal?
Katherine
End crisis with Qatar. Stop persecution of Muslim Brotherhood. Getting HTS in Syria to abide by ceasefire protocols. Better cooperation with Outlaw US Empire over PKK and Kurdish issues. Help to restabilize Turkish lira. In return, the investigative dogs and media leaks will cease–unless their revival becomes needed.
MbS could have neutered most criticism by declaring Khashoggi an Enemy of the Kingdom at the outset, who was to be arrested and returned to Saudi for trial. Unfortunately, he was shot while attempting to escape. He could further elaborate that his decision differed little from Obama’s regarding his extrajudicial killing of the Alwakis, and that would have shut the CIA’s BIgLie Media up.
Remember, if you are talking about America, there are many factions and policies. Trump, colluded with Arabia and Israel before the election and got their help to win, and has since then been a traitor to America with his Israel-First and Saudi-Princes-First policies. The Sauds own a fair bit of American politicians and media, but back when the conflict with Qatar began, it was interesting to note that Qatar was able to buy politicians and media to quickly come out on Qatar’s side.
No guarantee that even a Sec of State and President will be on the same page. Pompeo’s predecessor was obviously different from Trump on the Saud-Qatar feud. Maybe Pompeo is closer knowing that was likely a part of what cost T-Rex his job? But again, as Trump begins to fade into the sunset, people like Pompeo are going to look more to their own futures and ask themselves just how close they want to be tied to a sinking rock.
And of course Qatar can buy parts of Congress to raise a fuss and submit proposed bills for propaganda purposes. Its been suspicious that a small group of Democrats have actually objected to Saud actions in Yemen, despite the overall blood-lust of the Democrats for war, war and more war.
Remember the old joke about American politicians, that they should wear uniforms like NASCAR driver with their sponsors prominently on their chests so we know who’s bought them. Then it might be more clear which have the Saud patch and which have the Qatar patch and which just have an Exxon or Chevron patch. And of course many wear the Merchants of Death patch. But all of them will always do what is best for their sponsors.
Trump has been strangely whipsawed. But that’s possibly since he has little information as factions within both the CIA and the NSA have opposed him since before the election. Trump has probably had to rely on what MBS and Yahoo tell him what has occurred. One would think that America through its CIA and NSA knows exactly what has occurred, but that also assumes that Trump has been competent at putting together a coherent government that responds to him to tell him these things. But the people who know are highly likely the same ones that have been trying to overthrow him. Meanwhile Trump is fighting for his political life in an election campaign, so his main worry has been how to spin this to make the crowds cheer and vote Republican. Like with any entertainer, the show is a work in progress and always adapt to what makes the crowd cheer.
in every particular culture there is the good,the bad and ugly.,some saudi find themselves in these situations that they can’t help but have to adapt to get by,better to be like the rest than stand out and suffer it is a closed culture.The chance to stand out from the rest is lacking.In comparison westerners have every chance to stand out as they have more freedom but it is quite astonishing to see them being fooled by their own government,where they are partners unwittingly in bombing so many countries for no reason what so ever.The world must blame the west leaders for placing arabia under saud family and not leave it under the ottomans dynasty as it was formerly before the ww1 and 2.The reason arabia was given to the said family is cause the sauds are ”owned” by the west and in return the ‘oil’ is managed by the west.The ordinary arabs suffer under the sauds too, the only way arabia can be saved is by democracy and the one man one vote system, but the west would not want that freedom to the ordinary arabian.The ‘black gold” under the ground is the curse of this desert people.
the saud family was just a desert clan it is not representative of all the arabs in arabia.
An invaluable perspective, Ghassan Kadi, thank you.
Indeed, the Saudis acted with so much incompetence that they made it simple for the Americans to do what they do best, namely, to despise a “loser”. This will have greatly increased the price of Bin Salman’s head.
As you say, Erdogan did not “supply the goods” in his speech, and the question is why. It seems improbable that anything could threaten him to give up his hand, even Haspel – he is after all a Turk, and speaking of cultural tendencies we could say that Turks will cut off their own nose rather than back down.
It’s true that the story became a story because for whatever reason the western media made it so – which speaks of western interests that wanted this leverage on KSA to be magnified. But Erdogan also played to this so well that even a threat of killing the story in the western media would have failed by the time Haspel came to Turkey – or so I surmise – because Erdogan at that point could simply have released everything and it would have gone viral, become unstoppable. It thus seems more probable that he made a deal to his satisfaction. It remains to be observed what elements have gone into the deal.
Some think Erdogan has used up his leverage, some think he still holds some, although one would guess that if any remains it’s only enough to bring down MbS. As you say, the US reserves that privilege for itself, and at the time of its choosing.
How much this affects the US-Turkey relationship, and what the US would agree to in the deal, I don’t think is completely visible yet. Probably it depended on how much Saudi can still pay to the US. I always remember that their oil is running out.
I think Erdogan played this extremely well. And of course the Saudis played worse than children. A great and irreversible shift in paradigms has now occurred.
Grieve, you said: ‘A great and irreversible shift in paradigms has now occurred.’ Could you please expand on this?
Several points you made are also my take on this issue. I believe that Saudi Arabia, as well as Turkey, can continue doing business as usual, as if nothing had happened. As Outlaw Historian says above, ‘Saudi seems to want to expand those it deems its closest partners by adding Russia and China to dilute the influence of The Outlaw US Empire and its UK vassal.’ This is what Erdogan is also doing.
Could this Kashoggi case have been just a failed blackmail, to be forgotten?
great article Ghassan – but it could do with another proof reading. But anyway – I loved it – especially the end.
How does this affect Russia, especially the situation in Syria?
I don’t know how this affects Russia, but if the West puts too much pressure on Saudi Arabia or Turkey, they may end up driving both into Russia’s hands(more than they already have), which would probably be a good thing, since I doubt you could impress Russians by starting wars against your neighbors.
Thierry Meyssan at Voltairenet.org points out that MbS has already drafted a list of items that could tank the world economy if sanctions are imposed on SA for the Khashoggi murder. For example, cutting back oil production to send oil to $200 per barrel. So it could very well be that the US has less leverage against MbS than this article seems to suggest.
Meyssan also regards this murder as one of MbS’ smaller crimes.
By the way, has any one heard that ISIS has captured 700 people, including Europeans and Americans, in Eastern Syria and is putting them to death at 10 per day. Evidently this news is being swept under the rug with all the attention on the Khashoggi murder. Perhaps if it were common knowledge that would make Trump look bad during the upcoming elections.
“By the way, has any one heard that ISIS has captured 700 people, including Europeans and Americans, in Eastern Syria and is putting them to death at 10 per day.”
I did read about that. Briefly.
Wondered about it because normally I should think this would a huge crisis.
Putting to death Europeans and Americans??!!! Now that is going too far!
Really, where is this story?
Katherine
Evidently Putin brought this up at Valdai and it was also reported by TASS. Here is one citation from a not very reputable looking source: https://www.news.com.au/world/middle-east/isis-take-700-hostages-in-syria-including-some-from-us-europe/news-story/a6a0a1b1f184f7fef59a2fcabec6abf7
I think I first saw it in a comment in a blog such as moonofalabama or possibly ZH. There are ample resuts looking for it on duckduckgo in any case. That’s why I thought somebody on this blog would have more definite information. The cite above does mention Americans and Europeans among the captives.
Jewish Mafia vassal Saudi Arabia has nothing to fear as long as they continue shipping their crude oil free of charge – but in US dollars – to the Mafia in return for useless weapon toys and a free pass behave like complete idiots. MbS could be in trouble though. His alleged S-400 deal with Russia didn’t amuse the Rabbinate.
No mention of the friendship of this MbS with the Lubavitch Chabad member, Jared Kushner?
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2011/10/25/the-doenmeh-the-middle-easts-most-whispered-secret-part-i.htmlhe Middle East’s Most Whispered Secret (Part I)r that the Saudi “royal” family are crypto Jews?
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2011/10/25/the-doenmeh-the-middle-easts-most-whispered-secret-part-i.html
The Saudi “royal” family are crypto Jews and Jared Kushner is a member of the very extreme Chabad Lubavitcher sect – or cult. Jared Kushner and this “prince” are said to be close friends.
Thanks for this link! This article seems very important to me…
Ghassan, you are saying: “When I lived and worked in Saudi Arabia, Saudis did not work.”
I have a friend, an engineer, who worked in Saudi for few years and he said the same thing. Saudis were in charge, and this was it just the title, never did anything. Work was for imported workforce.
Craig Murray seems to suspect that clownprincedude is strung out on coke… I think, based on observations of real dope fiends, that he may be onto something. Now if the prince were to be introduced to the joys of self-injection (they say it’s wonderful!) almost any outcome seems possible, even magical ones.
Here – apart from sniffing and a runny nose – from a treatment website is a list of some of the mental symptoms of cocaine abuse. An interesting take on the reckless Khashoggi assassination?
Mental state:
Euphoria
Overconfidence
Unusual excitement
Aggressiveness
Paranoia
Poor judgment
Well, there’s this video too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orBeQ07NClo
http://www.unz.com/article/khashoggi-erdogan-and-the-truth/
Turn up the sound, watch the twitches and pay close attention to the very definite problems that the Crown Prince is having with his nose.
IMO this mouth/ jaw ” pull back” of MBS is total fear of Putin.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9t9FFBMS1kk
The mindset described here is the same mindset of all individuals, families and fabulously wealthy corporate hierarchy. In fact it doesn’t matter what nation you are talking about.
Kushner represents this attitude perfectly in his manner, tone and you can actually see the disgust he feels for “ordinary” people by looking at his mouth! His mouth displays the utter disgust he must endure amongst the filth of those who are of a lower class. That’s a peculiar observation, I know, but shut off your mind for a second and just look at him. it doesn’t necessarily require wealth to become superior, but it does require power. Certainly the Senate and to a lesser extent the House of Representatives have elements of this mindset.
Well, really it’s everywhere in life. The pauper is looked down upon by everyone. But I understand for the Saudi’s it’s on another level altogether.
I friend from long ago, with whom I worked, had run a big concrete project in Israel – and lived there with his secular Jewish wife (my friend was unaffiliated with any confession) – lived in Israel for about 2 years while he ran this construction project.
He said that Israelis would not do physical work, that they saw this as beneath them…they’re not as rich as the Saudis, but it is the same way of thinking about labor, contempt.
But I suggest that this attitude stems from shame, it’s what the boffins call “projection” or over-compensation, or rationalization…along such lines.
In the Trades we have fun with guys like that, insult them in subtle ways
“Israelis would not do physical work, that they saw this as beneath them”.
Not just Israeli Pharisees. Most Pharisees will not touch any physical work.
When have you seen the Pharisees as working as window washers, farmers, firemen, ambulance workers, factory workers, hot-dog stand sellers, gardeners, tile installers, tree cutter guys, house painters, carpenters, etc etc?
well that was a report from someone who knows the Saudis and has the guts to tell us what we all thought that thats how it is…
Khashoggi, Erdogan and the Truth
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/10/khashoggi-erdogan-and-the-truth/
“There are many things to learn from the gruesome murder other than the justified outrage at the event itself. It opens a window on the truly horrible world of the extremely powerful and wealthy.
The first thing to say is that the current Saudi explanation, that this was an intended interrogation and abduction gone wrong, though untrue, does have one thing going for it. It is their regular practice. The Saudis have for years been abducting dissidents abroad and returning them to the Kingdom to be secretly killed. The BBC World Service often contains little pockets of decent journalism not reflected in its main news outlets, and here from August 2017 is a little noticed piece on the abduction and “disappearance” of three other senior Saudis between 2015-17. Interestingly, while the piece was updated this month, it was not to include the obvious link to the Khashoggi case.
The key point is that European authorities turned a completely blind eye to the abductions in that BBC report, even when performed on European soil and involving physical force. The Saudi regime was really doing very little different in the Khashoggi case. In fact, inside Saudi Arabia, Khashoggi was a less senior and important figure than those other three abducted then killed, about whom nobody kicked up any fuss, even though the truth was readily available. Mohammed Bin Salman appears to have made two important miscalculations: he misread Erdogan and he underestimated the difference which Khashoggi’s position as a Washington Post journalist made to political pressure on Western governments.
Haspel was sent urgently to Ankara by Donald Trump to attempt to deflect Erdogan from any direct accusation of Mohammed Bin Salman in his speech yesterday. MBS’ embrace of de facto alliance with Israel, in pursuit of his fanatic hatred of Shia Muslims, is the cornerstone of Trump’s Middle East policy.
Haspel’s brief was very simple. She took with her intercept intelligence that purportedly shows massive senior level corruption in the Istanbul Kanal project, and suggested that Erdogan may not find it a good idea if intelligence agencies started to make public all the information they hold.
Whether Erdogan held back in his speech yesterday as a result of Haspel’s intervention I do not know. Erdogan may be keeping cards up his sleeve for his own purpose, particularly relating to intercepts of phone and Skype calls from the killers direct to MBS’ office. I have an account of Haspel’s brief from a reliable source, but have not been updated on who she then met, or what the Turks said to her. It does seem very probable, from Trump’s shift in position this morning to indicate MBS may be involved, that Haspel was convinced the Turks have further strong evidence and may well use it.
Mohammed Bin Salman is no fool, and he realises that to punish members of his personal security detail who were just following his orders, would put him in the position of Caligula and the Praetorian Guard, and not tend to his long term safety. Possibly people will be reassigned, or there will be brief imprisonments till nobody is looking. If I were a dissident or Shia in Saudi Arabia who bore any kind of physical resemblance to any of the party of murderers, I would get out very quick.
Whatever comes of this will not be “justice”. The truth the leads can reveal is much wider than the narrow question of the murder incident, as I hope this article sketches out. That the fallout derails to some extent the murder machine in Yemen is profoundly to be hoped.”
Isaiah 21:9 connects the fall of Babylon with the destruction of the al Saud reign of terror
Remember that the death and destruction troika is: Great (end times) Babylon, Zionist and Talmudist Esau and Wahhabi (donmec) Saudistan
The destruction of Babylon is in Jer 50 & 51 plus Rev 17&18. The destruction of Zionist Talmudic Esau is in Obadayahu and in Malachi 1:4; Amos 1:11; Ezek 36:5; Joel 3:19; Ezekiel 25:12&13; Jer 49; Isaiah 63:1; their ISIS-al Qaeda invasion of Syria is in Psalm 83:6& 137:7
In Isaiah 21 the destruction foretold is TRIPARTITE 21:9 Babylon has fallen but since Seir is mentioned then at same time Edom is destroyed and since Dedan & Kebar is mentioned Saudi is destroyed by Elam that is the Persians ==> Iran
The Lord comes from Bozrah which is believed to be Petra in Jordan with blood in His robes after He deals with Zionist and Talmudic Edom who is indicted for violence against his brother Yakov
Let me tell you the summary…. the Ishmael and Esau brothers in law create destructive activity which makes the MIC in the Babylon USA busy in replacing bombs and equipment to create more destruction and death. This fuels the US Securities exchange markets (Mammon). The israelis recycle the dollars given them by the generous taxpayers to campaign contributions to their sponsor politicians in usa. The saudis make sure that all oil is only sold in dollars which creates strong demand for the dollar regardless of debt level….and the saudis pay protection money buy buying expensive war tools and toys to create more death and destruction
Good read-M.Kadi.Very interesting post -informative-insightful and thoughtful comments.Saw the report about those 700-persons -Europeans and Americas being amongst those held as hostages by Daesh/ISIL.I got this from a Valdai report said by President Putin.Recall when Iran had US hostages back in the Carter/Bush senior era elections were also in the air and the MSM was asked to keep quiet about the wheeling and dealing that was tahing place behind the scene-to get those hostages released- and the subsequent fallout
Till about a hundred years ago, muslims from Africa and India would collect zakat and send it to the arabian peninsula to support the poor arabs. The petrodollar changed everything. Today, muslims from africa and the indian subcontinent work for the gulf states and get treatment of slaves.