Saudi Arabia has been hard at work rebranding itself as a more moderate, less “clandestine support for terrorists” kinda place – joining both the UN Human Rights Council and the UN Women’s Rights Commission despite creating a humanitarian crisis in Yemen – which, coincidentally, has amazing ports into the very strategic Gulf of Aden.
Notwithstanding reports that they funded 20% of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, contributed heavily to the Clinton Foundation, and probably supported anti-Assad Jihadists in Syria to make way for a pipeline project and gain leverage over Iran (which has lead to the influx of over 5 million Syrian refugees throughout Europe), the Saudis appear to have made a major about-face in both domestic and foreign policy following the 2016 US election.
The rounding up of over 200 Saudi princes, sultans, and businessmen in early November should not be taken lightly. Reports that Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal (Citigroup and Twitter’s #2 investor and a friend of Hillary Clinton) has been strung up and beaten by American Blackwater (aka Academi / Xe) mercenaries – suggest that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is serious about a new direction. Of note; Blackwater founder Erik Prince is the brother of Trump’s Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos.
Recall that the first two stops Donald Trump made as President in mid-February were Saudi Arabia and Israel, where he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu and Saudi Arabia’s King Salman to discuss a coalition to fight terrorism – which, aside from the US and Israel, includes Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Bahrain, Oman and Jordan – assembled to fight the Islamic State and curtail Iran’s regional ambitions.
Iran, in turn, believes ISIS was created by Saudi Arabia and the West to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Which brings us to yesterday
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 31, who is soon to take the reigns of the Saudi empire, has announced plans to “wipe terrorists from the face of the earth,” by forming a coalition of 40 Muslim countries to defeat ISIS.
Via express.co.uk:
Speaking at a summit of defence ministers from across 41 majority-Muslim countries he spoke of a need for a “pan-Islamic united front” against terrorism.
He said: “In past years, terrorism has been functioning in all of our countries… with no coordination among national authorities.
“That ends today, with this alliance.”
To that end, the first official meeting of the new Muslim alliance was held on Sunday, just two days after an attack at a Mosque in Egypt killed over 300 people, including 30 children in what has been called the country’s worst terrorism incident.
And who’s absent from this coalition?
Iran, Syria and Iraq have predictably not joined Saudi Arabia’s push against terrorism. Iran and Syria in particular – likely view the entire operation as a charade.
So – Saudi Arabia, realizing their Syrian ambitions are dead without the support of Madame President, is now following a roadmap to diversify out of oil and rebrand itself as a moderate nation to compete in other industries on the global stage. And with 31 year old Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman taking the reigns, perhaps we can hope for an end to hostilities in Yemen as well.
If you enjoy the content at iBankCoin, please follow us on Twitter
You’ve been watching/reading waaaayy too much US media.
US media is pitching the US-Israel-SA alliance as the ultimate coalition of peace and downplaying the Yemen blockade until very recently. There’s also no mention of SA’s clandestine support for terror groups or their deep ties to Hillary that were disrupted after the 2016 election. WTF are you talking about?
“US media is pitching the US-Israel-SA alliance as the ultimate coalition of peace and downplaying the Yemen blockade until very recently. There’s also no mention of SA’s clandestine support for terror groups or their deep ties to Hillary that were disrupted after the 2016 election.”
Right …of course your post didn’t say the above. Perhaps more quotation marks or “LOLs” are needed for slow folks like me to see your tongue in cheekisms.
I have no problem with the US and Saudi’s becoming even better pals.
Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud is okay with me.
MBS threatening the real terrorists. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_JOGmXpe5I
Muzzies are not terrorists. They just deliver “Seasons Greetings” in a different way.
Saudis are ISIS in white sheets.