The take over of this branch of the bin Salman family changed the relationship. The USA should rethink it's relationship with Saudi Arabia. I do not believe that we should be involved with them anymore, except, if the USA doesn't sell them munitions, the Russians will. That would be worse.
By Craig Whitlock and Nate Jones
The picture (click here) of President George W. Bush leading an aged Saudi King Abdullah by the hand through the gardens of his Texas ranch in 2005 has become both iconic and symbolic of the U.S.-Saudi relationship. For over 40 years, the United States has walked hand-in-hand with Saudi Arabia through the thicket of Middle Eastern crises.
More than 500 retired U.S. military personnel (click here) - including scores of generals and admirals — have taken lucrative jobs since 2015 working for foreign governments, mostly in countries known for human rights abuses and political repression, according to a Washington Post investigation.
In Saudi Arabia, for example, 15 retired U.S. generals and admirals have worked as paid consultants for the Defense Ministry since 2016. The ministry is led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, who U.S. intelligence agencies say approved the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributing columnist, as part of a brutal crackdown on dissent....
More than 500 retired U.S. military personnel (click here) - including scores of generals and admirals — have taken lucrative jobs since 2015 working for foreign governments, mostly in countries known for human rights abuses and political repression, according to a Washington Post investigation.
In Saudi Arabia, for example, 15 retired U.S. generals and admirals have worked as paid consultants for the Defense Ministry since 2016. The ministry is led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, who U.S. intelligence agencies say approved the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributing columnist, as part of a brutal crackdown on dissent....
Holding hands is a cultural issue with the former Crown Prince. It was a different time not long ago when the USA and Saudi Arabia were friends. However, a branch of the bin Salman family took over control and placed the current Crowned Prince, Mohammad bin Salman in power. This Saudi Arabia is more close to Russia then the previous leadership ever was. I am not making excuses, that is a fact.
The USA military is a unique entity in the world and it is sought after as a mimic to other countries. Being American is unique and it produces an incredible military. I honestly don't believe any other country in the world can mimic the USA. The soldiers of the USA democracy are incredible and every person in this country has a debt to them for the protections they receive.
Any military authority that went to work for Saudi Arabia before MBS would not compromise the USA's national security. There was just a different understanding then. With Trump in office there was an emergence of cooperation with adverse leadership around the world, including the Phillipines, Russia, China and countries like Saudi Arabia that had a change in leadership. Trump was a new danger to national security, only at the time there was no Republican willing to impeach him and the danger to the USA national security continued to the point where highly classified documents were hidden from the American people, even today.
Below is the kind of assault against the USA Constitution that Trump demanded from US Attorneys.
By Salvador Rizzo and Rachel Weiner
A jury on Tuesday found Igor Danchenko (click here) - a private researcher who was a primary source for a 2016 dossier of allegations about former president Donald Trump’s ties to Russia - not guilty of lying to the FBI about where he got his information.
The verdict in federal court in Alexandria, Va., is another blow for special counsel John Durham, who has now lost both cases that have gone to trial as part of his nearly 3½-year investigation. Durham, who was asked by Attorney General William P. Barr in 2019 to review the FBI’s investigation of the Trump campaign in 2016, is sure to face renewed pressure to wrap up his work following the verdict.
Trump predicted Durham would uncover “the crime of the century” inside the U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies that investigated his campaign’s links to Russia. But so far, no one charged by the special counsel has gone to prison, and only one government employee has pleaded guilty to a criminal offense. In both trials this year, Durham argued that people deceived FBI agents, not that investigators corruptly targeted Trump....
Fusion GPS was a partnership of very experienced journalists with credentials that withstood scrutiny. Christopher Steele was a very good choice in asking for his experience and his connections to learn more about Trump's relationship with Putin and Russia. There were issues that came to the surface, but, the GOP once AGAIN decided to play politics with national security and insisted on discrediting Steele's work rather than following the evidence to validate it.
October 18, 2022
...Fusion, (click here) in turn, subcontracted with Christopher Steele, a retired MI-6 officer with considerable expertise on Russian matters, to use his contacts in Moscow to find what he could about Trump’s connections to the Russian government. That work led to the compilation of Steele’s dossier, written up in the style of an intelligence report and based on unnamed sources, that contained a variety of serious charges against Trump....
Here we are today with a Mueller Investigation and now January 6th Committee under the same damn stupid pressure from the GOP that wants to deny the existence of a dangerous element of American politics in Donald Trump. THE SAME DAMN THING!
The GOP in the USA is corrupt. End of discussion. No one should be voting for Republicans that not only will side with Trump, but, sides with the entire dictator culture of White Supremacists and Christian Nationalists in the style of Viktor Orban. Americans, get over it. This entire episode with the GOP is about the worst scenario in American history. The GOP is sacrificing the USA Constitution in favor of a dictator modeled after Orban.
But, to get back to Saudi Arabia. There needs to be a change in relationship. OPEC voted with Russia. It favored profit over human lives and that is beginning to be the character issue with Saudi Arabia.
What do we know about Russia and it's communists?
THE END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS.
What are we seeing with Saudi Arabia?
THE END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS.
No one is safe in a country where that paradigm rules the day, that includes Orban.
October 18, 2022
In this photo (click here) provided by Ibrahim Almadi, Saad Ibrahim Almadi sits in a restaurant in an unidentified place, in the United States, on August 2021. Almadi, 72, who is a citizen of both Saudi Arabia and the U.S., was arrested in Saudi Arabia last November and was recently sentenced to 16 years in prison over tweets critical of the Saudi government.
Dubai - An American citizen (click here) has been arrested in Saudi Arabia, tortured and sentenced to 16 years in prison over tweets he sent while in the United States, his son said Tuesday.
Saad Ibrahim Almadi, a 72-year-old retired project manager living in Florida, was arrested last November while visiting family in the kingdom and was sentenced earlier this month, his son Ibrahim told The Associated Press, confirming details that were first reported by The Washington Post. Almadi is a citizen of both Saudi Arabia and the U.S.
There was no immediate comment from Saudi officials....
The world is very different. There are problems with countries today we didn't face a short time ago. Communists are not benevolent by nature. And now, Saudi Arabia is looking more as if it has lost principles of international relationships and instead wants to be a strong man country.
I think the problem with Saudi Arabia is MBS. It was for the Khashoggi murder and it is for the recent jailing of Saad Ibrahim Almadi. I think that is where the USA should seek pressure to bring about a better relationship with Saudi Arabia. The problem is MBS. Israel has to be brought into the picture regarding any shift in USA presence in the region and it may be that will bring about a different stance. Israel is the key player here and the USA cannot make moves without our strongest ally.
Dubai - An American citizen (click here) has been arrested in Saudi Arabia, tortured and sentenced to 16 years in prison over tweets he sent while in the United States, his son said Tuesday.
Saad Ibrahim Almadi, a 72-year-old retired project manager living in Florida, was arrested last November while visiting family in the kingdom and was sentenced earlier this month, his son Ibrahim told The Associated Press, confirming details that were first reported by The Washington Post. Almadi is a citizen of both Saudi Arabia and the U.S.
There was no immediate comment from Saudi officials....
At least they didn't dissolve this one in acid. But, at the age of 72 he will die in a Saudi prison and most probably under harsh conditions.
This is a problem for the USA and it has yet to develop a policy regarding immigrants to the USA with continued ties to radically different governance than they becomes used to as citizens here. I believe this is a growing problem and it needs to be taken head on within the USA State Department to develop relationships with these people to prevent such heinous issues such as being jailed for speaking openly in the USA about someone like MBS.
I think the freedom of speech such immigrants find in the USA only sets them up for danger when they return to see family. There is an American, Paul Whelan (click here), currently jailed in Russia for spying. He went there quite innocently to attend a wedding. Paul Whelan is a very bright man, worked in security after he served in the USA as a Marine (click here). Such people are noticed by these extremist countries and watched. When their presence in a hostile country occurs they are arrested for no reason, except lies. Lies are legal tender in places like Russia and Saudi Arabia. People die in these countries for absolutely no reason.
Russia arrests people like Paul Whelan because he is viewed as an honorable American that will carry great sympathy with the American public. Then political pressure comes to bear in the USA and Whelan becomes a chip in an international game for exchange of prisoners. That is why Paul Whelan is in a Russian prison and no other reason.
So, while there was a time in America when international relations was open and prosperity was linked to economic advantages for both countries, that door is closed. No, it is not closing, it is closed and primarily by dictators willing to see the Free World come to an end. Not just willing, but, desirous of seeing the Free World come to an end.
The Late President George H. W. Bush used the phrase, "family of countries" when carrying out international relations and seeking peace and prosperity. He did that as a USA ambassador and he carried it into his presidency. That held for some time, but, there is no longer that priority. Russia had destroyed every aspect of peace and prosperity as advocated by the USA when it began genocide of Ukrainians. The break down of such a dynamic actually began when Putin invaded Crimea and lit the Donbas on fire.
I would not call this a return of the Cold War, the players are different. Russia is no longer the USSR and NATO is larger. It isn't the same. I sincerely think NATO has an opportunity to become disengaged with these countries and find autonomy rather than dependency. It is sad, but, it is true that men like Orban and Putin are in power in countries that embrace war as if the past can be resurrected.
For decades, (click here) the United States has operated out of bases and facilities throughout the Middle East. As security priorities have changed and relationships with host countries have evolved, so have the locations and needs of U.S. forces in the region....
Some of what the USA is seeing with issues presenting themselves with Saudi Arabia is Russia's influence due to OPEC. Russia's allies don't like the idea of USA military power anywhere in the Middle East. We are there to protect our allies in the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. Saudi Arabia has been an ally, but, that is changing. Old men like peace, young men like ideals. That is the problem with MBS. He is an ideological leader that refuses to allow freedom of speech surrounding his name.
It is strange. The USA intercepts ships carrying munitions from Iran that would ultimately target Saudi Arabia, yet there are reasons to change American policy with the kingdom.
Along the Persian Gulf there is Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the UAE and don't forget Kuwait. Then there is India. It will be very difficult to separate from Saudi Arabia and it's relationship with our military.
Why Saudi Arabia wants to vote profit over human lives in backing Russia within OPEC is more a character issue with MBS. I cannot say is he not leading the country well domestically when it comes to changing from an oil based economy to a service based economy. Saudi Arabia has transformed a segment of it's economy that never existed before and the reason is Peak Oil and the climate crisis.
In all sincerity the problem is MBS and his need for control in an immature manner. I think he needs to stop being a bully, quite frankly, because I don't see stability in Saudi Arabia if the USA abandons it.
The real question is how does the USA engage peace over war in the Middle East? That is the basic problem. Israel has been working hard to build benevolent relationships in the region and has succeeded to a greater extent. I don't think MBS or Egypt understands the stabilizing force Israel is as they sympathize with Palestine. I am not saying abandon Palestine, that isn't it. But, Israel is a valuable partner in the stability of the region.
Freedom of Speech is on the chopping block with all these leaders. Real lives are being destroyed because of the hatred of Freedom of Speech. Freedom of Speech is happening. It is called the internet and the future has little tolerance for dictators. MBS needs to rethink the future of freedom in Saudi Arabia. It just isn't letting ladies drive automobiles.
There is another issue that Israel might be able to cast light on and that is the families seeking justice pursuing Saudi Arabia. There needs to be a change in policy, but, it must be carried out well and in a way that doesn't cause greater destabilization leading to unwanted wars. If there are such wars, the USA could be pulled into them.
While engaging Israel, get the advise about former USA military leadership and jobs in places like Saudi Arabia. I am quite sure Israel has strong opinions.
