Tuesday, September 24, 2019

JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: TRUMP'S INSANE MESS IN THE MIDDLE EAST - THE NEW SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ISRAEL AND SAUDI ARABIA AND HOW IT CAME ABOUT - HOW THEIR POSITIONS IN THE REGION ARE REMARKABLY SIMILAR - A FEW IMPORTANT FACTS ABOUT 9/11, AN EVENT NEVER EXPLAINED - SAUDI GOVERNMENT HAD NO INVOLVEMENT

John Chuckman


COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY NESRINE MALIK (FROM THE GUARDIAN) IN CHECKPOINT ASIA



“Saudi Arabia Won’t Attack Iran. But It May Pay Someone Else To

“What do American Hessians cost these days?”



https://www.checkpointasia.net/saudi-arabia-wont-attack-iran-but-it-may-pay-someone-else-to/



"Meanwhile, Saudi looks on – as ever, the indulged and unpunished provocateur of the Middle East"

That leaves out, just as you might expect if you are aware of the extreme bias of “The Guardian,” one of the most bent newspapers on the planet, the real “unpunished provocateur,” the one behind many events involving Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Israeli influence is almost entirely responsible for Trump's blundering stupidities in the Middle East. His pointless hostility towards Iran and his support for Saudi Arabia’s bloodletting in Yemen and other places.

And, indeed, Israel is largely responsible for the new military status of Saudi Arabia, its having become a major ranking global spender on armaments.

Before the blood-brother bond between Netanyahu and the Crown Prince we see today, Saudi Arabia would never have been allowed to buy those mountains of American weapons.

"Talk of tens of billions of dollars in new American arms! Are you crazy, you schnook?" Netanyahu would have been on the phone to the President in the middle of the night.

They used to despise Saudi Arabia in Israel. Not that many years ago.

Now, they embrace almost as the closest allies. The embrace is never greatly publicised or bragged about – that could have serious consequences for the general, very conservative population of Saudi Arabia and for the stability of the Murderer Prince’s Crown.

But there has been a profound change as these two wealthy outsiders realize how much in common they have, and as the new Saudi Tyrant works hard to earn "creds" in the right places, doing all kinds of desired dirty work in Syria and Yemen and other places.

I call them “wealthy outsiders” because relative to the hundreds of millions who inhabit the region, they are both outsiders by culture and circumstances.

The Saudi Crown is only a little older than Israel itself is. It is not an ancient kingdom, as it likes to style itself.

It was formed very close to the time of Hitler’s accession to power in Germany, just a few months before. And just three years after the end of Hitler’s reign, Israel was created. In a region of truly ancient civilizations, they are both newcomers, and they are both viewed by many as usurpers.

And they are both rich usurpers. After all, in any society, being wealthy sets you apart from most of the population, as we see now so starkly with “the one percent” versus the rest in the United States.

The relative wealth of Saudi Arabia and Israel sets them apart from most of the Middle East.

The Saudis with immense reserves of oil, and Israel with immense flows of foreign aid and resources from the private sector in America and Europe. If you count both government and private sources, Israel is likely the most heavily subsidized entity in history.

So, they do have a lot in common when compared to the great mass of the Middle East. And they both need to protect what they have.

The importance of their both being kinds of wealthy outsiders trumps all ethnic or religious differences, at least for the ruling class. Ordinary folks in both places don’t count for much, just as is the case in most places.

Especially now that Saudi Arabia has totally ceased to make the sounds it made twenty years ago. Then it tried to appeal, as something of a leader, to the region’s Muslim masses, but that has now been forgotten for the most part.

Fear over the consequences of 9/11 drove the Saudi Crown away from some its old ways even before the new Crown Prince took over, killing and kidnapping and bombing his way to favor in American and Israeli eyes.

After all, America could have invaded immensely wealthy Saudi Arabia just as easily as it did impoverished Afghanistan. There were a number of facts in those events that easily could have been bent to supporting the purpose.

So, the Saudis began changing their ways even before Prince Bone Saw took command with a wave of kidnappings and huge ransoms and hidden violence, stuff Trump swept aside with words about correcting old corruptions in the Kingdom, such is the meaninglessness of words in American politics and international affairs.

It was quite noticeable to someone like myself who occasionally read some Saudi Internet publications. The tone and approach changed dramatically. Some of my old articles critical of affairs in the Middle East used to be reposted by editors on certain Saudi sites, but that stopped completely.

The good Prince wasn’t really first in line for succession, but the half-senile old King went along, undoubtedly having had words put into his ear about how favorably the fresh and progressive new Prince would be received in Washington and Tel Aviv.

So, established succession practices were dumped, and the Crown Prince started shedding a bright new light over the Middle East. It included a big PR build-up in the “Western” press, the good old Guardian, for example, being rather lavish with favorable articles about a man who would prove a mass killer.

There was also a big PR tour arranged in the United States in which the Crown Prince washed the blood from his hands long enough to shake hands and banquet with many American politicians and notables.

We observe now only a little gesture or word, here or there, about some event in the region made to appeal to the locals, something Israel completely understands, having itself a leader who has done nothing but lie for his entire career, thirteen years as Prime Minister, lying ceaselessly to his own people and to the leaders of other countries and international organizations.

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Response to another comment:

You have that wrong, as do many Americans.

The Saudi government intensely disliked Osama bin Laden, even though his family was a rich and influential one in the country. They did not like his opposition to American influence in the Kingdom. Being a rather devout Muslim, he viewed the American influence and presence at the very center of Islam almost as blasphemy or apostasy.

The government secretly paid Osama to stay out of the country. The Afghanistan Taliban government gave him refuge because he was viewed both as a hero in the fight against Soviet occupation and as a devout Muslim.

The Saudi government did not pay him to attack the United States. If you know anything, it's a preposterous notion. And had there been even a grain of truth to it, how much more attractive and rewarding it would have been for Washington to invade Saudi Arabia rather than bleak Afghanistan.

The Saudi elites were totally in bed with influential Americans. For example, money for George Bush's poorly performing little oil company came from Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Princelings regularly went to showplaces like Las Vegas, and they made many American investments. By the way, a little later, the Crown Prince himself was a friend and frequent visitor to Jeffrey Epstein’s establishment.

Your suggestion is one that a number of rather questionable American politicians have put out there, notably New York Senator Chuck Schumer.

Perhaps to divert attention away from certain serious facts, pretty much kept buried, like the two squads of Israeli spies who tracked the airplane gang travelling around the United States for a while and completely anticipated what happened, some of them even photographing the event from the roof of a truck they rented under the name of a non-existent moving company, something never explained.

The Israelis, so far as we know gave no notice to American authorities, although American authorities may well have already known. Whatever the case, 9/11 has never been explained.

https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2016/09/11/john-chuckman-comment-a-survivor-says-even-the-simplest-questions-around-911-have-not-been-answered-by-government-yes-and-some-disturbing-truths-around-those-events-the-saudi-arabian-nonsense/

The Saudi payments, when discovered by investigators, were kept secret because people wouldn't understand, and now that the payments are known, they were right, people do not understand. They have even become a basis for trying to instigate unwarranted lawsuits, something Senator Schumer may well have been trying to encourage constituents to do.

Investigators were only trying to protect the Saudis, something completely in keeping with all past close elite relationships and having nothing to do with suspected guilt.