The young crown prince wants to end decades of power-sharing. His gambles could shake up the kingdom and the Middle East.
From the UK and the US to Yemen, Qatar, Turkey, Iran, Palestine, and Lebanon, the fallout from the Saudi Crown Prince’s “corruption” sweep could be felt across many nations. Mohammed Bin Salman al Saud, the 32-year-old heir apparent, wants to consolidate his authority in Saudi Arabia, and, at the same time, be the kingmaker in other Middle Eastern lands. It is an extraordinarily high-risk strategy, one emboldened personally by President Trump and his son-in-law.
Saudi Arabia's puzzling effort to blacklist its tiny neighbor Qatar begs the question of who's really isolated in the Gulf. The attack on Qatar is part of Saudi Arabia’s aggressive new foreign policy that is being led by Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman. As Saudi Arabia’s “monarch in waiting,” Mohammed has launched a disastrous war in Yemen that’s killed more than 10,000 civilians and sparked a country-wide cholera epidemic there.
US president has long history of lucrative investment deals with Saudi Arabia but few ties to small Gulf nation.
Reader Comments: Trump, Sessions, Pence, Impeachment - Readers Debate; Resistance Ballot Box Victories; Racism, Lynching, Slavery, Removal of Confederate Symbols; Israel; Palestine; Saudi Arabia; Puerto Rico; 2017 People’s Summit; New Resource to Protect Medicaid and Health Equity; Great News from Workers Independent News; and more...
If the Trump administration truly wants to find a way out of the wars in the Middle East, it should stop arming, aiding, and abetting the ruthless Saudi regime.
Millions are threatened by famine, as Riyadh prepares an assault on the country’s key port.
Reader Comments - Lots: James Baldwin: "I Am Not Your Negro"; Elizabeth Warren - Nevertheless, She Persisted; Know Your Rights guide from the ACLU; Readers debate role of Russia; Iowa's New Union Busting Law - what it means for the whole country; Lessons from the Japanese Internment for Today's Anti-Immigrant Hysteria; Exploiting Black Labor after the Abolition of Slavery; Resources; Announcements: and more...
Protecting Saudi Arabia is not new; it has been US policy since the discovery of oil in the desert nation in the 1930s. Despite evidence that the Saudi government was supporting ISIS and Al Qaeda affiliates, President Obama continued the cozy Saudi relationship, but when Obama signed the nuclear deal with Saudi’s nemesis, Iran, the relationship started to fray. It now appears that Donald Trump will be an even more staunch supporter of the Saudi regime.
The next U.S. president will have an unprecedented opportunity to put some distance between Washington and Riyadh.
Spread the word