The Voluntary Exchange Podcast: Arabian Nights

chieppa1 (66)in #politics • 7 years ago (edited)

This is the story of a major shift in Saudi Arabian policy abroad. I think.

Background

The purge that took place last week has to be seen through the viewpoint of it's geopolitical ramifications. Saudi Arabia is doubling-down on it's "shadow" war with Iran, this time in a more public way. From blaming a missile strike from Yemen on Iran, or actively working with the Israelis to isolate Hezbollah in Lebanon (to cripple Iran).

The Saudi regime dates back to WWI, when the house was one of many clans that worked with the British is its fight against the Turks. Later on, FDR made a deal a the end of WWII to protect the Saudi Royal Family if the US had access to Saudi oil. This deal stands to this day.

The Crown Prince selected the "corruption" purge with a purpose. Beginning at a meeting in 2014, elements of the Royal Family planned to oust the current king, King Abdullah. At that meeting, Prince Bandar was relieved of his duties. This might not have been evident at the time, but this was the start of the Saudis separating even more from the radical, Islamist elements of the family. Prince Bandar was shown to have helped fund the 9/11 hijackers, and has been known as one of the links between the royal family and the jihadists they fund outside of The Kingdom.

The plan was for a power-sharing to take place between three power groups:

King Salman & Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman

King Salman took over after the death of King Abdullah. Earlier this year, the crown prince, Prince Nayef, was replaced by King Salman's favorite son, Mohammed Bin Salman. Recently, King Salman created an "anti-corruption" committee and placed his son in charge. This purge is a result of this committee, with the Crown Prince focusing on the family of former King Abdullah and the former Crown Prince.

Prince Nayef

The previous Crown Prince, Prince Nayef and his son have become targets by Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS).

Prince Miteb

Prince Miteb is the favorite son of King Abdullah. The head of the National Guard, he is supported by the ultra-conservative, old guard of the family. The National Guard in Saudi Arabia is seen as a "parallel" force to the military. To some, the military is seen as a puppet force of the US puppet regime. This is the same element that supports Al Qeada and pushes Wahhabism. The National Guard itself was created by the fonder of the House of Saad. The original members were former tribal warriors or "Mujahedeen".

Prince Miteb has been arrested in the current purge.

Outside of the "power-sharing" agreement that went to hell, another name you will see in the coverage is Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal. Bin Talal has major stockholdings in Twitter, Lyft, Citi, 4 Seasons and previously Newscorp. He has been arrested along with other members of the media.

The Crown Prince has had the bank accounts of the arrested frozen, private jets grounded, and in some cases physically assaulted. There has been two dead princes since the purge, one in a helicopter crash, another in a fire-fight.

Bin Salman has been busy outside of the Saudi Arabia also. His recent visit to Israel helped plan the recent breakdown of politics in Lebanon. The Prime Minister there stepped down live from Riyadh, stating that Hezbollah has taken over the country and "declared war on Saudi Arabia". The president of Lebanon is seen has in Hezbollah's pocket, so things in Lebanon will escalate.

The Prince also has been in charge of the war in Yemen, and his US overlords have made it clear that they want Iran isolated. This moves in Lebanon by Saudi & Israel and the double-down in Yemen are the two moves to keep in mind moving forward. The second part of this new policy is the attempt to marginalize the extremist elements within the family and the habit of funding terrorist groups. This was most likely asked of the new Crown Prince by Trump and Tel Aviv.

The upcoming tension in Lebanon and the blowback of any policy to crackdown on Wahhabism locally should be the story readers (and listeners) follow in the months ahead.

Episode can be found here. The full episode archive can be found here and on ITunes.

Sources:

Image Source: 1 ,2, 3, 4, 5

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7 years ago in #politics by chieppa1 (66)

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informationwar (62) 7 years ago

Curated for #informationwar (by @openparadigm)
Relevance:Middle East Geopolitics

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humanbot (48) 7 years ago

@carlgnash from the @humanbot Human Certified Original Works Initiative has manually determined this post to be the original and truly creative work of the post author.

Learn more:
https://steemit.com/curation/@carlgnash/what-human-certified-original-works-means-to-me-a-totally-unofficial-mission-statement-from-just-one-person-in-a-decentralized

Thanks for being an original and creative content creator! You rock!

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carlgnash (69) 7 years ago

Hey man as usual I am super impressed with your posting, you are so thorough in pulling together all the sources to illustrate your points and you do a great job of presenting a ton of material in a very easy to digest format. This was my first time actually listening to one of your podcasts through, great job there as well.

Great job summarizing the main Saudi power players and factions and relating them to current events. Really a very informative post. I rarely give out one of these badges for this type of posting but this definitely does qualify as original and creative. Synthesizing so many disparate sources and digesting them and providing us with the relevant bits, and presenting them so clearly, is actually a rare talent. Keep on rocking!

Love - Carl

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chieppa1 (66) 7 years ago

Thanks man!

This was the first post/podcast episode I think I got the way a wanted. I've realized that RESEARCH makes the podcast better (having an outline & a few reads through source material. I was rushing the episodes before, determined to get one out a week.

I enjoy finding these geopolitical events that Americans never get the full story about, going on a deep dive, and relying what I found in my own, unpolished way. The sourcing is for other deep divers. I think my history background also helps with putting the narrative together and the sourcing.

Thanks again for the support. This post has gotten me a lot of positive feedback. That's where the Youtube idea came from. Makes it more accessible I guess.

I'll be following the routine used for this episode moving forward.

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carlgnash (69) 7 years ago (edited)

Cool yeah I figured you had to be working from an outline during the podcast because it was pretty smooth flowing but you just went through so much material. Again, really awesome job!

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minnowsupport (70) 7 years ago

This post has been resteemed by @minnowsupport courtesy of @isaria from the Minnow Support Project ( @minnowsupport ). Join us in Discord.

Upvoting this comment will help support @minnowsupport.

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minnowpond (62) 7 years ago

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