{"id":94551,"date":"2017-06-26T12:00:47","date_gmt":"2017-06-26T11:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=94551"},"modified":"2017-06-25T11:43:41","modified_gmt":"2017-06-25T10:43:41","slug":"house-of-saudi-cards-the-inside-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/06\/house-of-saudi-cards-the-inside-story\/","title":{"rendered":"House of Saudi Cards: The Inside Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just when geopolitical practitioners were betting on regime change in Qatar \u2013 orchestrated by a desperate House of Saud \u2013 regime change ended up happening in Riyadh, orchestrated by Warrior Prince, Destroyer of Yemen and Blockader of Qatar, Mohammad bin Salman (MBS).<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

\u00a9 Sputnik\/ Mikhail Voskresenskiy<\/p><\/div>\n

24 Jun 2017 – <\/em>Considering the impenetrability of\u00a0that desert petrodollar family oligarchy impersonating a nation it\u2019s up\u00a0to a few foreigners granted access to\u00a0make sense of\u00a0the latest Arabian Game of\u00a0Thrones<\/a>. It also does not help that the \u201clargesse\u201d of\u00a0Saudi \u2013 and Emirati \u2013 lobbies in\u00a0Washington reduces virtually every think tank and hack in\u00a0sight to\u00a0abject sycophancy.<\/p>\n

A top Middle East source close to\u00a0the House of\u00a0Saud<\/a>, and a de facto dissident of\u00a0the Beltway consensus, minces no words; \u201cThe CIA is very displeased with\u00a0the firing of [former Crown Prince] Mohammad bin Nayef. Mohammad bin Salman is regarded as\u00a0sponsoring terrorism. In April 2014 the entire royal families of\u00a0the UAE and Saudi Arabia were to\u00a0be ousted by\u00a0the US over\u00a0terrorism.\u00a0 A compromise was worked out\u00a0that Nayef would take over\u00a0running the Kingdom to\u00a0stop it.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Before the Riyadh coup, an insistent narrative had been pervading selected Middle East geopolitical circles according to\u00a0which US intel, \u201cindirectly\u201d, stopped another coup against\u00a0the young Emir of\u00a0Qatar, Sheikh Tamim al-Thani, orchestrated by\u00a0Mohammad bin Zayed, Crown Prince of\u00a0Abu Dhabi, with\u00a0help from\u00a0Blackwater\/Academi’s Eric Prince\u2019s army of\u00a0mercenaries in\u00a0the UAE. Zayed, crucially, happens to\u00a0be MBS\u2019s mentor.<\/p>\n

Our source clarifies, \u201cthe events are connected. Prince is CIA, but\u00a0he probably stopped any coup attempt on\u00a0Qatar. The CIA blocked the coup in\u00a0Qatar and the Saudis reacted by\u00a0dumping the CIA selected Mohammed bin Nayef, who was to\u00a0be the next King. The Saudis are scared. The monarchy is in\u00a0trouble as\u00a0the CIA can move the army in\u00a0Saudi Arabia against\u00a0the king. This was a defensive move by\u00a0MBS.\u201d<\/p>\n

The source adds, \u201cMBS is failing everywhere. Yemen, Syria, Qatar, Iraq, etc. are all failures of\u00a0MBS. China is also displeased with\u00a0MBS as\u00a0he has been stirring up\u00a0trouble in\u00a0Xinjiang. Russia cannot be happy that MBS was and is behind\u00a0the lower oil price. Who are his allies?\u00a0 He has only one and that is his father, who is hardly competent.\u201d King Salman is virtually incapacitated by\u00a0dementia.<\/p>\n

The source is adamant that, \u201cit is very possible the CIA will move against\u00a0the monarchy in\u00a0Saudi Arabia.\u201d That would qualify as\u00a0the war between\u00a0President Trump and selected sectors of\u00a0the US deep state reaching a whole new level.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

And to\u00a0add to\u00a0the charade, there\u2019s the Jared of\u00a0Arabia factor. There’s no way any serious inside\u00a0player would confirm anything about\u00a0the (aborted) coup in\u00a0Qatar. But if that coup attempt really happened, and was squashed, Jared Kushner may have had inside\u00a0information, considering his connections.<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0the source, \u201cJared Kushner is essentially bankrupt at\u00a0666 Fifth Avenue, and needs Saudi financial help. So he is doing everything the Saudis want. 666 Fifth is in\u00a0such bad financial shape that even his father-in-law cannot bail him out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Operation Desert Hubris <\/strong><\/p>\n

This convoluted trail of\u00a0events does corroborate the famous December 2015 memo by\u00a0the BND<\/a> \u2013 German intelligence, according to\u00a0which the House of\u00a0Saud had adopted \u201can impulsive policy of\u00a0intervention\u201d, with\u00a0then Defense Minister and Deputy Crown Prince MBS, a \u201cgambler\u201d, bound to\u00a0cause a lot of\u00a0trouble.<\/p>\n

The BND memo detailed how the House of\u00a0Saud, in\u00a0Syria, bankrolled the creation of\u00a0the Army of\u00a0Conquest \u2013 basically a revamp of\u00a0Jabhat al-Nusra, a.k.a. al-Qaeda in\u00a0Syria\u00a0\u2014 as\u00a0well as\u00a0ideological sister outfit Ahrar al-Sham. Translation; the House of\u00a0Saud aiding, abetting and weaponizing Salafi-jihadi terrorism. And this from\u00a0a regime that now charges Qatar of\u00a0doing the same (Doha supported different outfits).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In Yemen, the BND worried that MBS\u2019s war against\u00a0the Houthis and the Yemeni Army was only profiting al-Qaeda in\u00a0the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Now MBS\u2019s war \u2013 conducted with\u00a0American and British weapons\u00a0\u2014 has also provoked a horrendous humanitarian catastrophe.<\/p>\n

How come an arrogant, sloppy, hubristic ignoramus like\u00a0MBS has come so close to\u00a0set the whole of\u00a0Southwest Asia on\u00a0fire? And not only Southwest Asia; waves of\u00a0despair are flowing in\u00a0Western investment circles to\u00a0the effect that MBS is such a loose cannon his actions will destroy retirement accounts all over\u00a0the spectrum.<\/p>\n

Some essential background is in\u00a0order. What we have today is the Third Saudi kingdom\u00a0\u2014 founded by\u00a0Ibn Saud in\u00a01902, keeping the same, previous noxious alliance with\u00a0troglodyte Wahhabi clerics<\/a>. Ibn Saud only ruled Najd in\u00a0the beginning; then, in\u00a01913, he annexed Shi\u2019ite Eastern Arabia (that\u2019s where the oil is), and up\u00a0to 1926 Hejaz, on\u00a0the Red Sea coast. A \u201cunited\u201d Kingdom of\u00a0Saudi Arabia was proclaimed only in\u00a01932.<\/p>\n

Ibn Saudi died in\u00a01953. Arguably the most influential of\u00a0his harem of\u00a0wives was Hassa al-Sudairi. They had 7 sons together. (Demented) King Salman, Nayef and MBS are all Sudairis. MBS is the first of\u00a0Ibn Saud\u2019s grandsons within\u00a0striking reach of\u00a0the throne.<\/p>\n

Quite a few other princes are more competent that MBS. Nayef, who spent a long time in\u00a0the Interior Ministry, was the Saudi counterterrorism czar (thus being a CIA darling). There\u2019s Mitab bin Abdullah, minister of\u00a0the Saudi Arabian National Guard; notorious Prince Turki, former intel chief, former ambassador to\u00a0the US, and former best pal of\u00a0Osama bin Laden; and Khaled bin Faisal, governor of\u00a0Mecca and former education minister.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

MBS is betting everything on\u00a0his Vision 2030 \u2013 which in\u00a0theory might propel the Saudi economy beyond\u00a0oil monoculture, but\u00a0implies a virtually impossible political aggiornamento; after\u00a0all the House of\u00a0Saudi Cards is un-reformable. Take the risible list of\u00a013 demands now imposed on\u00a0Qatar \u2013 that\u2019s MBS\u2019s work \u2013 including the bellicose virtual\u00a0 excommunication of\u00a0Iran and shutting down\u00a0al-Jazeera.<\/p>\n

No wonder every major geopolitical player is now gaming war scenarios \u2013 although only Germany stated its concerns on\u00a0the record. Qatar is a NATO observer. Doha is adamant; it won\u2019t fold to\u00a0the absurd Saudi demands. What next; will MBS \u2013 the most dangerous \u201cleader\u201d in\u00a0geopolitics today \u2013 lose face or launch yet another, demented, unwinnable and this time globally-convulsing war?<\/p>\n

____________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Pepe Escobar is a Brazilian independent geopolitical analyst. He is a frequent contributor to websites and radio and TV shows ranging from the US to East Asia. He is the former roving correspondent for Asia Times Online. He has been a foreign correspondent since 1985, and has lived in London, Paris, Milan, Los Angeles, Washington, Bangkok and Hong Kong. Even before 9\/11 he specialized in covering the arc from the Middle East to Central and East Asia, with an emphasis on Big Power geopolitics and energy wars. He is the author of \u201cGlobalistan<\/a>\u201d (2007), \u201cRed Zone Blues<\/a>\u201d (2007), \u201cObama does Globalistan<\/a>\u201d (2009) and \u201cEmpire of Chaos<\/a>\u201d (2014), all published by Nimble Books. His latest book is \u201c2030<\/a>\u201c, also by Nimble Books, out in December 2015.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 sputniknews.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just when geopolitical practitioners were betting on regime change in Qatar \u2013 orchestrated by a desperate House of Saud \u2013 regime change ended up happening in Riyadh, orchestrated by Warrior Prince, Destroyer of Yemen and Blockader of Qatar, Mohammad bin Salman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-middle-east-north-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94551\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}