“…the crown prince has broken forever the great compromise that exists in the kingdom: between the royal family and the clergy, and between the tribes.” — Robert Fisk
As Robert Fisk makes clear, what’s going on between Saudi Arabia and Lebanon is far from clear. And as the leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah underscored an hour ago on BBC, the Saudis have — by any standards — declared war on the little Arabic country in the greatly troubled region.
What is not being discussed, though, by either the mainstream BBC, Fisk’s The Independent, or any of the truly alternative media outlets worldwide, is the possible involvement of Donald Trump in the “resignation” which has come about. I have no evidence whatsoever that the U.S. president had anything to do with what Fisk describes as a kidnapping essentially. But I do have a perspective on the whole affair which I want to share.
Do you remember when there was all that talk about how Washington, D.C. might have given Saddam Hussein the “green light” to invade tiny Kuwait? Well, one doesn’t have to take a stance respecting that horrid business retrospectively, and be accused of embracing conspiracy theory to simply ask whether or not Trump’s visit abroad — a very surprising choice in Saudi Arabia — gave him an opportunity to advance Israeli and/or U.S. interests by making it clear that the U.S. wouldn’t interfere whatsoever if Saudi Arabia stirred up trouble more directly than ever with Lebanon.
After all, there is a serious investigation going on as I write into the question of whether or not Trump’s buddy Michael Flynn was in on a kidnapping attempt on behalf of Turkey… for 15 million dollars. And the sudden removal of foreign leaders — one way or another — courtesy of U.S. agencies and executives has a long history. A “forced resignation” — clearly — is not out of the question. That sort of thing, in fact, is de rigueur when money’s at stake.
Why is this speculation necessary or beneficial at this juncture? By virtue of the fact that the United States of Amnesia is not connecting the dots provided by its own recent history in either mainstream or alternative circles. But if one considers the ebullient interaction between Trump and Saudi Arabia’s new young leader during that shocking first visit abroad, and his clear commitment to Israel (which must involve supporting efforts to undermine Hezbollah), it’s not so far-fetched to discuss what Trump’s relation to King Salman might have in common with Bush’s relationship with Hussein.
The recent “liberalization” of Saudi Arabia on the part of the new king (using a virtual megaphone via the mainstream media to pronounce what kinds of “radical” movements are in the works in the desert on behalf of women) can easily be seen as PR designed to placate the public, warm them up to seeing the most powerful fundamentalist horror on the planet in a positive light. To take the edge off of what was slated to come down the pike.
Both Saudi Arabia and the U.S. want to take Iran down. A major undertaking.
As always, we must follow the money. But we must do more. And one thing we all can do is to make sure that our local schools are at least covering the profit-centered wars that have been initiated by Saudi Arabia and the U.S. in sickening solidarity.
Not a single school in my “progressive” county of Santa Cruz, California — among the twenty teachers in ten schools which I touched base with in quick survey since last Saturday — even mentioned the “resignation” to their Social Studies students.
Valleria Ruselli can be reached at [email protected]