dagblog - Comments for "Salman Run: Saudi Shuffle as Trump Tweets Trip"

yes, that bothers me, too,

artappraiser — Fri, 24 Nov 2017 19:33:00 +0000

In reply to Yeah, but what does that have

yes, that bothers me, too, only because one could just as easily get many of the arrested people on board with any modernization plan. But then there's that someone accustomed to think monarch rarely thinks democratic in any way shape or form..Which is kind of why some pundits' use of the adjective populist here strikes me as inaccurate. (The "people's princess" model of Diana aside, think you'd have to be a woman to do that.)

Yeah, but what does that have

PeraclesPlease — Fri, 24 Nov 2017 07:18:49 +0000

In reply to It seems like the plan is the

Yeah, but what does that have to do with imprisoning the west-leaning Saudi Prince who was investing in Apple & Google? The clerics have been fairly docile this year. But the mass arrests (to a 7-star hotel, granted) have been other princes, not Wahabi clerics. So what does that say to our Ouija board?

It seems like the plan is the

ocean-kat — Fri, 24 Nov 2017 06:53:58 +0000

In reply to Tom Friedman thinks it's the

It seems like the plan is the real deal and the prince is serious about wanting to implement it. The oil is going to be less and less valuable for many years as there's a glut of oil and maybe forever as renewables get cheaper and are used for a greater and greater percentage of our energy needs. So these oil producing countries have to use what money oil brings now to build a more diversified economy, or they will end up broke and impoverished. But it's a tough row to hoe with the Wahabi clerics that have been financed for years by the government. They're not going to give up that power without a fight and there's no telling how much power they have with the Saudi population from decades of propagandizing them with fundamentalist Islam.

I'm not completely

PeraclesPlease — Fri, 24 Nov 2017 06:26:54 +0000

In reply to Tom Friedman thinks it's the

I'm not completely pessimistic - I'm just not sure. I know it's not in a vacuum - Trump wants his cut, there are other families who'd bring it down, Israel is adamant in its wants, the mullahs can be snakes, then there's ISIS, and I'm not sure I understand why Iran worries all of them so, much, plus Russia is cutting its oil deals as part of expansion/consolidation, and China's global posturing is complex. Perhaps the worst is the likelihood that building a Silicon Valley in the desert to hope they come is as bad an approach as the Japanese pouring concrete a generation ago. But at least the tech approach should create spinoffs and some successes, while Tokyo just got runoff problems and ugly landscape.

I do wish he'd settle that goddamn war in Yemen. It's the biggest, most useless and indefensable black eye in all of this, and the US including Obama isn't innocent.

Tom Friedman thinks it's the

artappraiser — Fri, 24 Nov 2017 04:50:24 +0000

In reply to Salman Run: Saudi Shuffle as Trump Tweets Trip

Tom Friedman thinks it's the real deal:

Saudi Arabia’s Arab Spring, at Last; The crown prince has big plans to bring
back a level of tolerance to his society, Nov. 23

. We know he's been fooled before, but older and wiser now?

Yes, they're consulting with

PeraclesPlease — Wed, 15 Nov 2017 09:46:51 +0000

In reply to P.S. Almost seems as if the

Yes, they're consulting with me now for proper spin before they put out these releases. I'll be the Steve Bannon/Breitbart of the left

P.S. Almost seems as if the

artappraiser — Wed, 15 Nov 2017 06:11:14 +0000

In reply to Basically says everybody is

P.S. Almost seems as if the reporters went out of their way to get this quote just for Peracles:

[....] Both princes appear to have formed a particular bond with Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, who at 36 is a contemporary of the young Saudi prince.

Mr. Trump chose Saudi Arabia for the first foreign trip of his presidency, and Prince Mohammed and Mr. Kushner have built such a strong rapport that other American officials say they are not briefed on what the two discuss.

“Jared is a bit of a black hole,” said one State Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss frustration with the White House. “There is no sense of the positions he has advocated. We can only guess, based on what he has done and where he has been.” [.....]

Basically says everybody is

artappraiser — Wed, 15 Nov 2017 06:06:02 +0000

In reply to Salman Run: Saudi Shuffle as Trump Tweets Trip

Basically says everybody is spooked because nobody is sure wassup:

The Upstart Saudi Prince Who’s Throwing Caution to the Winds

By Ben Hubbard & David D. Kirkpatrick @ NYTimes.com, Nov. 14, 2017

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — With the tacit backing of his father, Saudi Arabia’s 32-year-old crown prince has established himself as the most powerful figure in the Arab world, rushing into confrontations on all sides at once [....]

The crown prince has moved so quickly that American officials and others worry that he is destabilizing the region. Signs of potential blowback are growing.

Investors, nervous about his plans, have been moving money out of the kingdom. Prince Mohammed has sought to counter the capital flight by squeezing detainees and others to surrender assets. He has presented the arrests as a campaign against corruption, but his targets call it a shakedown, and he has turned for advice to a former Egyptian security chief who has been pilloried at home for brutality and graft [....]

Saudi Arabia Comes for

artappraiser — Sat, 11 Nov 2017 15:00:51 +0000

In reply to Salman Run: Saudi Shuffle as Trump Tweets Trip

Saudi Arabia Comes for Hezbollah

By Mohamad Bazzi @ NYTimes.com, Nov. 10

In its war with Iran, Riyadh has its sights set on Lebanon’s most powerful political force.

Mohamad Bazzi (@bazziNYU), an associate professor of journalism at New York University and the former Middle East bureau chief at Newsday, is writing a book about the proxy wars between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Sideways, spin around, hop!

PeraclesPlease — Sat, 11 Nov 2017 06:03:30 +0000

In reply to What Basquiat used to call

Sideways, spin around, hop! All that hustle and bustle, maybe he isn't actually going anywhere. Time will tell - the great copout.