Perpetual Middle East Geopolitical Quagmire Megathread

[hpslugga 4096]

On 9/17/2020 at 4:57 PM, Parliament said:

I'm not gotta rub it in like zork up there, but I hope we can all be cautiously optimistic about the detente that has developed between Israel and a few Muslim nations this summer. 

They made a peace accord with a nation that has never been in a state of war with them...ever. Celebrating that would be like celebrating a peace accord between the United States and fucking Australia. It’s meaningless window dressing.

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

4 minutes ago, hpslugga said:

They made a peace accord with a nation that has never been in a state of war with them...ever. Celebrating that would be like celebrating a peace accord between the United States and fucking Australia. It’s meaningless window dressing.

It's an Arab, and Jewish state trying to create a better situation politically, socially, economically....... Yeah.. yer right fuck that.....

[Captainant 28381]

7 killed, including 5 Americans, in helicopter crash involving peacekeeping force in Egypt

Quote

Washington (CNN)Seven military members of a peacekeeping force in Egypt, including five Americans, were killed when a helicopter crashed in the southern Sinai Peninsula, the coalition force announced Thursday.

One American survived the crash, which happened in the vicinity of Sharm el-Sheikh, the coalition said in a statement. The names of those involved are being withheld pending the notification of next of kin.

The coalition force said "there is no information to indicate the crash was anything except an accident" and that an investigation was underway to determine the cause.

The peacekeeping force, known as the Multinational Force and Observers, oversees the peace agreement reached between Egypt and Israel as part of the Camp David Accords of 1978.

Also killed were one French and one Czech national, the coalition said.

A US official could not say immediately if the craft was a US helicopter, and the Trump administration is working to confirm details.

 

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

I didn't see a specific Pentagon thread? So I'm putting this info here. Is this guy like a nutbar, cause I get the idea that he's out there. Where 'there' is, I'm not sure exactly, but I don't know that he's even in the US, I'm thinking maybe Germany 1938? Anyone think Stephen had a hand in this?

 

 

[4th&Five 41902]

 

[WhatTheBuck 28904]

Has Trump even commented on the deaths of five American service members yet? If he did, I missed it. 

[atomheartbevo 90543]

2 hours ago, WhatTheBuck said:

Has Trump even commented on the deaths of five American service members yet? If he did, I missed it. 

He's trying to find out if they voted for him or not.

[WhatTheBuck 28904]

10 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

He's trying to find out if they voted for him or not.

He likes service members who don't die in helicopter crashes. Those guys are suckers and losers. 

[bernorange 8385]

Quote

The Biden administration will release an intelligence report as early as Thursday that concludes that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, three U.S. officials familiar with the matter said.

The intelligence assessment, based largely on work by the CIA, is not new; NBC News was among the organizations that confirmed it in 2018.

But its public release will mark a significant new chapter in the U.S.-Saudi relationship and a clear break by President Joe Biden with former President Donald Trump's policy of equivocating about the Saudi state's role in a brutal murder that was widely condemned by members of Congress, journalists and a U.N. investigator.

Reuters first reported on the declassified intelligence summary scheduled for release in the coming days.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Wednesday that Biden would communicate with the Saudi king, rather than his son the crown prince. She said the declassified report was being prepared for release soon.
...

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/all/new-public-report-blame-saudi-crown-prince-2018-killing-jamal-n1258800

 

[Judge Roybeanbag 11856]

14 minutes ago, bernorange said:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/all/new-public-report-blame-saudi-crown-prince-2018-killing-jamal-n1258800

 

Yeah, but people are outraged about us nixing the Raytheon missile sale to them!  Sorry, I got a bit of that from brain dead fox newsers earlier this week.  Cancel culture.

[WhatTheBuck 28904]

They’re going to release an intelligence report that tells us what we already knew. Does it say if Trump or Kushner gave their okay ahead of time?

[Bama Chick 28596]

Don’t be shocked!

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

 

[Anastasis 23699]

 

[bolverk 30228]

Followed by "Iraq too. Huh. Anyways..."

[Bama Chick 28596]

[Anastasis 23699]

3 hours ago, bolverk said:

Followed by "Iraq too. Huh. Anyways..."

American foreign policy self reflection in a nutshell. 

[Hmbre97 6337]

[WhatTheBuck 28904]

Dubya and Trump have to be the two stupidest men to ever hold the presidency. 

[HRSchenker 2331]

I don't want to come across as a conspiracy theorist and I'm not even sure this is the right place to post this. This photo has stuck with me for such a long time for one reason only: the man on the far right who isn't in the photo (I put a star where he should show up just in case it wasn't obvious). I remember seeing the full photo on the internet a long time ago and it was some CIA guy in a blue tie. I've looked everywhere but the original photo is nowhere to be found. It's like it was scrubbed from all sources.

Even this Daily Mail article that makes mention of it is pretty much scrubbed. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2011345/CIAs-Osama-bin-Laden-hunter-John-NOT-pictured-Situation-Room-photo.html

 

[Leeroy Jenkins 2475]

Ok. Why do you find that odd?  It seems pretty fucking obvious why he was removed.  

[bernorange 8385]

Quote

The Biden administration has told a US court that Mohammed bin Salman should be granted sovereign immunity in a civil case involving the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, effectively ending a last ditch attempt to hold the Saudi crown prince legally accountable for the 2018 killing.

In a filing released on late on Thursday night, the Biden administration said the crown prince’s recent promotion to the role of prime minister meant that he was “the sitting head of government and, accordingly, immune” from the lawsuit.
...
The Biden administration’s decision – which in effect will extinguish Cengiz’s last hope for justice – will likely be met with intense criticism by Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill, who have pressed the administration to take a tougher stance against its Middle East partner. One lawyer close to the matter said the decision was “disastrous for accountability, for human rights, for impunity”.

The legal decision also makes clear that US president Joe Biden has fully abandoned a campaign promise to hold Prince Mohammed accountable for Khashoggi’s murder.

It raises questions about Biden’s public remarks last month, in which he said Saudi Arabia would face “consequences” for leading an Opec+ decision to cut oil production, a move that was seen by the US administration as siding with Russia over the interests of American allies.

People familiar with the matter said the decision was reached after a “big debate” at the top levels of the White House, with some senior US officials arguing that it would be difficult to defend the Biden administration’s claim that human rights are at the centre of its foreign policy while simultaneously allowing “MBS”, as the crown prince is known, to skirt accountability for his alleged role in the murder.
...
The question over whether the prince was indeed a sovereign got more complicated in September when King Salman declared that Prince Mohammed would be elevated to the position of prime minister. The decision, which was made public just days before the US government was due to weigh in on the Cengiz case, was seen by human rights defenders as a ploy to avoid accountability for the Khashoggi killing.

If the civil case is allowed to proceed – which is unlikely – it would allow Cengiz and Dawn to seek a deposition of the crown prince. If Prince Mohammed lost the case, he could be liable for damages.

“It would mean that any time he comes to the US – if he were to be found guilty – they would be able to serve notice and issue a fine. It would be humiliating and would effectively mean he could not travel to the US again,” said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA analyst and fellow at Brookings.

It is unlikely any of this will now come to pass.

“The pariah is now above the law,” Riedel said.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/18/biden-administration-says-mohammed-bin-salman-sovereign-immunity-civil-case-khashoggi

The petrodollar says the USA must be KSA's bitch.

[WhatTheBuck 28904]

Name the foreign prime minister who doesn’t enjoy diplomatic immunity in the U.S. (Did we miss where KSM was just declared prime minister?)

It sucks but it is what it is. Too bad Trump was bought and paid for by the Saudis and looked the other way over Khashoggi’s murder at best, or gave his tacit approval beforehand at worst. Khashoggi was critical of Trump, as well as the Saudis, so it didn’t take much of a leap to assume he wouldn’t give a shit about Khashoggi getting butchered. And it’s too bad we’ll never know what went on during Jared’s conversations with KSM over WhatsApp. Whatever Jared did for him appears to have been worth a $2 billion investment in Jared’s venture into a business in which he has neither experience nor expertise.

[Cacti 191]

1 hour ago, WhatTheBuck said:

It sucks but it is what it is.

What it is, is that we and our allies need Saudi oil. We’re still importing about 500,000 barrels per day from our M.E. friends acquaintances, so it makes no sense to alienate their leaders, which we’ve done.

Biden has done an admirable job of repairing European relations after Trump caused so much turmoil. But I’m afraid there’s too much animosity between MBS and Biden for any such reconciliation between the two. It’s going to be up to Biden’s successor to repair the damage.  

[HenryJames 67115]

Midterms are over.

[bernorange 8385]

America walks a fine line trying to shift energy dependence on renewables instead of oil while maintaining oil's support for the petrodollar.

KSA walks a fine line pushing demands for their petrodollar support.  USA has lost its appetite for war in the ME.  

KSA is working towards joining the BRICS.  If the BRICS get their shit together, the petrodollar will face a significant challenge.

[Anastasis 23699]

On 11/18/2022 at 10:51 AM, bernorange said:

The petrodollar says the USA must be KSA's bitch.

It is known. 

[bernorange 8385]

On 11/17/2018 at 1:07 PM, bernorange said:

The petrodollars system depends upon the Saudis and ME selling their oil in dollars. ...

 

https://gata.org/node/22397

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