The Price Of Bin Salman’s Head

By Ghassan Kadi
October 26, 2018
Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/50507.htm

With the ever-changing and escalating aftermath of the Khashoggi disappearance episode, there remain many fixed marks that are interesting to identify.

But before we do, we must stop and briefly look at the official American, Turkish and Saudi stands on this issue.

The Americans are best seen to be playing yoyo with their Saudi “friends”. One moment they seem to be totally abandoning them and sending them spiraling down in a free-fall, and the next moment they lift them up, clutch them, and give them a sense of safety. Notwithstanding that on the 3^rd of October, and just before the Khashoggi story hit the media frenzy, Trump reiterated that Saudi Arabia would not last two weeks without America’s support, and what followed was a series of fluctuations and backflips on the American side. At the time of promising severe measures against the Saudis, Trump said that this will not mean canceling the arms deal with Saudi Arabia. And when Pompeo visited Al Saud to talk to the royals, leaving the Kingdom of Sand with an understanding that his boss Trump articulated by hinting at vindicating the royals and putting the blame on some rogue elements, America turned again supporting Turkish investigations and awaiting their outcome, but just before Erdogan’s speech of the 23^rd of October, Trump reiterated that he was prepared to accept the Saudi Government denial of involvement.

Saudi Spy Met With Team Trump About Taking Down Iran

By Betsy Woodruff And Erin Banco
October 26, 2018
Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/50504.htm

Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri, the Saudi intelligence chief taking the fall for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, hobnobbed in New York with Michael Flynn and other members of the transition team shortly before Trump’s inauguration. The topic of their discussion: regime change in Iran.

Mohammed bin Salman, the powerful Saudi crown prince, dispatched Assiri from Riyadh for the meetings, which took place over the course of two days in early January 2017, according to communications reviewed by The Daily Beast. The January meetings have come under scrutiny by special counsel Robert Mueller’s office as part of his probe into foreign governments’ attempts to gain influence in the Trump campaign and in the White House, an individual familiar with the investigation told The Daily Beast. A spokesperson for Mueller declined to comment.

Report Says Russia-gaters Should Go Quietly in the Night

By Caitlin Johnstone

Link: https://consortiumnews.com/2018/10/20/report-says-russia-gaters-should-go-quietly-in-the-night/

In a new article titled “Mueller report PSA: Prepare for disappointment”, Politico cites information provided by defense attorneys and “more than 15 former government officials with investigation experience spanning Watergate to the 2016 election case” to warn everyone who’s been lighting candles at their Saint Mueller altars that their hopes of Trump being removed from office are about to be dashed to the floor.

“While [Mueller is] under no deadline to complete his work, several sources tracking the investigation say the special counsel and his team appear eager to wrap up,” Politico reports.

The Royal Touch

By: Ben Freeman
Oct. 4, 2018

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 How Saudi Money Keeps Washington at War in Yemen

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It was May 2017. The Saudis were growing increasingly nervous. For more than two years they had been relying heavily on U.S. military support and bombs to defeat Houthi rebels in Yemen. Now, the Senate was considering a bipartisan resolution to cut off military aid and halt a big sale of American-made bombs to Saudi Arabia. Fortunately for them, despite mounting evidence that the U.S.-backed, supplied, and fueled air campaign in Yemen was targeting civilians, the Saudi government turned out to have just the weapon needed to keep those bombs and other kinds of aid coming their way: an army of lobbyists.

That year, their forces in Washington included members of more than two dozen lobbying and public relations firms. Key among them was Marc Lampkin, managing partner of the Washington office of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck (BHFS), a company that would be paid nearly half a million dollars by the Saudi government in 2017. Records from the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) show that Lampkin contacted Senate offices more than 20 times about that resolution, speaking, for instance, with the legislative director for Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) on May 16, 2017. Perhaps coincidentally, Lampkin reported making a $2,000 contribution to the senator’s political action committee that very day. On June 13th, along with a majority of his fellow senators, Scott voted to allow the Saudis to get their bombs. A year later, the type of bomb authorized in that sale has reportedly been used in air strikes that have killed civilians in Yemen.

ریشه‌یابیِ پدیدار شدنِ رژیم اسلامی و رهائی از آن

 در مورد رژیم حاکم بر ایران و دلایل وجودیِ آن نظریات متفاوتی ابراز شده است. بسته به اینکه افراد با چه گرایش سیاسی نظر میدهند، در واقع از موضع آن دیدگاه سیاسی سخن میرانند. مجاهدین که در اوان انقلاب با پشتیبانی‌ عظیمی‌ که داشتند، و چنانچه دخالت‌ خمینی نبود براحتی می‌توانستند حکومت را در دست بگیرند، هم اکنون به چنان نقطه ضعفی رسیده‌اند که به دنبال هارترین شخصیتهای سیاسی آمریکا در پی براندازی حکومت ایران از طریق یورش نظامی غرب هستند. سلطنت طلبان نیز همین راه را در پیش گرفته‌اند، که البته از آنها انتظار دیگری نمی‌رود. عقیده سلطنت طلبان در مورد چگونگی‌ پیدایش رژیم آخوندی این است که چون شاه در آستانه رسیدن به تمدن بزرگ بود، ملت (و نه دولتهای غربی) که خوشی‌ زیر دلشان زده بود و از پول نفت که شاه افزایش داده بود شکم‌هایشان سیر شده بود، به شاه محبوب‌شان پشت کردند. البته از اینکه مجاهدین و ملی‌ گریان از نخستین روز به دنبال خمینی افتادند، به دلیل جنبه‌های مذهبی‌ که داشتند استبعادی نیست. ولی‌ از اینکه گروه‌های چپ‌گرا، حتی زمانیکه خمینی دندانهای هار و کریه خود را نشان داد، همچنان به دنبال او سینه میزدند، باعث حیرت بود.