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Mid-East Realities
www.MiddleEast.Org
10-19-1
Abdullah Will Not Really Be King As Long
As Bandar Is On His Washington Throne -
"One sign of how things are really going in Arabia will be just how much longer Bandar bin Sultan remains on his own throne in the American capital. For if Bandar is left to work his own will in modern- day Rome then Abdullah will not truly be King."
WASHINGTON - Prince Bandar bin Sultan's 20+ year strategy has now substantially failed. Years ago, very much behind-the-scenes of course, the very controversial and in some circles much despised Saudi Ambassador in Washington began a relationship with the some of the most conservative and militant circles in Washington, very much including those associated with the powerful Israeli/Jewish lobby. His goal was quite simple -- by ingratiating himself within these circles; by spreading around much money, influence and favors; Bandar felt he could assure that those who run the big corporations and own the major media, along with those who dominate on Capitol Hill, as well as those in the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government, could be counted on to support, and if necessary defend, the Saudi Royal family come what may.
It is Bandar who has personally acted as intermediary all these years as the U.S. has spent an estimated $300+ billion dollars to build up military infrastructure and stockpile vast quantities of military hardware in "the Kingdom". But all that was before Osama bin Laden and 11 September 2001, before the Royal elders of "the Kingdom" decided that the just completed U.S.regional military command center at Prince Sultan Airbase could not in fact be used as the Americans at first demanded. And from that disguised confrontation decision a counterflow of news leaks, pressures, and threats have started flowing -- including from many of those long courted and essentially paid by Bandar -- which is seriously undermining al-Saud/Wahabi control over Arabia in this new millenium.
Bandar is now the "dean" of the Washington Ambassador corp -- simply meaning he's been representing Saudi Arabia in Washington longer than any other country's ambassador here. Bandar has spent a great deal of money in the past two decades (multi-billions), hired a great many people, been a primary force in creating a network of influence-peddling centers, some of the "client organizations" we have spoken about that are creatures of the "client regimes" -- including the Arab American Institute (AAI - Zogby), ANA, American Muslim Council (ADC - Alamoudi), Washington Report, ADC and the list goes on.
As for "the Kingdom" Bandar so ostentatiously represents, for more than 50 years now Saudi Arabia has served as a kind of oil cow for the U.S.; and for the fast few decades a petrodollar recycling and arms buying megacenter as well. The real need for Saudi Arabia's Royal family has not been just oil supplies which are actually plentifully available in many places, but rather controlling OPEC on behalf of Western countries thus assuring plentiful amounts of very cheap Middle Eastern oil -- as well as a recycling of all those petrodollars into U.S. and Western banks and corporations. Even today one can purchase a gallon of oil that started life in the deserts of Arabia, was transported halfway around the world, then refined, then shipped, then pumped, for about the same price as a gallon of locally bottled water at the neighborhood grocery store -- this while so many in the Middle East region itself remain destitute and impoverished. The United States especially has floated its modern prosperous economy on very cheap very plentiful foreign oil, with the Saudis playing the central role in this whole historic arrangements.
But in the process, the al-Saud's have wasted and squandered so many mega-billions, leaving not only the Arab world fractured and impoverished but creating a generation of resentment within their own midst -- religious "radicals" on the right and western-educated "modernists" on the left, but having in common their awareness of how miserably the Royal family has handled their history and their future. It is for a combination of all of these reasons that there is such great tension in "the Kingdom" today, especially as the expanding young population realizes how badly the corrupt and profligate Royal family has been, not to mention the whispered awareness of how much "the Kingdom" has mortgaged both its policies and even its land area to the American military and CIA. And of course the further awareness that the rather small and natural resourceless country of Israel continues to trample on the Palestinians and humble all of Arabdom and Islam tremendously exaccerbates this already volcanic situation.
And thus September 11, 2001, may well have marked a turning point not only for the United States but also for Saudi Arabia and its now high-profile embarrassing Washington Ambassador, Prince Bandar bin Sultan.
At the moment an internal political existential royal battle is underway back in "the Kingdom" centered around long-time Crown Prince Abdullah and long-time Defense Minister Sultan (Bandar's father). The former playboy, King Fahd, is largely disfunctional; a team of more than 20 foreign doctors doing all they can to simply keep him from expiring. Of course it is this intra-Royal situation which further contributes to all the uncertainty and paralysis in "the Kingdom" today, with everyone aware that unless something happens to Abdullah he will finally become King and be in a position to much more forcefully assert his will, if he dares.
One sign of how things are really going in Arabia will be just how much longer Bandar bin Sultan remains on his own throne in the American capital. For if Bandar is left to work his own will in modern-day Rome then Abdullah will not truly be King and maybe Sultan, with Bandar himself waiting in the wings, will still be somewhere in line, the Americans still hoping to more fully do their will with the Saudi Monarchy as they have done with what remains of the once mighty Hashemite Dynasty still lingering and still important in Amman.
SAUDI ROYAL FAMILY SHOWS SIGNS OF PARALYSIS
MiddleEast NewsLine
10-17-1
Washington - The Saudi ruling family find themselves caught in a conflict of epic proportions between their traditional alliance with the United States and their multiple financial and cultural ties with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
Western diplomatic sources said members of the Saudi royal family have reduced their public appearances, particularly to Westerners. The sources said this includes such figures as Saudi King Fahd, Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz and Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan.
The royal family, the sources said, has not refused a U.S. request to participate in the war against terrorism. But they said Riyad has not taken any steps requested by the United States and agreed to by other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
This includes freezing assets of Saudi fugitive Osama Bin Laden.
"The Saudis have always been secretive," a Western diplomat said. "But now there isn't really anybody to talk to who can give a straight answer."
The sources said King Fahd has been incapacitated by ill health, which has led to dissension and uncertainty within the royal family. Abdullah has refused to agree to measures against Bin Laden.
"I don't have to please people [in] downtown Washington," Saudi ambassador to the United States Prince Bandar said. "But I must always take into account Saudi people."
U.S. officials said Bin Laden has received millions of dollars in aid from Saudi businessman connected to the royal family. Washington announced that is seizing the assets of Yasin Al Qadi, who heads the Saudi Arabia-based Muwafaq Foundation, which has funneled money to Bin Laden.
In addition, a leading Saudi cleric has refused to end his criticism of the U.S. attack on Afghanistan.
Western analysts said Riyad could remain in turmoil for some time to come. They urged Western allies of Saudi Arabia to closely monitor the kingdom.
"A great deal has been said since September 11 about the lack of human intelligence in the war against terror, and the West would be well served by the development of HUMINT in Saudi Arabia as well," Saudi expert Joshua Teitelbaum wrote in a report by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
HOW THE SAUDI ROYALS CREATED A JIHAD MONSTER
The Saudi royal family has been thrown into panic. It is facing the most serious threat to its rule since the 1990 Iraqi occupation of Kuwait. The difference is that the Iraqi threat was external. This time, the House of Saud faces an internal threat.
What happened? In short, the Saudis have created a monster. It began in 1979 when the Shah of Iran was overthrown by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The Saudi kingdom was in panic. The kingdom had a large Shi'ite minority and the new Islamic regime in Iran was openly questioning the legitimacy of Saudi sovereignty over Mecca, the birthplace of the Muslim prophet Mohammed.
From that moment, the Saudis decided to play tit for tat. Riyad would export fanatic Sunni zealotry to combat Iran's Shi'ite militancy. The first test was in Afghanistan, invaded by the Soviets months after the Iranian revolution. Riyad helped recruit thousands of Saudis and other nationals to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan, Iran's neighbor.
From the start, the Taliban movement supported by Riyad was anti-Iranian. For the practical-minded Saudi leadership, the fight in Afghanistan was a muted warning to Iran to stay out of Saudi affairs. A key player in the Saudi effort was Osama Bin Laden.
The Saudis were ecstatic when the Taliban helped expel Soviet troops from Afghanistan. But by that time Bin Laden and thousands of Saudi and Egyptian nationals fighting in Afghanistan saw their mission as just beginning. Riyad was never the target. Instead, it would be Egypt, Algeria and Jordan - in other words secular Arab regimes.
Today, the Saudi leadership has been torn by what to do with Bin Laden. The problem is not that of one man: It is that of thousands of Saudis sponsored by their families and leading princes in the kingdom as part of the Wahabi commitment to Islamic zealotry. The feeling is that any move to limit, let alone stop, the Sunni Islamic drive would break up the kingdom - whether from within or without. Wahabi tradition is the only glue that keeps the desert Bedouin loyal to the billionaires princes.
The dispute has pitted Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz against Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan. Both are vying to be the next king of Saudi Arabia. Abdullah has staked out his claim as head of Saudi tradition. Sultan wants to pursue a modernist direction. The result could be chaos as militants in Saudi Arabia will use terrorism in an effort to decide the succession struggle.
www.MiddleEast.Org
10-19-1
Abdullah Will Not Really Be King As Long
As Bandar Is On His Washington Throne -
"One sign of how things are really going in Arabia will be just how much longer Bandar bin Sultan remains on his own throne in the American capital. For if Bandar is left to work his own will in modern- day Rome then Abdullah will not truly be King."
WASHINGTON - Prince Bandar bin Sultan's 20+ year strategy has now substantially failed. Years ago, very much behind-the-scenes of course, the very controversial and in some circles much despised Saudi Ambassador in Washington began a relationship with the some of the most conservative and militant circles in Washington, very much including those associated with the powerful Israeli/Jewish lobby. His goal was quite simple -- by ingratiating himself within these circles; by spreading around much money, influence and favors; Bandar felt he could assure that those who run the big corporations and own the major media, along with those who dominate on Capitol Hill, as well as those in the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government, could be counted on to support, and if necessary defend, the Saudi Royal family come what may.
It is Bandar who has personally acted as intermediary all these years as the U.S. has spent an estimated $300+ billion dollars to build up military infrastructure and stockpile vast quantities of military hardware in "the Kingdom". But all that was before Osama bin Laden and 11 September 2001, before the Royal elders of "the Kingdom" decided that the just completed U.S.regional military command center at Prince Sultan Airbase could not in fact be used as the Americans at first demanded. And from that disguised confrontation decision a counterflow of news leaks, pressures, and threats have started flowing -- including from many of those long courted and essentially paid by Bandar -- which is seriously undermining al-Saud/Wahabi control over Arabia in this new millenium.
Bandar is now the "dean" of the Washington Ambassador corp -- simply meaning he's been representing Saudi Arabia in Washington longer than any other country's ambassador here. Bandar has spent a great deal of money in the past two decades (multi-billions), hired a great many people, been a primary force in creating a network of influence-peddling centers, some of the "client organizations" we have spoken about that are creatures of the "client regimes" -- including the Arab American Institute (AAI - Zogby), ANA, American Muslim Council (ADC - Alamoudi), Washington Report, ADC and the list goes on.
As for "the Kingdom" Bandar so ostentatiously represents, for more than 50 years now Saudi Arabia has served as a kind of oil cow for the U.S.; and for the fast few decades a petrodollar recycling and arms buying megacenter as well. The real need for Saudi Arabia's Royal family has not been just oil supplies which are actually plentifully available in many places, but rather controlling OPEC on behalf of Western countries thus assuring plentiful amounts of very cheap Middle Eastern oil -- as well as a recycling of all those petrodollars into U.S. and Western banks and corporations. Even today one can purchase a gallon of oil that started life in the deserts of Arabia, was transported halfway around the world, then refined, then shipped, then pumped, for about the same price as a gallon of locally bottled water at the neighborhood grocery store -- this while so many in the Middle East region itself remain destitute and impoverished. The United States especially has floated its modern prosperous economy on very cheap very plentiful foreign oil, with the Saudis playing the central role in this whole historic arrangements.
But in the process, the al-Saud's have wasted and squandered so many mega-billions, leaving not only the Arab world fractured and impoverished but creating a generation of resentment within their own midst -- religious "radicals" on the right and western-educated "modernists" on the left, but having in common their awareness of how miserably the Royal family has handled their history and their future. It is for a combination of all of these reasons that there is such great tension in "the Kingdom" today, especially as the expanding young population realizes how badly the corrupt and profligate Royal family has been, not to mention the whispered awareness of how much "the Kingdom" has mortgaged both its policies and even its land area to the American military and CIA. And of course the further awareness that the rather small and natural resourceless country of Israel continues to trample on the Palestinians and humble all of Arabdom and Islam tremendously exaccerbates this already volcanic situation.
And thus September 11, 2001, may well have marked a turning point not only for the United States but also for Saudi Arabia and its now high-profile embarrassing Washington Ambassador, Prince Bandar bin Sultan.
At the moment an internal political existential royal battle is underway back in "the Kingdom" centered around long-time Crown Prince Abdullah and long-time Defense Minister Sultan (Bandar's father). The former playboy, King Fahd, is largely disfunctional; a team of more than 20 foreign doctors doing all they can to simply keep him from expiring. Of course it is this intra-Royal situation which further contributes to all the uncertainty and paralysis in "the Kingdom" today, with everyone aware that unless something happens to Abdullah he will finally become King and be in a position to much more forcefully assert his will, if he dares.
One sign of how things are really going in Arabia will be just how much longer Bandar bin Sultan remains on his own throne in the American capital. For if Bandar is left to work his own will in modern-day Rome then Abdullah will not truly be King and maybe Sultan, with Bandar himself waiting in the wings, will still be somewhere in line, the Americans still hoping to more fully do their will with the Saudi Monarchy as they have done with what remains of the once mighty Hashemite Dynasty still lingering and still important in Amman.
SAUDI ROYAL FAMILY SHOWS SIGNS OF PARALYSIS
MiddleEast NewsLine
10-17-1
Washington - The Saudi ruling family find themselves caught in a conflict of epic proportions between their traditional alliance with the United States and their multiple financial and cultural ties with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
Western diplomatic sources said members of the Saudi royal family have reduced their public appearances, particularly to Westerners. The sources said this includes such figures as Saudi King Fahd, Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz and Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan.
The royal family, the sources said, has not refused a U.S. request to participate in the war against terrorism. But they said Riyad has not taken any steps requested by the United States and agreed to by other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
This includes freezing assets of Saudi fugitive Osama Bin Laden.
"The Saudis have always been secretive," a Western diplomat said. "But now there isn't really anybody to talk to who can give a straight answer."
The sources said King Fahd has been incapacitated by ill health, which has led to dissension and uncertainty within the royal family. Abdullah has refused to agree to measures against Bin Laden.
"I don't have to please people [in] downtown Washington," Saudi ambassador to the United States Prince Bandar said. "But I must always take into account Saudi people."
U.S. officials said Bin Laden has received millions of dollars in aid from Saudi businessman connected to the royal family. Washington announced that is seizing the assets of Yasin Al Qadi, who heads the Saudi Arabia-based Muwafaq Foundation, which has funneled money to Bin Laden.
In addition, a leading Saudi cleric has refused to end his criticism of the U.S. attack on Afghanistan.
Western analysts said Riyad could remain in turmoil for some time to come. They urged Western allies of Saudi Arabia to closely monitor the kingdom.
"A great deal has been said since September 11 about the lack of human intelligence in the war against terror, and the West would be well served by the development of HUMINT in Saudi Arabia as well," Saudi expert Joshua Teitelbaum wrote in a report by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
HOW THE SAUDI ROYALS CREATED A JIHAD MONSTER
The Saudi royal family has been thrown into panic. It is facing the most serious threat to its rule since the 1990 Iraqi occupation of Kuwait. The difference is that the Iraqi threat was external. This time, the House of Saud faces an internal threat.
What happened? In short, the Saudis have created a monster. It began in 1979 when the Shah of Iran was overthrown by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The Saudi kingdom was in panic. The kingdom had a large Shi'ite minority and the new Islamic regime in Iran was openly questioning the legitimacy of Saudi sovereignty over Mecca, the birthplace of the Muslim prophet Mohammed.
From that moment, the Saudis decided to play tit for tat. Riyad would export fanatic Sunni zealotry to combat Iran's Shi'ite militancy. The first test was in Afghanistan, invaded by the Soviets months after the Iranian revolution. Riyad helped recruit thousands of Saudis and other nationals to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan, Iran's neighbor.
From the start, the Taliban movement supported by Riyad was anti-Iranian. For the practical-minded Saudi leadership, the fight in Afghanistan was a muted warning to Iran to stay out of Saudi affairs. A key player in the Saudi effort was Osama Bin Laden.
The Saudis were ecstatic when the Taliban helped expel Soviet troops from Afghanistan. But by that time Bin Laden and thousands of Saudi and Egyptian nationals fighting in Afghanistan saw their mission as just beginning. Riyad was never the target. Instead, it would be Egypt, Algeria and Jordan - in other words secular Arab regimes.
Today, the Saudi leadership has been torn by what to do with Bin Laden. The problem is not that of one man: It is that of thousands of Saudis sponsored by their families and leading princes in the kingdom as part of the Wahabi commitment to Islamic zealotry. The feeling is that any move to limit, let alone stop, the Sunni Islamic drive would break up the kingdom - whether from within or without. Wahabi tradition is the only glue that keeps the desert Bedouin loyal to the billionaires princes.
The dispute has pitted Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz against Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan. Both are vying to be the next king of Saudi Arabia. Abdullah has staked out his claim as head of Saudi tradition. Sultan wants to pursue a modernist direction. The result could be chaos as militants in Saudi Arabia will use terrorism in an effort to decide the succession struggle.
