Pepe Escobar on the Saudi Night of the Long Knives

Pepe Escobar has some very cogent things to say about the events in Saudi Arabia, especially ass it relates to Saad Hariri

THE BASTARD

Very few people know that self-deposed Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri – a double national (Lebanon/Saudi Arabia) - is actually a bastard son of the Abdullah clan in the House of Saud.

That explains 50% of the riddle; how come a Lebanese Prime Minister announces his resignation in Saudi Arabia, on Saudi TV (al-Arabiya), reading a text redacted by MBS and (the Surrealist Manifesto touch) accusing Iran of interfering in Lebanon.

Eliminating Hariri as part of the wider Abdullah clan “threat” was part of MBS’s Saudi Night of the Long Lives; the purge against any possible contenders and/or deniers of his one-man power grab.

The other 50% of the riddle is that Saudi asset Hariri owes a whopping $4 billion to the House of Saud.

THE DEAL

Even the White House has confirmed that Trump and MBS were on the phone slightly before or during the Night of the Saudi Long Knives, a.k.a. MBS purge.  
And a crucial deal was indeed struck (later hinted at by Trump); the Aramco IPO will be in the NYSE. Forget about the Chinese buying 5% of Aramco.  
All bets are off that Xi and Trump will talk about it tomorrow.

‘Saudi anti-corruption purge was endorsed by Washington’

RT,
8 November, 2017



The high-profile arrests of the Saudi elite as part of a so-called anti-corruption purge came after consultations between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and US investors as well as members of the Trump administration, investigative journalist Pepe Escobar told RT.

The Saudi crackdown has nothing to do with corruption, Escobar pointed out, saying the Crown Prince “knows exactly what he’s doing – which is an old-style purge or what I called the ‘Night of the Saudi long knives’ where he got rid of any potential high-profile contenders against his one-man rule.”

Saudi Arabia could seize $800bn in assets in corruption crackdown

“Don’t forget, Saudi Arabia has no independent judiciary, no freedom of expression, no credible opposition. And in fact, King Salman isn’t ruling – who’s ruling is actually MBS [Mohammed bin Salman],” he said.


The detentions of 11 Saudi princes, four ministers and dozens of business figures that shook the kingdom on Saturday weren’t as unexpected as the media outlets wanted the audience to believe, Escobar says. He explains that shortly before the arrests, in late October, “there was a famous ‘Davos in the Desert’ conference where the new crown prince and the new leadership outlined the future of Saudi Arabia as envisioned until 2030, which implies a lot of investment – especially, American investors… Larry Fink, Stephen Schwarzman.”


Three thousand international politicians and businessman arrived in Riyadh for the Future Investment Initiative Conference, where bin Salman unveiled his plans to create a $500 billion investment zone, double the size of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund to $400 billion and restore a more tolerant order in the country.


“And few days later, Jared Kushner [US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser] was in Riyadh where he has been bonding very closely with the Crown Prince. The next day there was the ‘Night of the long knives,’” Escobar said. “Trump has kept his hands off the matter,” Escobar said, adding that “what I get from some of my best sources – they [people close to Trump] have been doing business deals with the House of Saud [Saudi ruling royal family] for decades.”


The agreement between Washington and Riyadh “involves personal deals; this involves new foreign policy that’s very complex and, especially, [includes] antagonizing Iran and Lebanon,” he said.

READ MORE: Saudi Arabia accuses Lebanon of being ‘kidnapped’ by Hezbollah & ‘declaring war’ on Riyadh

On Saturday, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri unexpectedly announced his resignation while on a visit to Saudi Arabia – a move which Escobar described as “completely absurd.” Lebanese militant movement Hezbollah has accused Riyadh of intimidating the PM, while the Saudis responded by accusing Lebanon of “declaring war” on the kingdom by allowing Hezbollah’s “aggression” against it, according to the Al-Arabiya broadcaster.


Those behind the Saudi Crown Prince don’t differentiate between Hezbollah and the Lebanese government, Escobar believes. This makes a Saudi military conflict with the neighboring state a real possibility and “this is a very serious development.”