Free Republic

Saudi Arabia’s power behind the throne just took a big step into the spotlight. Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the ambitious, impatient 30-year-old grandson of King Salman, last week was the public face for the launch of “Saudi Vision 2030,” a long-term blueprint designed to steer the kingdom’s economy through a brave new world of falling oil prices and rising competition. The plan marked just the latest move by the prince to put his stamp on the country’s economic, diplomatic and strategic agenda, emerging as the royal to watch as the Saudi ruling family tries to deal with a...

Is the White House going to release the super secret 9/11 report? Does it implicate Saudi Arabia? Does it implicate the Saudi Royal Family itself? Would releasing the report destabilize the Middle East even more than it already is?Let’s answer these questions backwards, beginning with the last and moving to the first: as soon as you have the answer yell “Bingo!” or, if you’d prefer, “BOZO!”. 1. Would releasing the report destabilize the Middle East even more than it already is? Are you kidding? As we’ve seen for the last 7 years it doesn’t really take that much to destabilize...

(CNN)President Barack Obama received a chilly reception from Saudi Arabia's leaders as he landed in Riyadh Wednesday, a clear sign of the cooling relations between once-close allies amid regional upheaval and dropping oil prices. When Obama touched down in Riyadh shortly after 1 p.m. local time, there were no kisses with the kingdom's ruler as President George W. Bush once exchanged. The Saudi government dispatched the governor of Riyadh rather than a senior-level royal to shake Obama's hand, a departure from the scene at the airport earlier in the day when King Salman was shown on state television greeting the...

Following a dramatic deterioration in official diplomatic channels between the US and Saudi Arabia when over the weekend the Saudis threatened the U.S. with dumping billions in Treasuries if Congress were to pass a bill probing into their alleged support of Sept 11 terrorists in the aftermath of last weekend's 60 Minutes report on the classified "28 pages" from the Septemeber 11 commission, moments ago the Obama administration made a stunning admission, when for the first time it revealed on the record that the Saudis were the original source of funding for Al Qaeda. As Politico reports, Obama's deputy national...

In its report on the still-censored “28 pages” implicating the Saudi government in 9/11, “60 Minutes” last weekend said the Saudi role in the attacks has been “soft-pedaled” to protect America’s delicate alliance with the oil-rich kingdom. That’s quite an understatement. Actually, the kingdom’s involvement was deliberately covered up at the highest levels of our government. And the coverup goes beyond locking up 28 pages of the Saudi report in a vault in the US Capitol basement. Investigations were throttled. Co-conspirators were let off the hook. Case agents I’ve interviewed at the Joint Terrorism Task Forces in Washington and San...

You know you've 'made it' when the prince of one of the world's biggest human rights abuser (and leading 'beheader') nations calls you a "disgrace to America."

ATLANTIC, Iowa -- The Jeb Bush that greeted veterans at an old Coca-Cola manufacturing plant on Wednesday was technically the same man voters saw last week. His stump speech was the same, he spoke with just as many voters as he usually does and went over his normal allotment of questions. But there was something different about this Bush. For the first time in days, his appearance wasn't mired in talks of campaign cuts or failed jabs at Marco Rubio. Today, it was just about Jeb. "I hope you want a president that loves his country and means it," Bush...

<p>In Beverly Hills and surrounding upscale hamlets, the talk at social gatherings this month has centered on indications of wealthy Arab visitors behaving badly..</p> <p>Earlier this month, a man driving a Qatar sheik's rare, million-dollar-plus Ferrari LaFerrari raced a Porsche 911 GT3 through a quiet Beverly Hills neighborhood, ignoring stop signs and passing slower vehicles as horrified residents looked on. A member of the country's ruling family, the sheik first claimed diplomatic immunity, then skipped town — with his costly vehicles.</p>

GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Sunday that Saudi Arabia is not properly compensating America for its diplomatic partnership. Trump called on Riyadh to share its vast wealth with the U.S. in exchange for the alliance between the two nations. “They make a billion dollars a day,” he told host Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Saudi Arabia, if it weren’t for us, they wouldn’t be here,” Trump said. “They wouldn’t exist.” “They should pay us,” he added. “Like it or don’t like it, people have backed Saudi Arabia. What I really mind though is we back it...

The Wall Street Journal reported this past week that the Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton Foundation has quietly dropped its ban on foreign contributions and is accepting donations from the governments of “the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Australia, Germany, and a Canadian government agency promoting the Keystone XL pipeline.” The Journal’s conclusion: Since 2001 “the foundation has raised at least $48 million from overseas governments.” Needless to say, the gargantuan troll-like conflict of interest that arises as soon as the foundation of the leading candidate for the presidency of the United States begins accepting money from overseas is...

Energy: While taking credit for increased oil and gas production on private and state lands, the president moves to put 12 million acres of the oil-rich Arctic National Wildlife Refuge off limits. OPEC and the Saudis are smiling. Whoever's in charge of presidential optics these days fits the classic definition of the blind leading the blind. It's bad enough that President Obama doesn't have time to get to Paris for a global protest against terrorism after the Charlie Hebdo attack but can meet and greet the San Antonio Spurs. But then he privately slams an invitation by Congress to Israeli...

President Obama should think before bowing to Saudi Arabia's new king in his Tuesday visit. King Salman has a history of funding al-Qaida, and his son has been accused of knowing in advance about the 9/11 attacks. When it comes to jihadism, Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud is more of a hardliner than his older brother, King Abdullah, who died last week of a lung infection. As such, any commitment he makes to helping the U.S. destroy al-Qaida and Islamic State terrorists should be viewed with great suspicion. The 79-year-old Salman once ran a Saudi charity tied to al-Qaida and...

President Barack Obama will cut short his three-day trip to India and visit Saudi Arabia to pay respects after the death of King Abdullah, U.S. and Indian officials said Saturday. The schedule change, announced shortly before Obama left for India, means the president will skip plans to see the Taj Mahal, and instead pay a call on an influential U.S. ally in the volatile Mideast. The king, who died Friday, was aggressive in trying to check the spreading power of Saudi Arabia's chief rival, Iran. Obama visited the ailing monarch in his desert compound last March. White House spokesman Josh...

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud died on January 23 at the age of 90. Abdullah had been the de facto ruler of the nation since 1995 after King Fahd suffered a debilitating stroke; he was made king when Fahd died in August 2005. Some Shiite Muslims have long believed, based on Islamic prophecies, that Abdullah’s death would set off a chain of events that would destabilize Saudi Arabia and culminate in the rise of Imam Mahdi—the messianic figure of Islamic eschatology. Though Mahdi is not explicitly mentioned in the Koran, references to him appear in the hadith,...

The longtime king of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, passed away on Friday. But the death of the 90-year-old monarch didnÂ’t seem to come as much of a shock to the Saudi establishment. When royal officials acknowledged AbdullahÂ’s death, it was also revealed that Crown Prince Salman would succeed his brother. For the time being, the succession process seemed to have preserved stability in the Saudi Kingdom. Within hours, traders who speculated that the new king may take a critical look at Saudi policies, which have allowed crude prices to collapse in recent months, created a rally in the...

The longtime king of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, passed away on Friday. But the death of the 90-year-old monarch didn’t seem to come as much of a shock to the Saudi establishment. When royal officials acknowledged Abdullah’s death, it was also revealed that Crown Prince Salman would succeed his brother. For the time being, the succession process seemed to have preserved stability in the Saudi Kingdom. Within hours, traders who speculated that the new king may take a critical look at Saudi policies, which have allowed crude prices to collapse in recent months, created a rally in the oil...

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102292477

(Note: This was written a month ago) With 91-year-old Abdullah’s hospitalization with pneumonia Jan. 2, all eyes in Saudi Arabia immediately turned to Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz, the defense minister and the king’s 79-year-old half-brother. Yet due to Salman’s own deteriorating health – those close to the palace say the crown prince is suffering from the early stages of dementia – a campaign is growing within Riyadh to bypass Salman and give the throne to Deputy Crown Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz, 69, another of the king’s half brothers, should Abdullah be deemed unfit to rule. Both the crown prince...

DUBAI - A Saudi journalist and a member of the royal family denied rumors on Thursday that King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, in hospital since December suffering from pneumonia, had died, according to messages on social media. "All that is being reported about King Abdullah's death is far from the truth," Ibrahem al-Rawsa, identified as a journalist at state-run Saudi Press Agency, wrote on his Twitter account. A member of the royal family wrote: "I give you good news. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques is fine and there is no truth to the rumors going around." He was referring...

In response to the growing threat posed by the Islamic State terrorist group, the royal family of Saudi Arabia is having a 600-mile barrier constructed to completely block the Iraqi portion of the Saudi northern border, hoping to prevent ISIS militants from infiltrating the kingdom. The planned fence structure will span the entire distance of the Iraq-Saudi border, from Jordan to Kuwait. The border barrier system will feature five layers of barbed wire fencing, a ditch, a patrol road, 240 rapid response vehicles, underground motion sensors, 40 watchtowers, radar, day/night cameras, seven command centers, 28 communication towers, 32 military response...