Free Republic

BERLIN — Denmark became the second European country to halt future arms exports to Saudi Arabia on Thursday, following a similar decision by neighboring Germany earlier this month. The Danish announcement comes the same week President Trump backed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, despite the CIA assessing that he ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Denmark’s ban includes goods that can be used both for military and civilian purposes but is still less expansive than the German measures, which also included sales that had already been approved. While the Nordic country is a tiny arms equipment exporter in...

Mr. Trump’s sidestepping of reports that the C.I.A. believes that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing as “Maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!” was jarring. But every president since Harry Truman has aligned with unsavory Middle Eastern rulers in the service of national interests. The difference here is that Mr. Trump seemed unapologetic about this state of affairs with only a passing nod to the affront to our values that Mr. Khashoggi’s murder represents. That’s nothing to cheer. But it is vitally important to evaluate the policy on its merits more than its mode of expression. And...

"I guess the audio recordings of the moments during, before and after Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's killing are going to start being released as of today. Because the international discussions about the order for this brutal murder, its organiztion, preparations and perpetration have made it necessary to present "new evidence". Today or this week seems to be the most convenient time to do this...." Commentator Ibrahim Karagul In Turkey's Pro-Government "Yeni Safak" newspaper 11/19/2018 "it's a suffering tape, it's a terrible tape." US President Donald J. Trump In "Fox News Sunday" interview that was broadcast 11/18/2018 The man who puts...

<p>President Trump was in Columbia, Missouri last night on his pre mid-term election tour speaking at an airport rally.....</p> <p>Among the other US Senate races an unusual one in Mississippi where there's an "open primary special election" being held next Tuesday. Two Democrats and two Republicans are running with the top two finishers set for a runoff three weeks later.....</p>

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman made a discreet visit to Israel despite the fact that the Jewish state and Saudi Arabia do not have official diplomatic ties, Israeli and Arab media speculated earlier in the week. Rumors about the momentous visit, which was not confirmed by Israel, started swirling when Israel Radio's diplomatic correspondent covering Arab affairs, Simon Aran, took to Twitter to announce the visit. Aran tweeted that a senior Arab figure from the Gulf region paid a visit to Tel Aviv last week, stirring immense interest in the Arab media. Israel Radio's Arabic-language broadcast reported that...

Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) admitted in a wide-ranging interview in The Atlantic that Saudi nationals have funded terrorist groups, and quite stunningly - that Israelis are entitled to live peacefully on their own land - yet another indicator that the relationship between Riyadh and Tel Aviv is strengthening. When it comes to financing extremist groups, I challenge anyone if he can bring any evidence that the Saudi government financed terrorist groups. Yes, there are people from Saudi Arabia who financed terrorist groups. This is against Saudi law. Bin Salman's comments come days after a U.S. judge...

Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman bragged of receiving US intelligence from Jared Kushner and using it as part of a purge of 'corrupt' princes and businessmen, DailyMail.com can disclose. Sources have told DailyMail.com that the prince – known by his initials MBS – has been boasting about his close relationship with the president's son-in-law and senior adviser, and the intelligence which he has told his circle Kushner passed to him. Despite Kushner's denial sources have told DailyMail.com how MBS boasted in private that Kushner was the source of intelligence used in the round-up. He also told members of his...

Important history was made yesterday, and the tectonic plates of Middle East moved, as the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, explicitly acknowledged Israel's right to exist, in a homeland alongside a Palestinian state.  In a wide-ranging interview with Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic: He told me he recognizes the right of the Jewish people to have a nation-state of their own next to a Palestinian state; no Arab leader has ever acknowledged such a right. Later in his account of his interview, Goldberg judges: If Prince Mohammed actually achieves what he says he wants to...

In a wide-ranging conversation, Prince Mohammed bin Salman also recognized the Jewish peoples’ right to “their own land.” This much, at least, can be said for Mohammed bin Salman, the putatively reformist crown prince of Saudi Arabia: He has made all the right enemies. Among those who would celebrate his end are the leaders of ISIS, al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, and Hamas, as well as Yemen’s Houthi rebels, and the entire clerical and military leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran. As a bonus, there are members of his own family, the sprawling, sclerotic, self-dealing House of Saud, who would like to...

The King of Saudi Arabia plans to step down and announce his son as his successor next week, a source close to the country's royal family has exclusively told DailyMail.com. The move is seen as the final step in 32-year-old Prince Mohammed bin Salman's power grab, which began earlier this month with the arrests of more than 40 princes and government ministers in a corruption probe. The source said King Salman will continue only as a ceremonial figurehead, handing over official leadership of the country to his son - often referred to as MBS.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has ordered a crackdown on corruption, the latest in a wave of frenetic changes in the kingdom over the past 2-1/2 years. Prince Mohammed says he is determined to remodel his conservative country into a modern state no longer dependent on oil. As his father, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, has handed the 32-year-old Prince Mohammed more and more power over the past three years, the ambitious young leader has taken on everything from economic reforms to waging war in neighboring Yemen. Here is what you need to know. ROYAL POLITICS Prince Mohammed capped...

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a bitter and vocal rival of U.S. President Donald J. Trump, has been arrested in the royal family’s sweeping anti-corruption crackdown. Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz has arrested and removed a slew of corrupt and prominent officials, including dozens of princes and former ministers. Al Arabiya, a Saudi state-run news outlet, reported bin Talal was among those arrested. People’s Pundit Daily (PPD) confirmed he was one of at least 11 princes arrested. The billionaire chairman of Kingdom Holding Co. was once a business associate of President Trump. But his “America First” platform was a direct threat...

Prince Mohammed put the Islamic Republic on notice: as Tehran does not change its behavior, the consequences shall be severe. "We are not waiting a battle in Saudi Arabia,". If there is to be battle, better it be "a battle taken to them in Iran and not in Saudi Arabia". The essence of the problem is, Tehran’s wants to "dominate the Muslim world", and would march on the capitals of the Arab world today if it could,,,

The Saudi prince who seems to have won a family power struggle is meeting with U.S. officials this week -- some of them the same officials who are concerned his reign could be ruinous and hurt the regional security U.S. officials crave. Officials in the national security establishment believe Saudi Arabia is at a crossroads, and that if the prince doesn't succeed, now and later as king, there could be chaos in the Kingdom. "It's him or it's ISIS," said one Saudi expert who asked that his name not be used. Mohammed Bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's 30-year-old deputy crown prince,...