Free Republic

Only by overlooking important forces in markets and politics can anyone assert that Saudi Arabia is letting crude prices fall mainly to extinguish competition from North American shale oil. With oil, the Saudi regime always takes the long view. With security, however, its motivations are more immediate. The kingdom faces unusually intense threats: Islamic State (IS) militancy in Iraq and Syria, the chance that Iran won’t agree by a Nov. 24 deadline to suspend its nuclear ambitions, terrorist insurrections from restive Yemen, durability of the menacing government of Bashar Al-Assad in Damascus. Falling oil prices hurt the IS and Iran,...

Oil prices tumbled to their lowest point in more than two years after Saudi Arabia unexpectedly cut prices for crude sold to the U.S., likely paving the way for further declines and adding to pressure on American energy producers. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia raised the prices for its oil in other locations, including Asia, where the country had cut its prices for four consecutive months.

Recently, the Saudi ambassador in Turkey acknowledged that before the Unite States launched its airstrikes against the so-called Islamic state in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Saudi embassy in Ankara provided the Saudi nationals who previously joined ISIL ranks and later defected and wished to return to home with passports and identification documents. The Saudi embassy also admitted that it housed many repentant former jihadists inside the Saudi compound in Istanbul or rented safe houses for them in downtown Istanbul. As a matter of fact, it seems not so much surprising to hear that a country provides consular services...

Alleged: Saudis Plan to Install Islamic Successor to (president) Ellen. "The Saudis’ plan for Liberia is first to ensure that a candidate of Muslim faith and background contests and wins the Liberian presidency." ~ Ghorbani, Assouin & Al Zahrani …………. "the Saudis’ plan is to identify the most volatile environment in the region, and so far, they have identified Liberia as the suitable test ground to begin installing Islamic political leadership in the rest of West African states that have no Muslim political majority and control."

...In almost 20 years of writing about oil markets and the Middle East I have not come across anyone who could consistently offer a deep insight into the government's policymaking.... Diplomats and even some economists often assert Saudi Arabia upholds its part of the bargain, in part, by holding spare production capacity with which to meet disruptions in oil supplies from other producers. Only Saudi Arabia has the financial capability and the foresight to invest in spare capacity to help stabilise global oil prices. The problem is that there is almost no evidence to support this claim. Since the kingdom's...

Ron Bousso and Joshua Schneyer, Reuters October 13, 2014LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia is quietly telling oil market participants that Riyadh is comfortable with markedly lower oil prices for an extended period, a sharp shift in policy that may be aimed at slowing the expansion of rival producers including those in the U.S. shale patch. Some OPEC members including Venezuela are clamoring for urgent production cuts to push global oil prices back up above $100 a barrel. But Saudi officials have telegraphed a different message in private meetings with oil market investors and analysts recently: the kingdom, OPEC’s largest...

Having accidentally stumbled upon the awkward truth - that many governments in the Middle East are either implicitly or explicitly funding terrorist organizations, such as ISIS, to fight Syria's al-Assad regime - Vice President Joe Biden has been doing the rounds the last few days apologizing for any inconvenience his Harvard speech last week may have caused. As Biden's spokeswoman explained, "the vice president apologized for any implication that Turkey or other allies and partners in the region had intentionally supplied or facilitated the growth of ISIL or other violent extremists in Syria." Today it was Saudi Arabia's turn (following...

Saudi Arabia is one of a handful of countries that burn crude oil directly for power generation, according to the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI). During the summer, Saudi Arabia typically experiences an increase in electricity consumption as domestic demand for air conditioning rises. Saudi Arabia burned 0.9 million barrels per day (bbl/d) of crude oil in July, the highest ever recorded in JODI data for the month of July and the highest overall since August 2010. Saudi Arabia used an average of 0.7 million bbl/d of crude oil for power generation during the summers from 2009 to 2013. During...

The beheadings over the last several weeks were intended to terrorize, to intimidate, to coerce obedience, and to enforce a construction of sharia law that, being scripturally rooted, is draconian and repressive. And let’s not kid ourselves: We know there will be more beheadings in the coming weeks, and on into the future. Apostates from Islam, homosexuals, and perceived blasphemers will face brutal persecution and death. Women will be treated as chattel and face institutionalized abuse. Islamic-supremacist ideology, with its incitements to jihad and conquest, with its virulent hostility toward the West, will spew from the mosques onto the streets....

In the past month, a group of radical Islamic extremists based in the Middle East beheaded at least 23 people and enforced a ban on Christianity by arresting a group of people for practicing the faith in a private home. No, I’m not talking about ISIS. The real culprit is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, one of the America’s closest global allies. Dozens of Christians arrested at a prayer meeting in Saudi Arabia need America’s help, according to a key lawmaker who is pressing the State Department on their behalf. Some 28 people were rounded up Friday by hard-line Islamists...

The dramatic arrival of Da'ish (ISIS) on the stage of Iraq has shocked many in the West. Many have been perplexed -- and horrified -- by its violence and its evident magnetism for Sunni youth. But more than this, they find Saudi Arabia's ambivalence in the face of this manifestation both troubling and inexplicable, wondering, "Don't the Saudis understand that ISIS threatens them, too?"

The bizarre story of a man who died after trying to have sex with a donkey is circulating all over Middle Eastern news sites. Lebanese website Beiruting recently reported that a Saudi Sheikh man died after attempting to sodomize a donkey. But other sites have picked it up as well. Reports say that the man tied the donkey to his car, took off his pants and attempted the have sex with the animal. The donkey, however, was not about to let that happen, and allegedly, it proceeded to kick the Sheikh man in the face following by three strong kicks...

Man sends photo to ex-wife saying: ‘Consider your sons as birds in paradise’A Saudi father has confirmed his ex-wife’s accusations that he had smuggled his two little sons to join the war in Syria by sending her a picture of them with their weapons and telling her consider them as “birds in paradise”. The picture, published in Ajel and other Saudi newspapers, showed the bearded man hugging his two sons, aged 10 and 11 years, as they clutched their guns and holding up their finger, indicating they have joined the infamous militant Daesh group. The picture showed one the two...

Would-be husband must also have clean police recordMarried Saudi men need to have prior approval from their wives to marry Moroccan women in line with new rules enforced by the North African Arab country. Morocco has told Saudi authorities that citizens from the oil-rich Gulf Kingdom can have a Moroccan wife even if they are married, provided their wives agree to the new marriage. The new rules also stipulate that any Saudi seeking to have a Moroccan wife must present have police clearance in Saudi Arabia. “The new rules are intended to ensure Saudi men seeking to marry Moroccan women...

Saudi Arabia has deployed thousands of troops from Egypt and Pakistan along its frontier with Iraq, amid fears of invasion by the al-Qaeda splinter group that has declared a radical Islamic state across the border. Panicked by the advance of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (Isis), Riyadh has taken the drastic step of calling in military assistance from its close allies to shore up the porous 500-mile border, Gulf security sources said.

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Casey Cooper is new to the bench, but he’s well-connected . Just three months into his tenure on the federal bench, and before his formal investiture ceremony later this week, newly minted — but well-connected — U.S. District Judge Christopher “Casey” Cooper has been handed one of the most high-profile and politically sensitive American terrorism cases in recent years ... Cooper, 47, was part of the Obama administration’s transition team and is one of the more connected people in D.C. legal circles, Marimow notes. His wife, Amy Jeffress, worked at the Justice Department as a national security adviser to the...

Saudi reconnaissance planes have found ISIS terrorists heading for the Saudi border, aiming to seize control of the Iraqi-Saudi border crossing at Ar Ar

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah ordered all necessary measures to protect the Kingdom against potential "terrorist threats," a Royal Court statement said Thursday. The king gave the order after chairing a meeting of the National Security Council to discuss fallout from developments in neighboring Iraq. “Concerned for the Kingdom’s national security against any measures that terrorist organizations or any other groups might resort to, that could destabilize security of the homeland, he (the king) has ordered all necessary measures to protect the gains of the homeland and its stability, and the security of the Saudi people," the...

Thursday, June 26, the day before US Secretary of State John Kerry was due in Riyadh, King Abdullah summoned a National Security Council meeting “upon the current security events in the region, especially in Iraq,” and ordered “all necessary measures to protect the kingdom against terrorist threats.” This meant a general call-up of military units for a high level of preparedness. DEBKAfile’s military sources disclose that Egypt is assembling an expeditionary commando force to fly to Saudi Arabia and bolster its border defenses. This flurry of Saudi-Egyptian military steps comes in the wake of intelligence gathered by Saudi reconnaissance planes...