Posted on 05/08/2022 4:54:45 AM PDT by FarCenter
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According to the former publisher of The Wall Street Journal, Karen Elliott House, Burns went to Saudi Arabia for a “mating dance” with Prince Mohammed – namely, the prince must cooperate on a new oil-for-security strategy to “increase production to save European nations from energy shortages.”
Burns’ visit to the kingdom took place just ahead of the fifth round of Saudi-Iranian normalization talks in Baghdad between the Saudi intelligence chief and the deputy head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, who was acting as mediator and attended the latest round of talks, told state media, “Our brothers in Saudi Arabia and Iran approach the dialogue with a big responsibility as demanded by the current regional situation. We are convinced that reconciliation is near.”
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In such a torrential stream where crosscurrents are foaming and weltering, what probably unnerves the Biden administration most could be the talk that Chinese President Xi Jinping may be planning to visit Saudi Arabia, amid persistent reports recently that Riyadh and Beijing are in talks to price some of the Gulf nation’s oil sales in yuan rather than dollars, which would indeed mark a profound shift for the oil market and help advance China’s efforts to persuade more countries and international investors to transact in its currency.
The Saudi explanation for the shift to the yuan is that Riyadh could use part of new currency revenues to pay Chinese contractors involved in mega-projects within the kingdom domestically, which would reduce the risks associated with the capital controls Beijing imposes on its currency.
But for Washington, that means certain sensitive Saudi-China transactions in yuan will not appear in the rearview mirror of the SWIFT messaging infrastructure, making transaction monitoring unviable.
(Excerpt) Read more at asiatimes.com ...
They sent a woman to negotiate with Muslim leaders on oil...
That will go well.
Saudi Arabia also now purchases weapons from Russia. And surprisingly there is a sort of peace between Saudi and the Ayatollah, brokered by Russia and China.
Also keep in mind Russia sent in what amounts to a small expeditionary force into Ukraine and they are holding. Eventually Russia’s gloves will come off.
Mebbe it’s time to talk about who should own your Houston refinery, KSA
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