Free Republic

There’s more to Donald Trump’s Middle East trip than billion-dollar contracts, parades of camels and a storm back home over Qatar’s offer to give the president a new Air Force One. A tour narrowly billed by the White House as a chance for Trump to show he’s a master dealmaker is jumbling the region’s geopolitical jigsaw puzzle.Wherever he goes, Trump’s brings disruption that can forge possibilities. And he takes risks – for instance, his decision on this trip to lift sanctions on Syria to give a war-ravaged nation a second chance.But the move revives a perennial question about Trump’s entire...

@Brick_Suit YMCA plays as President Trump is joined on stage by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. Amazing finish to an incredible summit meeting!

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — President Trump got the royal treatment on his first stop in Saudi Arabia, as white Arabian horses flanked his motorcade — with adviser Elon Musk in tow. Dozens of Saudis rode on horseback carrying US and Saudi flags as Trump’s motorcade peeled into the Royal Court, where he got a warm welcome before going to a lunch in the palace adorned with chandeliers and marble floors. “I really believe we like each other a lot,” Trump told reporters after his arrival, referring to Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as a friend. He later recalled...

Is it just me, or is this a sight to behold? Seeing Trump & MBS as co-hosts greeting all of them...I've never seen anything like it.. The MSM made it sound like a dozen or so CEO's & business leaders would be there. It seems like maybe 50.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio will need to maintain a lot of energy to operate foreign policy advancement at the “optimal resolution” speed of President Donald Trump. Rubio departed Israel for his visit to Saudi Arabia where two major topics are on the agenda. The U.S. Secretary was welcomed by Saudi Foreign Minster Faisal bin Farhan and is scheduled to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. On the agenda today is what to do about Gaza, tomorrow the discussion changes direction to address Ukraine.

President Donald Trump attacked Bank of America for failing to lend to conservatives during a sudden attack during a livestream speech to execs and elites in Davos. The sudden blast came in an angry speech where Trump vowed to slap tariffs on countries that don't manufacture inside the U.S. and demanded OPEC lower oil prices. During a question-and-answer period, the bank's CEO Brian Moynihan asked a softball question about how his executive orders would impact his push for economic growth and market growth. Trump responded, then told him: 'I hope you start opening your bank to conservatives … they don’t...

Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), said Wednesday that there would be no “normalization” of relations with Israel without the establishment of a Palestinian state — a reversal of his position one year ago. In September 2023, as Breitbart News reported, MBS said that he wanted to see a “good life” for Palestinians emerge from any peace deal with Israel, but specifically excluded mention of a Palestinian state. While the Saudi foreign minister insisted on a Palestinian state, MBS — the real source of power in the kingdom — pointedly did not. But the Biden administration reportedly intervened,...

Is Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman trying to sabotage Joe Biden’s reelection bid? It’s quite possible. The Saudi leader, known as MBS, has made clear his disdain for President Biden, and his fury over insults lobbed at him by this White House. He is a powerful force behind the current surge in oil prices, which could — if sustained — contribute to Biden’s defeat. Oil prices are soaring — up 19 percent since the start of the year. Since they lag behind crude oil, gasoline prices have only jumped 14 percent so far. But, unless oil markets take a...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi officials have firmly warned the United States in recent days that an Israeli ground incursion into the Gaza Strip could be catastrophic for the Middle East.Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a member of the Armed Services Committee, was one of 10 senators who met last weekend with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, in Riyadh, the Saudi capital.“The Saudi leadership was hopeful that a ground operation could be avoided for reasons of stability as well as the loss of life,” Blumenthal told The New York Times on Thursday. Saudi officials warned it...

Jamal Khashoggi hated America and Jews. That’s why Biden loves him. Secretary of State Antony Blinken began his confirmation hearing by reciting a family history of antisemitism. A month later he unveiled a ban named in the memory of an antisemite. “Jamal Khashoggi paid with his life to express his beliefs,” Blinken claimed. Those beliefs that Khashoggi gave his life for included his contention that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion were real, and that Jews were deceivers with no connection to Israel. It also included the Muslim Brotherhood member’s support for the Hamas war against Israel. Last October,...

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) has said that his country was moving steadily closer to normalising relations with Israel, following similar moves from other Gulf countries, and amid a big push by the United States for a Saudi-Israeli deal. “Every day, we get closer,” the crown prince told US broadcaster Fox News, according to excerpts seen by Reuters of an interview scheduled to air later on Wednesday. The interview with the crown prince, widely known as MBS, came as US President Joe Biden’s administration presses ahead with an effort to broker historic ties between the two countries...

Dear liberals: Pretty soon, your iPhone could be assembled in a country where homosexuality is punishable by death, and religious dissidents are sometimes beheaded. In what could be a victory for Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s effort to attract tech companies to help diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy away from oil and gas, Foxconn, the Taiwanese consumer tech giant that’s one of Apple’s biggest contractors, has reportedly submitted a proposal to build a $9 billion factory in the Kingdom. WSJ reports that the kingdom “is reviewing an offer from the company, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, to build a...

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MbS) is no longer worried about pleasing the United States as his relationships with other global superpowers including China and Russia have strengthened. America’s adversaries continue to team up against the United States as President Joe Biden turns a blind eye to the growing macro-economic crisis. On Sunday, Saudi Arabia and other oil rich nations announced that they would be cutting oil production. “The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), a consortium of the world’s largest oil-producing nations, made the announcement Sunday in a preemptive measure against what it perceived as a...

Bidenflation is a terrible tax on America’s middle-class and working class. But thanks to The Federal Reserve’s war on inflation, and it is now bleeding over to mortgage-backed securities yields. The most recent tightening by the Federal Reserve has pushed the federal funds target rate above mortgage-backed securities yields for the first time in history. Though this poses clear challenges of carry for MBS holders, selective investments in specified pool and collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs) could provide incremental returns. While Biden brags (redundant) about lowering inflation (that his energy policies and massive Federal spending caused), apparently he never learns. Now...

Starting in 2009 with the housing bubble burst and ensuing financial crisis, The Federal Reserve bought agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS) in an effort to provide stability to the then suffering housing and mortgage markets. Flash forward to today and The Federal Reserve still has $2.62 TRILLION in Agency MBS in its System Open Market holdings. And declining very slowly. All this is happening as M2 Money growth YoY has gone negative and both mortgage rates and home price growth are slowing. Is the US mortgage market that fragile that requires The Fed to support it? The answer is yes if...

Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 @JackPosobiec BREAKING: Saudi Arabia and UAE announce they brokered Griner release in joint statement thepostmillennial.com 12:40 PM · Dec 8, 2022

Saudi Arabia, UAE announce successful mediation efforts in US-Russia prisoner swap According to a joint statement, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed led the efforts. Saudi Arabia and the UAE said their joint mediation efforts helped lead to a successful prisoner exchange between the US and Russia on Thursday. “The [two countries] said the success of the mediation efforts was a reflection of the mutual and solid friendship between their two countries and the United States of America and the Russian Federation,” a joint Saudi-UAE statement read. “They also highlighted the important role...

The Biden administration just won one for the president and his new, fist-bumping pal, the leader of Saudi Arabia. The Washington Times reported on Wednesday that U.S. District Judge John Bates tossed a wrongful-death lawsuit filed against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Biden and the woke Democrats have enthralled themselves in a bizarre love affair with the Mullahs in Iran, while repelling energy and capital giant Saudi Arabia.The strategic imbecility of this position amounts to geopolitical malpractice. It has emboldened the Iranian regime to murder Americans around the world, including threatened attacks against our former president and members of his administration, and to ruthlessly suppress dissent at home.It also has driven the Saudis into the arms of Russia and Communist China, a consequence so avoidable to be simply idiotic.Scratch your head all you wish: you will not find a rational explanation for...

“We are igniting a new industry and an ecosystem that attracts international and local investments and creates job opportunities for local talent,” the crown prince said Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Thursday launched Ceer, the first Saudi electric vehicle brand. Ceer is the first Saudi automotive brand to produce electric vehicles in the Kingdom, and will design, manufacture, and sell a range of vehicles including sedans and sports utility vehicles for consumers in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East and North Africa region, Saudi Press Agency reported. The brand will contribute to Saudi Arabia’s automotive manufacturing sector...