Free Republic

It seems to me the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, last seen in Istanbul, is Erdogan-brand Turkish taffy, a confection of sugary lies made to inflame Americans against the Saudis and aid the far more dangerous to our well-being mullahs of Iran I confess to prejudice in this matter. I think Iran is a grave threat to the world, and the Saudis are aiding us in constraining the mullahs. Like Matthew Continetti, I believe the Saudis are now an important counterterrorism ally and roiling the waters there would disrupt “energy markets, create pockets of instability in which jihadists and Iranian-backed militias...

Court documents recently filed by the government further rock the credibility of Russia Special Counsel Robert Mueller because they show that as FBI Director Mueller he worked to cover up the connection between a Florida Saudi family and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The documents reveal that Mueller was likely involved in publicly releasing deceptive official agency statements about a secret investigation of the Saudis, who lived in Sarasota, with ties to the hijackers. A Florida journalism nonprofit uncovered the existence of the secret FBI investigation that was also kept from Congress.

LONDON/DUBAI (Reuters) - OPEC sees oil’s rally towards $80 a barrel as a short-term spike driven by geopolitics rather than any supply shortage, four OPEC delegates said, a sign the group is not rushing yet to rethink its supply-cutting agreement. The view of top exporter Saudi Arabia is that any brief, speculator-driven jump in oil prices is not sufficient grounds for producers to boost output, an OPEC source familiar with the kingdom’s thinking said.

Iran's aspirations, Abbas and the "Palestinians," the Iran deal and the possibility of the U.S. pulling out, the Netanyahu bribery accusations, and the Saudi participation in the growing march toward war. Saudi Arabia may care more about stopping Iran even than Israel does. Quote from Netanyahu: "Iran must be stopped. and we are going to stop it."

Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) initiated a massive anti-corruption operation last year. Today, just as a Qatari delegation arrives in DC and concedes to the terms of the alliance, Reuters is reporting the resulting Saudi asset seizures total more than $106 billion.

A recent government court filing is raising questions about then-FBI Director Robert Mueller’s involvement in the public release of deceptive official statements about a secret FBI investigation of Sarasota Saudis with apparent ties to the 9/11 hijackers. The misleading statements, issued by FBI officials in Miami and Tampa, were made within days of a September 2011 Florida Bulldog story disclosing the existence of the investigation and reporting that Congress had been kept in the dark about it.

(AhlulBayt News Agency) - US Former Secretary of State John Kerry said Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt pushed the United States to bomb Iran before the 2015 nuclear deal was struck. Kerry defended the deal during the Ignatius Forum in Washington, saying Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was genuinely agitating towards action, before he struck the accord with Tehran. Kerry said when he was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he met with Saudi King Abdullah, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Netanyahu, who all lobbied for military action. "Each of them said to me, you have to bomb Iran,...

Some senior figures detained in last Saturday's purge in Saudi Arabia were beaten and tortured so badly during their arrest or subsequent interrogations that they required hospital treatment, Middle East Eye can reveal. People inside the royal court also told MEE that the scale of the crackdown, which has brought new arrests each day, is much bigger than Saudi authorities have admitted, with more than 500 people detained and double that number questioned. Members of the royal family, government ministers and business tycoons were caught up in the sudden wave of arrests orchestrated by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known...

New documents expose close ties between the Podesta Group and high-ranking Saudi officials recently arrested on corruption charges this past weekend. One America’s Kristian Rouz has more on the deals between key Clinton allies and ousted Saudi officials.

BREAKING: Saudi Arabia arrests several senior princes including billionaire Waleed bin Talal and head of National Guard Miteb bin Abdullah

This just in from my old friend from the Fair Tax wars of the 90s, retired naval carrier aviator, Frank D. The muslims are waging jihad in the skies AGAINST THE WEST! Better let your guys in DC know that this crap MUST STOP! PLEASE GET THIS OUT TO EVERYONE IN YOUR NETWORK! Dick B All, My daughter's Father-In-Law, himself a retired airline captain, forwarded this to me. I had no idea that Gulf States airlines were waging jihad against western airlines until I viewed the video. Sent to you as I got it. FReegards, FRank ***************************** I'm shocked Don....

THE Iranian Parliament is under fire with a gunman shooting guards, with at least eight injured. Iranian state TV has reported that there were four attackers in parliament with one person killed and eight people injured. The situation is still ongoing, according to the broadcaster. [Snip] [Additionally] an armed man opened fire at the Mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini in southern Tehran and wounded a number of people. A gunman opened fire at pilgrims at the late Imam Khomeini mausoleum in southern Tehran on Wednesday injuring a number of people. There are reports of witnesses saying that they heard an explosion...

In the wake of the massacre in Manchester, people rightly warn against blaming the entire Muslim community in Britain and the world. Certainly one of the aims of those who carry out such atrocities is to provoke the communal punishment of all Muslims, thereby alienating a portion of them who will then become open to recruitment by Isis and al-Qaeda clones. This approach of not blaming Muslims in general but targeting “radicalisation” or simply “evil” may appear sensible and moderate, but in practice it makes the motivation of the killers in Manchester or the Bataclan theatre in Paris in 2015...

Perhaps even more important in terms of Saudi daily life, the women in attendance at functions did not wear head coverings and abayas.  The entire nation saw this on television and understands that the fracking-created global oil glut changes everything, that the infidels no longer cower in fear of a cutoff of the oil Allah granted to the protectors of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.  The old arguments of the fanatics hold less water. Change is coming. The king signaled that the restrictions declared by the Wahhabi clergy are no longer the ultimate arbiter of personal behavior,...

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson held a joint press conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday. At one point in his opening statement Adel Al-Jubeir told reporters the House of Saud was looking forward to “draining the swamp” of extremism.

President Donald Trump says the U.S. is losing a “tremendous amount of money” defending Saudi Arabia, complaining that the Gulf monarchy is treating the United States unfairly. In a wide-ranging interview with Reuters, in which Trump discussed his first 100 days in office, the President criticized the key Middle Eastern ally, claiming the Kingdom wasn’t paying its way, and was relying on U.S. defense spending for its security. "Frankly, Saudi Arabia has not treated us fairly, because we are losing a tremendous amount of money in defending Saudi Arabia,” he said. It is not the first time Trump has accused...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia's King Salman issued a decree late Saturday naming one of his sons, an air force pilot who has taken part in coalition strikes against the Islamic State group, as the kingdom's new ambassador to the U.S. The appointment of Prince Khaled bin Salman to Washington signals the kingdom's eagerness to strengthen bilateral ties under President Donald Trump. As the king's son, the prince has a direct line to the Saudi monarch. Saudi Arabia is the world's third largest defence spender. Prince Khaled's appointment positions him as an influential broker in deals with U.S. manufacturers....

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson touted Wednesday more economic investment and cooperation between Saudi Arabia and the US because “when US companies invest in the Saudi economy, everyone wins.” Tillerson made his remarks at the second annual US-Saudi Arabia CEO Summit, which concluded Wednesday in Washington. The summit brought together Saudi and US government officials and business leaders to discuss challenges and opportunities to expand US-Saudi economic partnership. Participants included Majid Al-Qasabi, Saudi commerce minister; Ghassan Al-Shibl, chairman of Saudi Arabian Airlines and CEO of Saudi Research and Marketing Group, and Khaled Al-Seif, vice chairman of the Committee for...

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...

Attacking European politicians who he accused of failing to show migrants a sufficiently warm welcome, the United Nations (UN) human rights chief compared the rhetoric of Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to that of Nazi Germany. Speaking in Geneva on Wednesday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein also slammed “false claims that migrants commit more crimes” and claimed that Europeans welcome mass migration. “Many ordinary people in Europe have welcomed and supported migrants, but political leaders increasingly demonstrate a chilling indifference to their fate. “I am particularly disturbed by lurid public narratives which appear deliberately aimed at...