Trump And Cronies Dance With Saudis While They Screw Millions Of Trump Voters

Trump cabinet members Wilbur Ross & Rex Tillerson took turns dancing with Saudis, Trump had his turn too.

Trump -above- after Saudis delivered several lessons on how to do the "ardah". He still screwed it up.

"No, you asshole! You're doing it the wrong way!"

Many will likely recall how 7 years ago, Trump raked then President Barack Obama over the coals for "bowing" to foreign potentates. One is led to ask how hypocritical one has to be to do that, and then not only bow to the "supreme" Saudi leader but also curtsey, e.g.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-saudi-arabia-trip-curtsey-bow-king-salman-gold-medal-honour-barack-obama-bowing-a7747016.html


 then do a sword dance with this ilk, along with two members of his cabinet, Wilbur Ross and Rex Tillerson.  By all accounts in the Saudi-controlled media the trio yucked it up pretty good even as within hours Trump put the final touches on a wretched budget plan to reduce Medicaid spending by $800 billion, and also make food stamps cuts of at least 30 percent. Oh, and make those getting food stamps work. (Clue one: 95% of food stamp recipients already work.  It's just that they can't make ends meet with the jobs they have. Since nearly all the non-working food stamp beneficiaries are children, one guesses Trump and his cronies will make them work.)

The Trump supporters and voters need to take  note here, because it's estimated that up to 2 out of 5 of them depend on one or both of these programs. While they may firmly believe the current media firestorm over Trump's transgressions is fueled by media "hysteria", I can assure them that if the Trump budget passes they will experience hysteria first hand.

In his speech on Sunday,  Trump, as a guest of the Saudi monarch, spoke of a stronger alliance with mostly Sunni Muslim nations to fight terrorism and extremist ideology and to push back against Iran.  For reference, nearly all the 9/11 terrorists hailed from Saudi Arabia, whose Sunni monarchy controls Islam’s holiest sites. Ironically this bunch of freaks - recall ISIS is a Sunni entity too  -  sees itself as the natural leader of the Muslim world and has used its lavish oil wealth to spread its austere version of the faith.

Iran, meanwhile, was given short shrift by Trump, as he wailed about "terrorism" issuing from their faction of Islam. For reference, Iran is the world’s largest Shiite nation and is led by clerics who aspire to export the ideology of political Islam that brought them to power in 1979. But let us bear in mind, that ascension as well as the taking of hostages at the U.S. Embassy in Iran, didn't just occur spontaneously. It was decades building up based on U.S. meddling ending with the support of the brutal regime of the Shah of Iran.

For historical reference,  U.S. oil interests -   in collusion with the then CIA-   deposed Premier Mohammed Mossadegh in a coup d'etat via  in Operation TPAJAX.  His offense? He had sought to audit the books of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC), and implement new rules.  The eventual decision was to remove Mossadegh - the best chance at Iranian democracy.  So if Iran is "extremist" today we are the ones to blame, at least in terms of interfering in their then democratic processes by forcefully removing a head of state (like we did with Salvador Allende in Chile - except more violently in that case).

Let's be clear there is nothing in our Constitution that condones or approves of removing foreign heads of state, for whatever reason.

In some disinformationist quarters the CIA's role in the 1953 overthrow of Mossadegh is dismissed as a "myth" in the same way pro-Warrenites dismiss conspiracy in the JFK assassination as a myth - because it serves their nefarious interests to do so -- in bamboozling our fellow citizens. The truth is the CIA had its hands in the Mossadegh coup d'etat as much as they did in Kennedy's. You can read more details, including how the CIA actually admitted its role here:

http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB435/

Meanwhile, three days ago, Frederic Wehrey, a senior fellow in the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said:

“We are picking one side in this geopolitical struggle, and there is very little room for gray,.  Sectarianism is a byproduct of this geopolitical rivalry, and we are inadvertently picking one side in this sectarian struggle.”

The question is why did we pick the side that featured most of the vermin responsible for the most destructive attack on the nation in history?  Why also side with the nation with an embedded extremist strain (Wahabbi) that makes Iran's shortcoming pale in comparison?  

The Smithsonian channel's documentary, 'Islam and the West', ought to be required viewing for every American and especially the hysterical subset that believes all Muslims are the next thing to demons. The documentary traces the origins of Islam from Mohammed and to the present day, including how none other than the Brits- in the latter days of their Empire - drew up all the boundaries in the Middle East including for Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Palestine - totally ignoring ethnic and tribal affiliations. Viewing this excellent program will indicate why Trump's siding with the Saudis is a grave mistake.

In the meantime, the spectacle of the Trumpite Trio dancing with the Saudis even as they put the finishing touches on budget plans to undermine many of their own supporters couldn't be lost on the astute observer. It was also jarring to see Trump cozying up to this authoritarian, extremist lot in the way he did though we've already beheld his fondness for strong men, e.g. in Erdogan of Turkey, and Duterte in the Philippines.

See also:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/eric-zuesse/65437/the-sauds-impunity

And:

http://www.salon.com/2016/01/06/saudi_arabia_funds_and_exports_islamic_extremism_the_truth_behind_the_toxic_u_s_relationship_with_the_theocratic_nation/

'Who Lost the Saudis?' - Who Cares?

The Smithsonian channel's documentary, 'Islam and the West', ought to be required viewing for every American and especially the hysterical subset that believes all Muslims are the next thing to demons. The documentary traces the origins of Islam from Mohammed and to the present day, including how none other than the Brits- in the latter days of their Empire - drew up all the boundaries in the Middle East including for Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Palestine - totally ignoring ethnic and tribal affiliations.

But their real deal was in paving the way for a Bedouin tribe - ruled by Ibn al Saud-


 to lay claim to most of the Arabian peninsula via the "kingdom" of Saudi Arabia. This Bedouin bunch got territory and in return the Brits lay claim to a lot of oil.  We also learn that the most vicious sect in all of Islam - the Wahabbists- was also founded in this kingdom. The documentary zooms in on their feral butchery over decades and how this vicious bunch of scum has now tainted all of Islam with its fanaticism. And lest Americans forget - given too many have the memory of gnats- let's recall it was 19 Wahabbi followers from Saudi Arabia that carried out the 9/11 attacks. It wasn't Taliban or Iranians.

All of this is germane to the Wall Street Journal editorial, 'Who Lost the Saudis?' (Jan. 3, p. A14) which bemoans that the Saudis "might be lost as we enter the last perilous year of the Obama presidency". My response? Who the fuck cares? We as a putative democratic nation allegedly dedicated to pursuit of liberty shouldn't be making any common cause with these deplorable rat bastards anyway!  Again, just in case people forget, this is the same kingdom that holds women guilty if they've been raped and has even been known to deliver thousands of lashes to the victims. It also beheads people who veer too far off the path and recently executed 47 they claimed to be "terrorists" - although in the Saudi kingdom that could mean merely speaking out against the regime.

Those executed included a prominent Shiite cleric, Nemer-al -Nemer, which has now inflamed tensions across the Middle East and has the Shiites in an uproar from Iran to Indonesia and in between..

As often seen on its op-ed pages, the WSJ editor goes off half-cocked in his jeremiad against Iran while forgetting about the Saudi transgressions. He appears to be especially worried about Iran and Russia joining up to "topple the House of Saud" - but again so what?  Someone needs to take out the garbage. Think of all those Saudi women who will now be spared 1,000  lashes because they were raped by their brothers! Think of all the Saudi rationalists and atheists who will now be spared their heads for speaking out.

The WSJ editor zooms in on Iran's alleged motive as Saudi oil production keeping the oil glut going and oil -gas prices low. The idiot doesn't even realize the Saudis are hurting the U.S. as much as Iran - given now the U.S fracking industry has gone into the crapper because the price of oil has fallen below the threshold at which it make it worthwhile to remove. (Not that I'm in favor of fracking, of course, only that this is the counterpoint to the WSJ's blaming Iran for Saudi contribution to the oil price plunge when the WSJ has always been enamored of U.S. fracking.)

The dumbest statement of all from this morass of bullshit:

"The Saudis are often difficult allies, especially the support by rich Wahabbi sheiks for radical Islamist mosques and schools around the world But in a Middle East wracked by civil wars, political upheaval and Iranian imperialism the Saudis are the best friend we have"

So, according to the WSJ editor, we are better off embracing this bunch that harbors "radical Wahabbi schools" that produced the 9/11 terrorists than making common cause with Iran. He refers to "Iranian imperialism" but conveniently forgets that WE - the U.S. - commenced Iran's march to a theocratic imperialism after we (at the behest of the CIA and affiliates) deposed Premier Mohammed Mossadegh in a coup d'etat.  His offense? He had sought to audit the books of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC), and implement new rules.

The eventual decision was to remove this man - the best chance at Iranian democracy  - by  the CIA via coup d'état  in Operation TPAJAX. So if Iran is "imperial" today we are the ones to blame, at least in terms of interfering in their then democratic processes by forcefully removing a head of state (like we did with Salvador Allende in Chile - except more violently in that case).

Let's be clear there is nothing in our Constitution that condones or approves of removing foreign heads of state, for whatever reason.

In some disinformationist quarters the CIA's role in the 1953 overthrow of Mossadegh is dismissed as a "myth" in the same way pro-Warrenites dismiss conspiracy in the JFK assassination as a myth - because it serves their nefarious interests to do so -- in bamboozling our fellow citizens. The truth is the CIA had its hands in the Mossadegh coup d'etat as much as they did in Kennedy's. You can read more details, including how the CIA actually admitted its role here:

http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB435/

Maybe by 2145 they will also admit their role in Kennedy's assassination  - long past the time anyone with any interest has died out.

In the meantime, no U.S. administration which professes to be truly against terrorists and "radical Islam" should have anything more to do with these assholes from the House of Saud.

See also:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/eric-zuesse/65437/the-sauds-impunity

And:

http://www.salon.com/2016/01/06/saudi_arabia_funds_and_exports_islamic_extremism_the_truth_behind_the_toxic_u_s_relationship_with_the_theocratic_nation/