… from Press TV, Tehran
[ Editor’s Note: I had just submitted a new NEO article that posed this situation of the Crown Prince shaking down his Royal Family opposition for a cash injection to pump up his political support among the younger Saudi Arabians, who are just getting hustled in all this.
The consolidation of power into the hands of one strong man will have little trickle down effect to them. The selling off the ARAMCO shares was going to fund the economic diversification plan anyway, to get the country off its oil dependency. Prince Salman has yet to present his plan on how to make Saudis take pride in working, historically considered to be a slave occupation.
The “selective shakedown” of the those arrested for corruption, which did not include his father, was a political terror move to show what was awaiting any of the Royals who might oppose anything the young Crown Prince, as soon to be king, wants to do.
And of course the US, and especially Trump, will have no problem working with another strong man dictator. We always love them if they serve US interests.
Meanwhile, we have Putin consistently polling higher than any democratic leader in history, and our media and government organs propagandize us with stories about how Russia is suffering under a despotic leader, that any suffering is really due to our sanctions and anti-Russian jihad which is only serving some multinational interests.
Leaks began last night that those under arrest at the Ritz-Carlton detention facility, are being pitched a 70% haircut in their cash and assets as the ticket price to go home.
I wonder how much of this “graft” the Crown Prince will take into protective custody, or who will be appointed to run the companies being taken over so they can play successful tycoons when they did not create them? … Jim W. Dean ]
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– First published … November 17, 2017 –
Saudi King Salman plans to relinquish power in favor of his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, next week, a high-level source close to the country’s royal family says.
“Unless something dramatic happens, King Salman will announce the appointment of MBS as King of Saudi Arabia next week,” the source told the Daily Mail on Thursday.
“King Salman will play the role of the queen of England. He will only keep the title ‘Custodian of the Holy Shrines,’” he added.
The development is considered as the final stage in Mohammed bin Salman’s push for power grab, which intensified earlier this month after the mass arrest of over 40 princes and government ministers in a so-called anti-graft probe.
The number of the arrestees in the recent purge reportedly stood at more than 500, and twice that number had been questioned.
Many observers consider the crackdown as a self-promotion campaign launched by the crown prince aimed at consolidating his power. Since the establishment of Saudi Arabia as an absolute monarchy in 1932, the system has been effectively known as a hereditary dictatorship and monarchy.
Speculation of King Salman’s possible abdication surfaced in late June, when the monarch deposed his nephew, then deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef as the heir to the throne and offered the position to his favorite son, in what analysts described as a “political earthquake” back then.
After ascending to the throne, Mohammed bin Salman will shift his focus to Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement by seeking assistance from the Israeli military, the source said.
“MBS is convinced that he has to hit Iran and Hezbollah,” he said. “Contrary to the advice of the royal family elders, that’s MBS’s next target.”
According to the report, the Saudi crown prince has already promised Israel billions of dollars in direct financial aid if they agree.
Political observers consider the recent mysterious resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri in Saudi Arabia as a prelude to Mohammed bin Salman’s push to confront Hezbollah.
Lebanon says Hariri, who led a coalition government including Hezbollah, has been forced by the Saudi regime to resign and is currently being held there, with President Michel Aoun calling the detention an act of aggression against his nation.
Senior Lebanese officials and other world leaders have been trying to figure out what is going on behind the scenes in the Hariri case, with many of them pressuring the Saudi regime to secure the safe return of Hariri to his homeland.
A source close to Hariri said he is expected to leave Saudi Arabia for France before flying home to Beirut to officially submit his resignation.
Riyadh has taken on more aggressive policies since bin Salman’s elevation to the position of defense minister and deputy crown prince in 2015, and later to the position of crown prince.
The kingdom is currently struggling with plummeting oil prices. The Al Saud regime also faces criticism over its deadly military campaign against neighboring Yemen, which it launched on March 26, 2015. Many also see Riyadh’s policies as a major cause of the crises unfolding in the region, especially in Syria and Iraq.
Jim W. Dean is VT Editor Emeritus. He was an active editor on VT from 2010-2022. He was involved in operations, development, and writing, plus an active schedule of TV and radio interviews. He now writes and posts periodically for VT.
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