After Executing Regime Critic, Saudi Arabia Fires Up American PR Machine

[Octafish]

After Executing Regime Critic, Saudi Arabia Fires Up American PR Machine

by Lee Fang and Zaid Jilani
The Intercept, Jan. 4 2016, 4:31 p.m.

Saudi Arabia’s well-funded public relations apparatus moved quickly after Saturday’s explosive execution of Shiite political dissident Nimr al-Nimr to shape how the news is covered in the United States.

The execution led protestors in Shiite-run Iran to set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, precipitating a major diplomatic crisis between the two major powers already fighting proxy wars across the Middle East.

The Saudi side of the story is getting a particularly effective boost in the American media through pundits who are quoted justifying the execution, in many cases without mention of their funding or close affiliation with the Saudi Arabian government.

SNIP...

A Politico article about the rising tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran by Nahal Toosi, for instance, quoted only three sources: the State Department, which provided a muted response to the executions; the Saudi government; and Fahad Nazer, identified as a “political analyst with JTG Inc.” Nazer defended the executions, saying that they served as a “message … aimed at Saudi Arabia’s own militants regardless of their sect.”

What Politico did not reveal was that Nazer is himself a former political analyst at the Saudi Embassy in Washington. He is currently a non-resident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, a think tank formed last year that discloses that it is fully funded by the Saudi Embassy and the United Arab Emirates.

CONTINUED w/links, details, context...

https://theintercept.com/2016/01/04/saudi-pr-machine/

[EdwardBernays]

1. I'm so happy that killed that guy

Because of his religion.

And are commiting war crimes with the help of America in Yemen.

Such great people to sell billions of dollars of weapons to.

[Octafish]

2. Petrodollars are special dollars.

EXCERPT...

2. The petrodollar system increases demand for U.S. debt securities

Petrodollar RecyclingOne of the most brilliant aspects of the petrodollar system was requesting that oil producing nations take their excess oil profits and place them into U.S. debt securities in Western banks. This system would later become known as “petrodollar recycling” as coined by Henry Kissinger. Through their exclusive use of dollars for oil transactions, and then depositing their excess profits into American debt securities, the petrodollar system is a "dream come true" for a spendthrift government like the United States.

Despite its obvious benefits, the petrodollar recycling process is both unusual and unsustainable. It has served to distort the true demand for government debt which has "permitted" the U.S. government to maintain artificially low interest rates. Washington has become dependent upon these artificially low interest rates and, therefore, have a vested interest in maintaining them through any means necessary. The massive economic distortions and imbalances generated by the petrodollar system will eventually self-correct when the artificial dollar and U.S. debt demand is removed.

That day is coming.

CONTINUED...

http://www.financialsense.com/contributors/jerry-robinson/the-rise-of-the-petrodollar-system-dollars-for-oil

Can't vouch for the website's politics, but the guy's analysis is spot crude on.