Trump voices 'great confidence' in Saudi Arabia amid royal purge

[spanone]

Link to tweet

I have great confidence in King Salman and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, they know exactly what they are doing....

Link to tweet

....Some of those they are harshly treating have been “milking” their country for years!

President Trump on Monday gave a vote of confidence to the leadership of Saudi Arabia amid a royal family purge that has rocked the Middle East.

The president appeared to lend his endorsement to this weekend’s arrests of 11 members of the Saudi royal family, which authorities there described as a crackdown against corruption.

The mass arrests amounted to the most sweeping purge of the Saudi ruling elite in the country’s modern history. Advisers, ministers and businessmen were also taken into custody on orders from a newly formed anti-corruption committee.

Regional observers see the round-up as one of the most dramatic moves yet by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman to consolidate power.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/359036-trump-voices-great-confidence-in-saudi-arabia-amid-royal-purge

[ProudLib72]

1. Great confidence in a dictator, hmmm, little surprise there

But is it more or less confidence than what he has in Pootie? Will it be more or less than what he has in Duterte?

All these likes of dictators make my head swim.

[spanone]

3. Saudi Arabia was trump's first stop on his first foreign trip as president.

he sold them 110 BILLION dollars of war machinery

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/335434-five-takeaways-from-trumps-first-overseas-trip-as-president

[ProudLib72]

4. Yes, but it was the orb that so attracted him

Yes, I get that this is a set up for something that probably won't become apparent for at least a month. What I find most disturbing are the deaths of the princes, Yemen being locked down, and Saudi declaring war with Lebanon and Iran. Is this all to consolidate power? Did Kushner go over there twice to make some deal of backing for oil or to put ARAMCO on our market? Maybe part of that deal was for Saudi to hurt our enemies. Dotard can't stand his Yemen debacle and he hates Obama's Iran deal, so he gets the new king to retaliate for him?

The only piece of the puzzle I can't figure out is what Dotard would have to offer that is so valuable the king would go after two countries.

[HipChick]

2. The Backfire potential is high..Like everything else that has his fingerprints..

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-bet-on-the-saudis-looks-increasingly-dangerous-and-the-110-billion-dollar-payoff-looks-unlikely?via=twitter_page
The Trump administration has tied the United States to the impetuous young crown prince of Saudi Arabia and seems to be quite oblivious to the dangers. But they are growing every day.

Saudi Arabia's King Salman and his favorite son, Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, have broken with the traditional patterns of consensual politics in the royal family, and the results are likely to be a much less stable kingdom with increasingly impulsive and erratic policies.
The kingdom has always been a police state and an absolute monarchy married to a theocracy. But royal politics inside the family observed a certain decorum. If a prince or minister was removed he kept his honor and integrity, no one was humiliated. If a prince or princess misbehaved he or she was quietly detained, without any publicity, for private rehabilitation. The firing of Muhammad bin Nayef instead was accompanied by rumors of drug addiction and he has been kept under house arrest since. The current wave of arrests has taken those detained to a former guest palace outside Riyadh where they are isolated from outsiders. Until Saturday, it was a hotel
The president also wants the Saudis to put their oil firm ARAMCO on the New York Stock Exchange when it goes public for foreign investment next year. Many experts doubt that the Saudis will actually do so because it would require some transparency about how the company spends its proceeds, and it may be kept closed except to a handful of Chinese investors.

If it is put on the NYSE the Saudis will risk judicial action to seize the company's assets under the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism law passed last year over a veto by President Barack Obama. The law allows suits against the Saudi government and individuals for alleged involvement in the 9/11 plot. Trump supported JASTA in the campaign, as did virtually every American politician especially in New York.

[GeorgeGist]

5. I don't ...