Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir
There seems to be quite a bit of news this week around the doings of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
First up is the handling of Saudi connections to the 9/11 attacks of which 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi citizens.
“The Saudi ambassador [tcb: Prince Bandar bin Sultan] funded two of the 9/11 hijackers through a third party,” Guandolo said. “He should be treated as a terrorist suspect, as should other members of the Saudi elite class who the US government knows are currently funding the global jihad.”
nypost.com/…
Most of the Saudi involvement in the 9/11 attacks was classified. New calls are rising to release those pages. Here is George Will.
When President Obama departs for Saudi Arabia, an incubator of the 9/11 attacks, he will leave behind a dispute about government secrecy. The suppression of 28 pages, first from a public congressional inquiry and then from the 2004 report by the national 9/11 Commission, has spared the Saudis embarrassment, which would be mild punishment for complicity in 2,977 murders.
www.ocregister.com/…
Meanwhile, Congress is considering a bill to which would make the Saudis financially accountable in 9/11 lawsuits and the Saudis counter by threatening to sell $750 billion in US assets.
Saudi Arabia has told the Obama administration and members of Congress that it will sell off hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of American assets held by the kingdom if Congress passes a bill that would allow the Saudi government to be held responsible in American courts for any role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
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Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, delivered the kingdom’s message personally last month during a trip to Washington, telling lawmakers that Saudi Arabia would be forced to sell up to $750 billion in treasury securities and other assets in the United States before they could be in danger of being frozen by American courts.
www.nytimes.com/...
But there is more …
The Saudis just completed a “purchase” of two Red Sea Islands, Tiran and Sanafir, from Egypt, negotiated in conjunction with the US and Israel, and sparking protests in Egypt.
The announcement that Egypt transferred two small Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabian sovereignty drew protests from Egyptians this week, but in Israel it quietly shed light on the Jewish state’s secret and selective dealings with Saudi Arabia.
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“We reached an agreement between the four parties – the Saudis, the Egyptians, Israel and the United States – to transfer the responsibility for the islands on the condition the Saudis fill in the Egyptian shoes in the military appendix of the peace agreement,” he said.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Egyptian media that his country would have no direct relations with Israel. He did, however, commit to honoring previous agreements between Egypt and the international community.
The two uninhabited islands, Tiran and Sanafir, have been in dispute for decades. They once formed the border between the Ottoman Empire and British-occupied Egypt. Since the 1950s, they have been under Egyptian control, except for a time following the 1967 war with Israel. They were returned to Egypt after the Camp David agreement in 1982.
www.washingtonpost.com/…
The Kingdom continues to pressure Iran on oil production ...
Saudi Arabia demanded on Sunday that Iran join a global deal on freezing oil output, jeopardizing an agreement between OPEC and non-OPEC producers that was supposed to help ease a glut and prop up the price of crude.
Some 18 OPEC and non-OPEC countries, including Russia, had been meant to meet on Sunday morning in the Qatari capital of Doha and rubber-stamp a deal - in the making since February - to freeze output at January levels until October 2016.
But the meeting was postponed after OPEC's de facto leader Saudi Arabia told participants it wanted all OPEC members to take part in the freeze, according to OPEC sources. ...
www.reuters.com/…
… while the Saudis themselves prepare for a post-oil economy
Saudi Arabia will announce a comprehensive plan to prepare the kingdom for the post-oil era on April 25, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said.
www.bloomberg.com/…
And lest we forget, Saudi Arabia has been fighting a year-long war with its neighbor Yemen with several forms of US support. A Senate bill without much support has been proposed to limit US bomb sales to the Kingdom.
US Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said he is proposing a bill to limit US munition sales to Saudi Arabia in protest for its conduct of the war in Yemen.
Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he is troubled by civilian deaths in the Saudi-led bombing campaign and would like to see restrictions placed on US sales of air-to-ground bombs. Though he said support for the measure might be slim, he sees "a growing discomfort [in Congress] about the growing level of arms sales to the Mideast, and a lot more people willing to ask questions than there were just a few years ago."
The legislation, which would be focused on future sales of air-to-ground munitions to Saudi Arabia, is co-sponsored by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.
www.defensenews.com/…
Busy week for the Saudis.
