Bandar Bush Bails

Saudi Arabia's Longtime Ambassador to the U.S. Is Resigning - New York Times: "Prince Bandar bin Sultan, who in 22 years as the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States operated as an insider's insider and wielded enormous influence in Washington over successive administrations, is resigning for 'private reasons,' Saudi Arabia announced Wednesday."

Make no mistake.  This is intimately connected to the impending decline of Saudi Arabia's oil production capacity.  Once the illusion that they are going to be able to maintain or even increase their production begins to crumble, their political fortunes will rapidly deteriorate.  The deference that they are granted in the corridors of power in the west is due entirely to their status as a swing producer.  When it becomes clear that this status is no longer based in reality, the knives will come out.  Bandar is getting while the getting is good.