Saudi "Night of the Long Knives"

Submitted by arendt on Sat, 11/04/2017 - 11:24pm

In a shocking development, Saudi press Al Mayadeen reported late on Saturday that prominent billionaire, member of the royal Saudi family, and one of the biggest shareholders of Citi, News Corp. and Twitter - not to mention frequent CNBC guest - Al-Waleed bin Talal, along with ten senior princes, and some 38 ministers, has been arrested for corruption and money laundering charges on orders from the new anti-corruption committee headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, while Royal princes’ private planes have been grounded.

In Shocking Purge, Saudi King Arrests Billionaire Prince Bin Talal, Dozens Of Others In Cabinet Crackdown

Let the conspiracy theories begin. You can start with the loons who post at ZH. If you like more reality based stuff, try Moon of Alabama.

But, it is still early, early days. I don't have a clue what is going on. I sorta suspect that, somehow, the Israelis and/or the CIA own the Crown Prince, and have decided to do a hostile takeover of KSA. But that's just my personal CT.

Whatever is going on, it has to do with the failure of the CIA/KSA/Israeli attempt to destroy Syria. This internal coup (?preemptive countercoup?) comes on the same day that KSA told Hariri (of Lebanon) to flee the country. All kinds of deep state shit going down here. Us peasants will get steaming piles of BS fed to us later. I already saw a Voice of America headline that said that KSA was cleaning its corrupt house - sounded like a favorable piece - but it vanished before I could click on it. As someone said, arresting a Saudi royal for corruption is like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500.

This whole mess is above my pay grade.

Tags:

KSA

counter-coup

Salman

Hariri

Vote

Comments

Submitted by mimi on Sun, 11/05/2017 - 1:51am

knowing who you dance with - long knives kinda dangerous

dance partners.
[video:https://youtu.be/O095u23oVmM]
I think it's better to have no clues in these times.

Submitted by Deja on Sun, 11/05/2017 - 1:30am

Holy shizit, Batman!

And hiya mimi!

Submitted by eyo on Sun, 11/05/2017 - 2:26am

How's the Saudi IPO coming along?

Trump pleas for Saudi Arabia to list Aramco in US

DUBAI: The US President Donald Trump has urged Saudi Arabia to choose the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) for its record-breaking initial public offering (IPO) of Saudi Aramco planned for the end of next year.

The president took to Twitter to ask the Kingdom to select NYSE, the world’s biggest stock market, for the Aramco offering, which would be by far the biggest share flotation in history.

on his knees

Aramco’s IPO could be worth $100 billion if it proceeds with a 5 percent offering, four times the value of the current record IPO, the 2014 offering of Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba, which also took place on the NYSE.

lotta bling

At last month’s Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s stock exchange the Tadawul made its own bid to stage the IPO “exclusively” in the Kingdom, and was backed by the regulator, the Capital Market Authority.

gauntlet by tweet, brave

American experts said the president’s tweet was positive for NYSE’s chances of landing the IPO. Jim Krane, fellow in energy studies at Rice University’s Baker Institute in Houston, Texas, said: “(Trump) is throwing down the gauntlet to London and other cities that are vying against his home town. He wants to bring home the big prize for New York.”

for new york

Submitted by Alligator Ed on Sun, 11/05/2017 - 2:49am

A Trumpian victory of sorts?

According to the AngryArab blog, the removal of Prince Miteb bin Abdullah as head of the National Guard, means that "this is the first time that the National Guard is not in the hand of Abdullah or his son."

That put all apparatus of the military-intelligence network in the hands of Muhammad bin Salman. News that Al-Walid bin Talal has been arrested and accused of money laundering. This could be a service to Trump, who hates Al-Walid: the two fought it out on twitter during the campaign although Al-Walid tried to reconcile with Trump after his election but to no avail.
Bin Talal's arrest and the government reshuffle caps off a bizarre day for Saudi newsflow, which started with the resignation of Palestinian prime minister Saad al-Hariri, who announced he was quitting due to fears of an assassination plot, allegedly organized by Iran, followed shortly after by the Saudi defense forces intercepting a ballistic missile as it was about to strike the capital Riyadh.

To summarise today's even more bizarre Saudi news day:

Trump urges Aramco IPO
Lebanon PM resigns
Saudis intercept missile
Major cabinet reshuffle; 3 Saudi princes - who run the anti-graft committee - arrested for money-laundering
A total of 11 princes, >30 ministers arrested on corruption

Submitted by glitterscale on Sun, 11/05/2017 - 8:21am

@Alligator Ed I don't know about the

@Alligator Ed I don't know about the rest but I am very skeptical about the missile intercept. Who shot the missile and what did the Saudi's use to intercept?

—

glitterscale

Submitted by Mickt on Sun, 11/05/2017 - 9:07am

Huthis have been firing missiles with increasing range of late

@glitterscale This has happened before. But this is the latest:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/11/05/missile-yemen-intercepted-sau...

Probably was a Patriot as that is what the Saudis have used before.

Submitted by arendt on Sun, 11/05/2017 - 7:06am

Moon of Alabama is on the case...

The events in Lebanon and Riyadh would have been impossible without U.S. approval and support. In late October Trump's son in law and senior adviser Jared Kushner made an unannounced visit to Saudi Arabia. In a tweet yesterday Donald Trump, sworn to the Wahhabi orb, named the price for his consent and cooperation:

Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump - 12:49 PM - 4 Nov 2017

Would very much appreciate Saudi Arabia doing their IPO of Aramco with the New York Stock Exchange. Important to the United States!

A primary listing of Aramco oil conglomerate at the NYSE will give the U.S. government regulatory and legal authority over the most valuable company of the world.

Yesterday's purge can be perceived as a panic-fueled move. All of Bin Salman's endeavors have failed. The successful targeting of Riyadh's airport only underscores this. He is under pressure but unable to deliver. The internal resistance to him is growing.

When Hitler initiated the Night of Long Knifes against the socialist part of his party he was on an upward trend of his political power. The country was at peace, its international standing was growing, the economy surged and the majority of the people endorsed him. Bin Salman's remake of that night comes while his initiatives fail. It is doubtful that the consolidation he seeks will be equally successful.

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/11/saudi-purge.html#more

Submitted by Lookout on Sun, 11/05/2017 - 7:16am

I think China and Russia are players for Aramco

Financial Times has leaked that Saudi Aramco is frustrated over the weak oil prices, so much so that they are considering shelving the IPO. Saudi is considering selling shares privately instead of listing them publicly. https://www.blogarama.com/finance-blogs/42718-finance-twitter-blog/22254...

—

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Submitted by studentofearth on Sun, 11/05/2017 - 11:30am

China has made an offer for Armaco and want Saudis

@Lookout
to sell oil using the yuan petro-dollar.

Private purchase offer discussed two weeks ago at Reuters.

China is creating a consortium made up of state-owned oil firms, banks and its sovereign wealth fund to act as a cornerstone investor in the IPO, people with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters in April.

Sources told Reuters on Friday that Saudi Aramco was now evaluating a private placement of shares to a Chinese investor as a precursor to an international IPO, which could be delayed beyond 2018.

But allowing China to buy 5 percent would effectively mean cancelling the IPO altogether, which is an unlikely outcome, one of the sources said

Overview of the importance of the offer and changes that may happen. Altered author's underline to bold.

China might over-pay for a stake in the ARAMCO company for two reasons. First, they want a toe-hold in the kingdom, in order to win other trade deals with a degree of exclusivity. They would become a favorite foreign son in the process, especially if other Western financial houses refuse to invest in the bloated over-valued petro-chemical firm. Second, the Chinese would then be in a position to demand that oil sales to China be paid in Yuan currency, in RMB terms. The ARAMCO investment, large or small, would serve as leverage to fracture the Petro-Dollar at its home base, within Saudi Arabia. The shock waves would be heard around the financial world.

—

Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.

Submitted by native on Sun, 11/05/2017 - 10:28am

Too many things are going on at once

for anyone to have a clear picture of what it all means. It's like an earthquake hit the entire Middle East and shook everything up. Pieces of the Previous Picture are falling all over themselves, and nobody could ever predict how Trump might react.

—

native

Submitted by k9disc on Sun, 11/05/2017 - 5:18pm

I Think It's the China Spooks vs Russian Spooks.

I think Drumpf was China Spook sponsored. Hillary was a Russian Spook critter.

I think those are the competing factions within the spy agencies and Establishment.

@native

—

“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

Submitted by eyo on Sun, 11/05/2017 - 10:57am

"Saudi Royalty Arrests Rock Clinton-Obama Regime" WISH

zach haller at medium.com I clicked the bait.

As the story of the massive Saudi royalty purge develops, Americans should anticipate these arrests and the subsequent investigations will implicate Obama and Clinton in major ways. Investigations into Obama-Clinton impropriety by special counsel Robert Mueller encompass Obama and Clinton’s financial ties and dubious political alliances with both Saudi Arabia and Russia alike.
...
Those following Trump’s efforts to police Obama and Clinton’s extensive criminality are aware Mueller’s probe implicates Clinton crony and lobbying giant Tony Podesta, brother of Clinton campaign manager John Podesta. Wikileaks releases of John Podesta’s emails opened a Pandora’s box of Democratic Party corruption when released last fall, but Tony Podesta’s nefarious and longtime lobbying efforts with both Russia and Saudi Arabia are only now beginning to be broadly exposed to the American public.

What does "broadly exposed to the American public" mean? Cable TV viewers? Hate radio? I don't know.

fingers crossed
popcorn stocked

Submitted by native on Sun, 11/05/2017 - 12:03pm

It seems to me that various Saudi Royals

have had extensive ties to the USG for a very long time. Bandar Bush comes immediately to mind, but intimate connections between the two governments go back much farther than that, including both US political Parties. In many ways, the KSA and the USA have been almost inseparable.

It seems that both Trump and MbS intend to strengthen this relationship, and certainly not to end it. Bringing Israel into the fold would augment the hand of any anti-Iranian coalition, and MbS is just the man to do that... If his government can survive the rigors of re-orientation.

—

native

Submitted by arendt on Sun, 11/05/2017 - 12:27pm

Tinfoil hat on...

@native

Yes, KSA has been involved with the CIA since the 1970s, when the Safari Club funded the privatization of the CIA. And, certainly, GHWB was up to his eyeballs in that privatization.

So, for me, the question is: is MbS working for the CIA or working with Trump to get rid of the CIA infestation of KSA? Its a tough question because, as I said in the OP, this series of events is the fallout of the failure of the CIA/Mossad plan for Syria.

Is this purge, which is labeled by some as a "countercoup" (i.e., pre-empting a coup), to maintain CIA dominance over KSA and continue the Wahabist war against Iran? Everyone says Trump's foreign policy has been completely hijacked by the neocons, although some maintain that the cabal of generals (i.e., the military part of our FP establishment) really wants to get out of MENA.

From the outside, no one can tell what factions are fighting. If you say the CIA faction is winning, then why did they arrest bin Talal, a huge supporter or (the CIA-made woman) HRC?

I still don't believe that Trump (or Jared/Ivanka) have the first clue how to play politics at this level. I treat them as pawns, stage sets for the real battle, which I believe to be between CIA and MIC factions. My problem is that I have yet to see evidence for a MIC faction within KSA. Is MbS in with the MIC faction to get rid of the CIA? Then why is he making nice with Israel/Mossad? Because of Arab enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend politics?

As I said, completely above my paygrade.

Submitted by dervish on Sun, 11/05/2017 - 12:45pm

KSA has long been in the USA/Israel fold

@arendt and I wouldn't consider these events as fallout from Syria (or Yemen) in a direct sense.

For some time the US and Israel have held the policy goals of cracking down on the Hezbos in Lebanon and in confronting Iran more directly, I think that this is rooted in that. Hariri fled Beirut, but the question is why, is it because something's about to happen, or is he refusing to do something? People have been saying for weeks that factional war is imminent in LB, and Hariri's faction is poorly situated to start anything.

I think Salman is cracking down to solidify his coalition, but the question is, in favor of what? I suspect it's further war and conflict in the region, but it could be something as benign as maintaining his own grip on power internally. We'll have to wait and see.

—

"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."

Submitted by native on Sun, 11/05/2017 - 1:03pm

Well you make a seies of excellent guesses,

@arendt
and I have yet to see anything more authoritative anywhere. Explanations of what's going on are all over the map, and I certainly don't have one. For the moment I am totally mystified by it all.

—

native

Submitted by Not Henry Kissinger on Sun, 11/05/2017 - 12:57pm

Looks like the Saudis...

are taking a page out of Putin's book on how to get out from under the US Imperial thumb.

First thing you do, arrest all the pro-American oligarchs.

Remember also that the King and Vlad met Moscow last month. Apparently, school was in session.

—

The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?

Submitted by dervish on Sun, 11/05/2017 - 2:21pm

Salman met with Kushner recently too,

@Not Henry Kissinger as well as with Netanyahu secretly a few weeks ago. I'm also getting rumors that Hariri is under house arrest in KSA. It's anyone's guess at this stage, but I'm thinking that it's going to be further collaboration with the empire and war with the Hezbos.

—

"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."

Submitted by arendt on Sun, 11/05/2017 - 6:56pm

Here's an interesting extended comment from MoA

@dervish

I find the comments about Nayaf to be an important thread that has gotten lost amid this weekend's excitement.

First you have to look at the Saudi bodyguard, the US. The weak presidency of Obama followed now by the subverted presidency of Trump has allowed the always troublesome factions that once appeared to represent a united US government to become brazen in their independence. The CIA, usually allied with and muscle for the State Dept., had their "man-in-waiting" Nayaf ready to assume the throne. But the neocon cabal, temporarily allied with the Obama bunch, in their frenzy to hurt Russia, pushed the Saudis too far in ordering them to crash oil prices and thus their sole income, while simultaneously encouraging them to spend lavishly on the (State/CIA) ISIS and (Neocon/Pentagon) al Quida projects in Syria. Then getting Saudi to agree to an unprecedented arms purchase which smacked of "we better get their last dollar before they go down, then we'll just take back the shit at our leisure." It certainly didn't look like the US was overly concerned with "protecting" KSA.

As for the Kingdom, the Young Prince seemed to be recklessly taking charge of patently no-win projects like Yemen, while the Clinton/State/CIA Nayaf waited patiently to take over, probably smiling at how the young gun was making Nayaf's value as the wiser choice more apparent by the day. But was MBS really a fool? Who cared if the expedition in Yemen succeeded, it was just a bunch of mercenaries (and Yemenis) dying anyway, and the conflict gave him excuses to expand his authority to more and more areas, particularly in the areas of defense and security. One day Nayaf woke up no longer the Crown Prince, the next day no longer in charge of State Security, and basically under house arrest. MBS could not help but know that the Kingdom had already been scheduled for regime change (clear by the way they were being "used up"), and he more than anyone would have a CIA target on is back. So suddenly the (US controlled) OPEC is thrown into disarray by a silly spat with Qatar, weakening one potential source of external opposition, and now we have a full blown purge of most of his internal opposition. Plus he has been courting Russia, knowing that the Kingdom is nothing without a protector, and the US is certainly not going to be a reliable ally while it connives to replace him.

MBS may of course just be a brash fool, but then again maybe he wanted his enemies to assume so and underestimate him. Hell, Alexander the Great was about his age, so youth may but doesn't necessarily equate to idiocy. Is it possible that he just saw the writing on the wall (that the US was preparing "help" with the changes rushing to greet the Kingdom), and decided that the window of opportunity was now if he ever hoped to have real power? After all, one should not assume that Nayaf would not have done the same thing, albeit more smoothly, with his own opponents once he assumed full power. I'm not saying the Young Prince is going to be a force for good, or necessarily stable, but he may not be quite the fool he allowed himself to be portrayed to be, and if he is forced to turn to Russia for his protection, at least there will be a far more "Earth friendly" power encouraging his actions than the US.

Now is that the plot for a book or what?

Posted by: J Swift | Nov 5, 2017 12:09:55 PM | 31

Submitted by WoodsDweller on Sun, 11/05/2017 - 7:29pm

......

@arendt
My head hurts.

#10.1

I find the comments about Nayaf to be an important thread that has gotten lost amid this weekend's excitement.

First you have to look at the Saudi bodyguard, the US. The weak presidency of Obama followed now by the subverted presidency of Trump has allowed the always troublesome factions that once appeared to represent a united US government to become brazen in their independence. The CIA, usually allied with and muscle for the State Dept., had their "man-in-waiting" Nayaf ready to assume the throne. But the neocon cabal, temporarily allied with the Obama bunch, in their frenzy to hurt Russia, pushed the Saudis too far in ordering them to crash oil prices and thus their sole income, while simultaneously encouraging them to spend lavishly on the (State/CIA) ISIS and (Neocon/Pentagon) al Quida projects in Syria. Then getting Saudi to agree to an unprecedented arms purchase which smacked of "we better get their last dollar before they go down, then we'll just take back the shit at our leisure." It certainly didn't look like the US was overly concerned with "protecting" KSA.

As for the Kingdom, the Young Prince seemed to be recklessly taking charge of patently no-win projects like Yemen, while the Clinton/State/CIA Nayaf waited patiently to take over, probably smiling at how the young gun was making Nayaf's value as the wiser choice more apparent by the day. But was MBS really a fool? Who cared if the expedition in Yemen succeeded, it was just a bunch of mercenaries (and Yemenis) dying anyway, and the conflict gave him excuses to expand his authority to more and more areas, particularly in the areas of defense and security. One day Nayaf woke up no longer the Crown Prince, the next day no longer in charge of State Security, and basically under house arrest. MBS could not help but know that the Kingdom had already been scheduled for regime change (clear by the way they were being "used up"), and he more than anyone would have a CIA target on is back. So suddenly the (US controlled) OPEC is thrown into disarray by a silly spat with Qatar, weakening one potential source of external opposition, and now we have a full blown purge of most of his internal opposition. Plus he has been courting Russia, knowing that the Kingdom is nothing without a protector, and the US is certainly not going to be a reliable ally while it connives to replace him.

MBS may of course just be a brash fool, but then again maybe he wanted his enemies to assume so and underestimate him. Hell, Alexander the Great was about his age, so youth may but doesn't necessarily equate to idiocy. Is it possible that he just saw the writing on the wall (that the US was preparing "help" with the changes rushing to greet the Kingdom), and decided that the window of opportunity was now if he ever hoped to have real power? After all, one should not assume that Nayaf would not have done the same thing, albeit more smoothly, with his own opponents once he assumed full power. I'm not saying the Young Prince is going to be a force for good, or necessarily stable, but he may not be quite the fool he allowed himself to be portrayed to be, and if he is forced to turn to Russia for his protection, at least there will be a far more "Earth friendly" power encouraging his actions than the US.

Now is that the plot for a book or what?

Posted by: J Swift | Nov 5, 2017 12:09:55 PM | 31

—

"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

Submitted by arendt on Sun, 11/05/2017 - 10:06pm

yeah, me too. n/t

@WoodsDweller

Submitted by arendt on Sun, 11/05/2017 - 4:35pm

That's a point I had not thought of. Interesting.

@Not Henry Kissinger

While the US stomps around MENA, blowing shit up; the Russians work quietly behind the scenes. Who knows what deals they have been making behind the scenes in KSA, with whom they share a motivation to control the price of oil.

So, now, the hidden actors include: CIA/Mossad, US MIC, and Russia. A knife-fight in the dark. I repeat, this is above my pay grade.

I was reminded of how good the Russians are at maneuvering in the MENA by this article:

A crucial if little-noted factor in making the strategic shift in the geopolitical energy field of the Iraqi and Syrian Kurdish regions in the last months has been Russia, specifically Russia’s giant state-owned Rosneft.

Surprising many, just after the September 25 Iraqi Kurd referendum vote, Rosneft CEO, Igor Sechin announced that Rosneft had agreed to buy control of Iraqi Kurdistan’s main oil pipeline, boosting its investment in the autonomous region to $4 billion according to remarks by Sechin on October 18 at a conference this author attended in Italy two days before the signing of the deal...

Russia has shrewdly played a game of geopolitical chess. Moscow knows that if Rosneft holds the trump card in the Iraqi Kurdish energy economy, the Kurds have no option to get their oil out but via Turkey.

Moscow Outmaneuvers Washington’s Kurdistan Project

I do have to qualify this report with the fact that the author, F. William Engdahl, has been a LaRouche-ite for over thirty years. He denies Peak Oil and, in general, has an agenda. Nevertheless, he reasons well; you just have to watch the facts he claims as the foundation for his reasoning.

Submitted by arendt on Sun, 11/05/2017 - 4:24pm

It just keeps getting weirder

a Saudi prince was killed today when a helicopter with several officials on board crashed near the kingdom's southern border with war-torn Yemen, state television said.

The news channel Al-Ekhbariya announced the death of Prince Mansour bin Muqrin, the deputy governor of Asir province and son of a former crown prince.

It did not reveal the cause of the crash or the fate of the other officials aboard the aircraft.

Saudi Helicopter Carrying 8 High-Ranking Officials & Prince Bin-Muqrin Crashed Near Yemen Border - All Dead

No details yet. If anyone knows KSA politics, who was this prince? Which cabal was he in?

Submitted by Deja on Sun, 11/05/2017 - 4:41pm

Aircraft fatality? Wonder if he had dealings with Her

@arendt
I have no idea who he was, but it's another thing to make us go hmmmm.

Submitted by lotlizard on Mon, 11/06/2017 - 7:25am

Too low-ranking / peripheral for a Lin Biao kind of plane crash

@Deja
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lin_Biao

Submitted by eyo on Mon, 11/06/2017 - 5:37am

The Ethan Allen cabal? Leads to Bernie hah!

@arendt thanks, I cannot follow the family tree it is too big. I do read arabnews.com, this is from there:

The accident happened Sunday night when the helicopter carrying Prince Mansour bin Muqrin and other regional officials were returning from a regular inspection tour, said the report, quoting a Ministry of Interior spokesman.

The officials spent most of the day inspecting a number coastal projects west of Abha city, it said.
"While returning in the evening of the same day, contact with the plane was lost in the vicinity of the Reda reserve," the report said.

The ministry has not given any cause for the crash, saying only that the wreckage has been found and responders were searching for survivors.

RIP Crown Prince Murqin

A link from this page mentions EA: https://alchetron.com/Mansour-bin-Muqrin

Career
In January 2015, King Salman accepted Crown Prince Murqin's recommendation that Mansour be made Advisor at the Court of the Crown Prince. He is a partner in Ethan Allen's Saudi franchise. Mansour is vice chairman of Al-Bayan Foundation, which builds colleges of higher education in Saudi Arabia.

Subversive link to the communist state of Vermont:

...Jeddah is Ethan Allen's fifth location in the Middle East. Bucharest is the company's third location in Europe. The company also recently opened Design Centers in Amman, Jordan, and Seoul, South Korea. Coming soon are three new locations in China.

About Ethan Allen (NYSE:ETH) Founded in Vermont (USA) over 80 years ago, Ethan Allen today is a leading international home fashion brand doing business throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The company is vertically integrated from design through delivery, affording its clientele a value equation of style, quality, and price that is unique to the industry.

Subversive link to American school of brainwashing:

Company Overview
Al Bayan University is private University , established by the Al Bayan Education Foundation, a non for profit organization. Al Bayan is modeled on the American system of education and the language of instruction is exclusively English. The university is housed in two campuses , one for boys and one for girls.

Pardon the sarcasm. Later I'll visit opensecrets, just for fun.

good morning world

Submitted by arendt on Mon, 11/06/2017 - 8:10am

Thanks. He really does seem obscure...

@eyo

I mean, Ethan Allen? That's all that he is involved with? High-end, fusty old furniture - the kind of fossilized Victorian crapola that seems to be popular among the sclerotic aristocracy of KSA.

I begin to doubt this crash was anything more than a badly-timed coincidence.

#11 thanks, I cannot follow the family tree it is too big. I do read arabnews.com, this is from there:

The accident happened Sunday night when the helicopter carrying Prince Mansour bin Muqrin and other regional officials were returning from a regular inspection tour, said the report, quoting a Ministry of Interior spokesman.

The officials spent most of the day inspecting a number coastal projects west of Abha city, it said.
"While returning in the evening of the same day, contact with the plane was lost in the vicinity of the Reda reserve," the report said.

The ministry has not given any cause for the crash, saying only that the wreckage has been found and responders were searching for survivors.

RIP Crown Prince Murqin

A link from this page mentions EA: https://alchetron.com/Mansour-bin-Muqrin

Career
In January 2015, King Salman accepted Crown Prince Murqin's recommendation that Mansour be made Advisor at the Court of the Crown Prince. He is a partner in Ethan Allen's Saudi franchise. Mansour is vice chairman of Al-Bayan Foundation, which builds colleges of higher education in Saudi Arabia.

Subversive link to the communist state of Vermont:

...Jeddah is Ethan Allen's fifth location in the Middle East. Bucharest is the company's third location in Europe. The company also recently opened Design Centers in Amman, Jordan, and Seoul, South Korea. Coming soon are three new locations in China.

About Ethan Allen (NYSE:ETH) Founded in Vermont (USA) over 80 years ago, Ethan Allen today is a leading international home fashion brand doing business throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The company is vertically integrated from design through delivery, affording its clientele a value equation of style, quality, and price that is unique to the industry.

Subversive link to American school of brainwashing:

Company Overview
Al Bayan University is private University , established by the Al Bayan Education Foundation, a non for profit organization. Al Bayan is modeled on the American system of education and the language of instruction is exclusively English. The university is housed in two campuses , one for boys and one for girls.

Pardon the sarcasm. Later I'll visit opensecrets, just for fun.

good morning world

Submitted by eyo on Mon, 11/06/2017 - 9:05am

My tin foil hat cried "Laundromat" when I saw those two

@arendt heh, funny difference! I guess maybe an obscure fancy furniture store in Vermont is a "good investment" for a KSA billionaire prince, they must have a fantastic balance sheet, really really good.

And where else have I heard about non-profit private institutions? What is a private non-profit? Don't talk in circles, and please begin with the Executive pay structure. oof

Don't say "money laundering for influence", say "public/private partnership" for the win!

That's how my mind works now, there are no coincidences. Ouch.

Submitted by arendt on Mon, 11/06/2017 - 10:06am

I get where you are coming from...

@eyo

I can no longer support the level of vigilance required for such thinking. I can only support a generalized skepticism about MSM claims and the pronouncements of bought and paid for corporatists. I commend you for your mental stamina. What follows is not criticism but explanation.

I can easily accept that his EA connection is some kind of "front" IF someone could provide some evidence. The problem is "six degrees of separation". That is, thanks to the internet, I can link anything to anything and provide "proof". This is the stock in trade of people like Alex Jones.

With intelligence agencies creating all kinds of fake news (both positive and negative), it takes a lot of work (and a huge, trusted/vetted personal database - not to mention decades of pre-corporate-takeover life experience) to decide what to believe. I simply don't have the energy or the heart for it anymore.

If this guy was some kind of Deep State player, what is it to me? I never heard of him until he was dead. He had no discenable impact on my life. If others can dig up truly provable facts about his DS-ness, I will certainly look at that. But, I won't go looking for it on my own. I guess I'm just old.

Submitted by eyo on Mon, 11/06/2017 - 11:07am

I'm just bored by poverty and hunger to be honest

@arendt thanks, I'm just wasting time waiting to expire, it is taking too long and feels like torture. Tortured mind. I'd go outside and walk more but can't afford the calories, or the holes worn through my shoes. At least I still have shelter for now, cold as it is, it is still warmer than outdoors.

I shouldn't take my distress out on y'all, on a blog that is silly. Thanks for the reminder to pursue other topics, or maybe just stfu. Who is Alex Jones? Never mind, I just looked. huh

good luck

Submitted by arendt on Mon, 11/06/2017 - 2:48pm

Sorry to hear of your troubles

@eyo

The world has just changed too fast for me.

I have seen many other examples of people with no resources but internet access. That seems so Dickensian, so nose pressed against the window of the restaurant while you freeze and starve. Whatever happened to being decent to people?

As for the internet, sometimes distraction is a good thing, sometimes bad. It depends on the circumstance. Certainly, for the mob of de-socialized zombies walking into traffic while texting, it's bad. OTOH, if you have time on your hands, you can educate yourself on the web.

I hope things go better for you.