patrick.net

I really like Asia TImes. They have some great reporters and are very good at the kind of in depth analytical reporting that has been killed off in the US by the dominance of fox/60 minutes type of news as entertainment sound byte reporting.

I like Asia Times too, but would say US reporting was killed more by the lack of advertising revenue than anything else. Not sure how Asia Times gets their revenue.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5189233/Saudis-using-starvation-weapon-says-Penny-Mordaunt.html

Saudi Arabia has 'no excuse' for blocking aid to Yemen, International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said as she warned that 'using starvation as a weapon' was a breach of humanitarian law.
The UK is set to provide an emergency £50 million aid package to help feed millions of Yemeni people caught in 'the world's worst humanitarian crisis'.

Patrick says

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5189233/Saudis-using-starvation-weapon-says-Penny-Mordaunt.html

Saudi Arabia has 'no excuse' for blocking aid to Yemen, International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said as she warned that 'using starvation as a weapon' was a breach of humanitarian law.
The UK is set to provide an emergency £50 million aid package to help feed millions of Yemeni people caught in 'the world's worst humanitarian crisis'.

Thank God the UK is willing to help. The Saudis are broke after spending $450 million on a old useless painting.

Patrick says

I like Asia Times too, but would say US reporting was killed more by the lack of advertising revenue than anything else

Us reporting was killed by news as entertainment started by 60 minutes.

anon_e144f says

Patrick says

I like Asia Times too, but would say US reporting was killed more by the lack of advertising revenue than anything else

Us reporting was killed by news as entertainment started by 60 minutes.

Really? I think rather that US reporting was killed by the oligarchs (Murdoch, Ailes, etc) that took control of the media.

It's really amazing to watch Media Propaganda in Action.

For decades, when the old Saudi Guard that built radical Madrassahs worldwide and deliberately exported it's radical elements around the world to commit violence, we were told Reform was Around the Corner (tm)(R).

Now that there is actually a Saudi Prince who literally Turning That Corner, by letting women drive, imprisoning the Old Guard for Corruption, defunding the Radical Clerics, opening up Movie Theatres, helping the Lebanese Army to weaken Hezbollah, etc. etc. etc., all of sudden there is a host of articles saying it's all fake, that MbS has a lot of money (which top Saudi Prince doesn't), he's going to fail, it's not sincere, etc. etc.

A lot of people were on the Saudi Old Guard's payroll and the checks must be drying up.

Pepe Escobar should be taken with a shovelful of salt.

Patrick says

International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said as she warned that 'using starvation as a weapon' was a breach of humanitarian law.

Hmm, think "potato famine"

TwoScoopsMcGee says

imprisoning the Old Guard for Corruption

He is giving that money back to the people correct?

TwoScoopsMcGee says

defunding the Radical Clerics

Remind me how many radical mosques or madressahs schools have been shut down around the world. Hint it;s a number between -1 and 1. 8

TwoScoopsMcGee says

it's not sincere

How are you managing to determine he is sincere instead of just taking down possible political rivals and stealing their money? Which is what it looks like to me. You have inside contacts within the house of saud somehow?

anon_e144f says

How are you managing to determine he is sincere instead of just taking down possible political rivals and stealing their money? Which is what it looks like to me. You have inside contacts within the house of saud somehow?

Well, he actually is letting women drive, arrested protesters who tried to stop it, opened up movie theatres, announced a return to moderate Islam, bashed Wahabi Clerics on Saudi National TV, and announced he was sending aid to Lebanon against Hezbollah. Oh, and going public with Aramco after arresting a few big wigs there, which is generally used by neoliberals themselves as a sign of an "Anti-corruption" mechanism

A Saudi Prince with money is not much of a story. Back when the Old Guard Saudis were helping Foreign Fighters in Iraq (who later became ISIS), all I heard was a lot of apologetics, how it was all Iranian lies, etc. etc. Now the exact same people are telling me this is fake reform.

I'll trust the new guy unless evidence, not assertions from "Journalists" who have been repeatedly wrong if not mendacious and misleading, emerges. Maybe they're really upset that their former billionaire propaganda oligarch underwriters got arrested.

As for Power, you can't Reform without it.

TwoScoopsMcGee says

It's really amazing to watch Media Propaganda in Action.

For decades, when the old Saudi Guard that built radical Madrassahs worldwide and deliberately exported it's radical elements around the world to commit violence, we were told Reform was Around the Corner (tm)(R).

Now that there is actually a Saudi Prince who literally Turning That Corner, by letting women drive, imprisoning the Old Guard for Corruption, defunding the Radical Clerics, opening up Movie Theatres, helping the Lebanese Army to weaken Hezbollah, etc. etc. etc., all of sudden there is a host of articles saying it's all fake, that MbS has a lot of money (which top Saudi Prince doesn't), he's going to fail, it's not sincere, etc. etc.

They are even allowing movies to be shown in theaters. I'm glad to see the Saudis enter the 19th century for now. Eventually Islam will be no more, and hot Saudi chicks will be topless in some Saudi beaches by the end of the century.

anon_e144f says

TwoScoopsMcGee says

imprisoning the Old Guard for Corruption

He is giving that money back to the people correct?

Probably not, but who cares? Anyone who fights radical Islam needs to be supported.

anon_e144f says

Remind me how many radical mosques or madressahs schools have been shut down around the world. Hint it;s a number between -1 and 1. 8

Relax. Barbarians cannot be civilized overnight. It will take time.

anon_e144f says

How are you managing to determine he is sincere instead of just taking down possible political rivals and stealing their money? Which is what it looks like to me. You have inside contacts within the house of saud somehow?

Trump has inside contacts with the House of Saudi. Else he would not be supporting MBS.

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/04/mohammed-bin-salman-iran-israel/557036/

Globalist NeverTrump Goldberg is aggressively skeptical, representing the new attitude of the Western Oligarch Empire of MEdia (WOE-ME) to Saudi Arabia whereas before it was almost grovelling respect and rare criticism. Even so, Gems shine through.

Goldberg: The triangle of evil?

MbS: Yes, I will explain in a moment. In this triangle, they are trying to promote the idea that our duty as Muslims is to reestablish the caliphate, to reestablish the mindset of the caliphate—that the glory of Islam is in building an empire by force. But God didn’t ask us to do this, and the Prophet Muhammad did not ask us to do this. God only asked us to spread the word. And this mission is accomplished. Today, every human has the right to choose their belief. In every country, it is possible to buy religious books. The message is being delivered. We have no duty anymore to fight to spread Islam. But in the triangle of evil, they want to manipulate Muslims, to tell them their duty as Muslims—their dignity as Muslims —requires the establishment of a Muslim empire.

Goldberg: About the triangle—
MbS: First in the triangle we have the Iranian regime that wants to spread their extremist ideology, their extremist Shiite ideology. They believe that if they spread it, the hidden Imam will come back again and he will rule the whole world from Iran and spread Islam even to America. They’ve said this every day since the Iranian revolution in 1979. It’s in their law and they’re proving it by their own actions.

The second part of the triangle is the Muslim Brotherhood, which is another extremist organization. They want to use the democratic system to rule countries and build shadow caliphates everywhere. Then they would transform into a real Muslim empire. And the other part is the terrorists—al-Qaeda, ISIS—that want to do everything with force. Al-Qaeda leaders, ISIS leaders, they were all Muslim Brotherhood first. Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of ISIS. This is very clear.

This triangle is promoting an idea that God and Islam are not asking us to promote. Their idea is totally against the principles of the United Nations, and the idea of different nations having laws that represent their needs. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Yemen—all of these countries are defending the idea that independent nations should focus on their own interests, in building good relations on the foundation of UN principles. The evil triangle doesn’t want to do that.

Another great point about Obama's Misguided Iran Deal:

Goldberg: I’m curious about Donald Trump and Barack Obama on this issue. It seems you think Donald Trump has a better understanding of this issue than Barack Obama.

And we all know the Golden Negro was a genius, and Trump is the Orange Hitler!!!

MbS: Both of them understand it. I believe that President Obama had different tactics. President Obama believed that if he gave Iran opportunities to open up, it would change. But with a regime based on this ideology, it will not open up soon. Sixty percent of the Iranian economy is controlled by the Revolutionary Guard. The economic benefits of the Iran nuclear deal are not going to the people. They took $150 billion after the deal—can you please name one housing project they built with this money? One park? One industrial zone? Can you name for me the highway that they built? I advise them—please show us something that you’re building a highway with $150 billion. For Saudi Arabia, there is a 0.1 percent chance that this deal would work to change the country. For President Obama it was 50 percent. But even if there’s a 50 percent chance that it would work, we can’t risk it. The other 50 percent is war. We have to go to a scenario where there is no war.

Goldberg: This is a values question. You come from a country that’s very different than ours—yours is an absolute monarchy, a place where people don’t have the right to vote, you have corporal punishment and capital punishment carried out in ways that a lot of Americans don’t like—

MbS: We don’t share values. But I also believe that different states in the United States don’t share values. There are different values between California and Texas. So how come you want us to share your values 100 percent when you are not sharing values? Of course there is a foundation of values that all humans share. But there are differences, state-to-state, country-to-country.

Goldberg: But absolute monarchy?

MbS: Absolute monarchy is not a threat to any country. You say “absolute monarchy” like it’s a threat. If it were not for absolute monarchy, you wouldn’t have the United States. The absolute monarch in France helped the creation of the United States by giving it support. Absolute monarchy is not an enemy of the United States. It’s an ally for a very long time.

Goldberg: That’s very clever, but it avoids the subject.

MbS: Okay, each country, each regime, it has to do what the people think is workable. Saudi Arabia is a network of thousands of absolute monarchies, and then has a large absolute monarchy. We have tribal monarchies, town monarchies. Moving against this structure would create huge problems in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi fabric is much more complicated than you think. And actually our king doesn’t have absolute power. His power is based in law. If he is making a royal decree, he can’t say, “I’m King Salman and I’m doing this.” If you read decrees, you first see the list of laws that allow the king to take this decision. By the way, the queen of the United Kingdom, she has absolute power with any law. But she doesn’t practice it. So it’s complicated.

Think about the track record of Crusading Neolib-cons trying to start the Year Zero.

We forget that a Parliamentary-based Britain took about 650 years to bring to fruition.

He has some good points, but his "uncrossable line number 1", which allows absolutely zero criticism of the barbarism inherent in Islam, should be a non-starter for everyone who cares about freedom of speech. I'm sure he also supports death for any Muslim who attempts to renounce Islam. So no freedom of religion either.

Goldberg could have pressed him a bit more on obvious lies, such as that "everyone on earth can choose their own religion".

Remember that ISIS uses Saudi textbooks because their ideologies are identical.

Lol about "What is this Wahhabism you speak of?"

MbS: First of all, this Wahhabism—please define it for us. We’re not familiar with it. We don’t know about it.

Goldberg: What do you mean you don’t know about it?

MbS: What is Wahhabism?

Goldberg: You’re the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. You know what Wahhabism is.

MbS: No one can define this Wahhabism.