2
0

When Saudi Arabia Gets the Bomb


 invite response                
2019 Mar 9, 9:45am   1,029 views  12 comments

by Patrick   ➕follow (55)   💰tip   ignore  

https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/02/20/when-saudi-arabia-gets-the-bomb/

On Tuesday, the House Oversight and Reform Committee revealed that, based on the testimony of “multiple” whistleblowers, the Trump Administration has been attempting to rush through a transfer of “highly sensitive U.S. nuclear technology” to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia without Congressional approval in violation of federal law.

Before the Committee’s revelation on Tuesday, we knew that since 2017, the Trump Administration has been in negotiations with the kingdom over a “123 agreement” which would allow American corporations such as Westinghouse to transfer technology to the Saudis for the construction of two nuclear power plants.[1] These agreements are permitted under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, subject to Congressional approval. ...

If there is no agreement with the US, the kingdom will have to take its business elsewhere. Besides the US, Russia, China, South Korea, and France have submitted bids to build Saudi Arabia’s first nuclear reactor.

Trump’s indulgence toward Saudi Arabia’s nuclear ambitions contrasts sharply with his unremitting hostility towards Iran. The Trump Administration sees Iran as intent on developing nuclear weapons, even as Iran continues to abide by Obama’s 2015 nuclear deal which Trump abandoned on May 8, 2018. However, the Trump Administration’s tightening stranglehold on Iran through economic sanctions may have the effect of driving the Iranians out of the Obama agreement. That would hand the Saudis the excuse they need to build a bomb. Years from now, we may look back on Donald Trump as the midwife of a Saudi nuclear bomb.

It is imperative that Saudi Arabia not be allowed to get nuclear technology. Commenting in December on the proposed transfer, Representative Brad Sherman, Democrat of California, connected the transfer with the Saudi murder of Jamal Khasshogi, saying: “A country that can’t be trusted with a bone saw shouldn’t be trusted with nuclear weapons.” Exactly.


Perhaps the TDS afflicting Democrats and the media can be used to break the extremely bad habit among our elites of selling out the US to the Saudis.

Comments 1 - 12 of 12        Search these comments

1   rdm   2019 Mar 9, 10:30am  

Patrick says
our elites of selling out the US to the Saudis.

Who is in KSA right now or very recently? I believe its Princeling Jared. Why call them elites, its Trump and his crew, present tense. Don't forget Gen. Flynn was involved with this. Follow the money.
2   kt1652   2019 Mar 9, 11:09am  

“Abu Dhabi, Al-Falih asserted Saudi Arabia’s commitment to sourcing 30 per cent of its energy demand from non-fossil fuels by 2030.”
Uh, if SA doesn’t succeed with clean energy, they will have the nukes to blackmail us like Kim. lol
http://www.climateaction.org/news/saudi_arabia_to_launch_30_50_billion_clean_energy_plan
The environment destroying addiction of petroleum as fuel is one of the reasons I am a solar & EV fanboy.
WRT our petro-dollar pact with SA. The only reason the rest of the world go along is because we have the best military money can buy to put down protests. One humongous abuse of fiscal responsibility. Just imagine all the good things we could’ve achieved with $6T just on Iraq wars.
3   Patrick   2019 Mar 9, 11:29am  

It's a nice thought, but that $6T would not have been spent on good things.

Government spending is determined by campaign domains and lobbyists (who were typically congressional aides to make contacts before becoming lobbyists).
4   kt1652   2019 Mar 9, 12:00pm  

Have to try hard to do worse than killing people, destroy their infrastructure and paying "contractors" to rebuild them.
5   anonymous   2019 Mar 9, 12:33pm  

Patrick says
Perhaps the TDS afflicting Democrats and the media can be used to break the extremely bad habit among our elites of selling out the US to the Saudis.


The Democrats and "TDS" are responsible for something that has been know since 2017 when the GOP controlled the House, Senate and White House ?

The Democrats and "TDS" are responsible for not being able to reign in Trump when the GOP controlled the House, Senate and White House from January of 2017 until January of 2019?

The Democrats and "TDS" are responsible for Jared, Ivanka getting security clearances that experienced people were pushing back on and then letting Jared run interference and make policy/deals with the House of Saud?

The Democrats and "TDS" are responsible for letting Jared advise the crown prince of KSA on how to deal with the aftermath of the Kashoggi murder.

Next up - The Democrats and "TDS" are responsible for not getting healthcare passed when the GOP controlled the House, Senate and White House from January of 2017 until January of 2019?

What did I leave out in the period between January of 2017 and January of 2019 that the Democrats and TDS are responsible for that the administration has done and messed up when the GOP controlled everything?
6   MisdemeanorRebel   2019 Mar 9, 2:21pm  

I'm sure the Obama Administration and the 2007-2009 Democratic Congress told KSA to get lost at every turn.
7   anonymous   2019 Mar 9, 4:21pm  

MisterLearnToCode says
I'm sure the Obama Administration and the 2007-2009 Democratic Congress told KSA to get lost at every turn


And the Dubya administration before them, the previous administrations before them etc. etc.
8   anonymous   2019 Mar 9, 4:34pm  

TT - The Saudis already have the bomb. They paid for Pakistan's nuclear weapons dev program and in return the Paks hold nukes in warehouses that basically have the Saudi flag painted on them and the Saudis can get delivered to them within 12 hours.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm bored - go ahead and cough up the details. "

Nukes that basically" have the Saudi flag paint on them ? How does one "basically" paint a flag on something ?

Does Bibi know about this ?

12 hour delivery - FedEx or UPS ?

Does Bolton know ?

Also noticed not one semi-intelligent response to the laundry list of things that did not happen or did happen that the Media, Democrats and TDS will somehow get blamed for but had not one iota of control over.
9   MisdemeanorRebel   2019 Mar 9, 4:52pm  

Kakistocracy says
TT - The Saudis already have the bomb. They paid for Pakistan's nuclear weapons dev program and in return the Paks hold nukes in warehouses that basically have the Saudi flag painted on them and the Saudis can get delivered to them within 12 hours.


Yep.

"Good" news is that Pakistan has only 50s era missiles. The kind that have to be constantly refueled on the launch pad and blow right up if you cough nearby.

Foreign Policy #1 should be destabilizing and breaking Pakistan into 3-5 statelets, then demand denuclearization for aid like 90s Ukraine. Then encourage them to constantly fight each other.
10   anonymous   2019 Mar 11, 3:07am  

The heart of the US-Saudi relationship lies in the Kushner-prince friendship


Soon after Trump was elected, the Saudi crown prince and his advisers targeted Kushner as their gateway into Trump’s inner circle.’ Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

In a report last month that got lost in the crush of other news, House Democrats detailed how top Trump administration officials, including Michael Flynn and Jared Kushner, pushed to provide the Saudi government with technology to build nuclear power plants. That could put Saudi Arabia on the path to developing nuclear weapons, and further destabilize the Middle East.

Kushner’s role is particularly troubling because, as the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, he has cultivated and shored up the relationship between Trump and the ruthless Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. The Kushner-Prince Mohammed friendship is at the heart of the US-Saudi relationship today, and it’s one reason that Trump has tried to shield the crown prince from blame for the murder of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Trump and Kushner, both used to shady real estate deals, adapted quickly to Saudi Arabia’s system of patronage and clientelism: unwavering support from the Trump administration for the promise of weapons sales and other business deals.

The project to sell nuclear power plants to Saudi Arabia began in late 2016, during the presidential transition, when a group of retired US generals and national security officials coalesced around Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser. Even after Flynn was fired in February 2017, other White House officials revived the plan, despite objections from administration lawyers who worried that the proposal could violate US laws intended to stop nuclear proliferation. And the idea is still alive: Trump met last month with the CEOs of several private nuclear power companies who sought his help in building power plants in the Middle East.

While most attention has been focused on Flynn’s role, Kushner is entangled in several conflicts of interest around the Saudi project, according to the 24-page report from the House oversight and reform committee. One of the potential beneficiaries of a Saudi nuclear deal is Westinghouse Electric, which is owned by a subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management, a real estate company that recently bailed out Kushner and his family’s company in their ill-fated, $1.8bn purchase of a Manhattan office tower at 666 Fifth Avenue.

The alliance between Kushner and Prince Mohammed has consequences for US policy: Trump ignored a deadline last month to submit a report to Congress on whether the crown prince was personally responsible for Khashoggi’s murder and dismemberment at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, as US intelligence agencies concluded. But like Trump’s previous attempts to shield the prince from blame for Khashoggi’s killing, this one will backfire. By defending Prince Mohammed so strongly, Trump has made the crisis worse and has emboldened a tougher response in Congress.

Soon after Trump was elected, the Saudi crown prince and his advisers targeted Kushner as their gateway into Trump’s inner circle. They realized that Kushner was vulnerable because of his business dealings, lack of knowledge of the Middle East and eagerness to negotiate a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. Trump’s “inner circle is predominantly dealmakers who lack familiarity with political customs and deep institutions, and they support Jared Kushner”, a delegation of Saudi officials sent to the US by Prince Mohammed in November 2016 wrote in a presentation that was later published by the Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar.

The Saudis hooked Kushner on that visit, and by March 2017 he had arranged a formal lunch for Trump and Prince Mohammed at the White House, where the prince received a grand reception normally reserved for heads for state. Kushner then convinced Trump to make Saudi Arabia the first stop of his maiden foreign trip as president in May 2017. By that point, the Saudis realized that Trump craved flattery and respect, and they gave him an extravagant welcome with multiple banquets and displays of fealty. It’s no surprise that Prince Mohammed later boasted, according to the Intercept, that Kushner was “in his pocket” and had provided information about rivals in the Saudi royal family.

Kushner has been particularly vulnerable because of his family’s purchase of the tower at 666 Fifth Avenue in 2007, at the height of the real estate market that crashed a year later. For the past two years, Kushner Companies has been negotiating for a bailout on the property with investors from China and Qatar, who had close ties to both governments. But those deals collapsed as investors worried about the extra scrutiny generated by Kushner’s role in the White House.

Last spring, Kushner Companies reached a tentative deal with Brookfield Asset Management, which is one of the world’s largest real estate companies, for a 99-year lease on the troubled office tower. At the same time as Brookfield’s property arm was making its deal with the Kushners, another Brookfield unit announced its $4.6bn purchase of Westinghouse Electric, a bankrupt nuclear services company that was part of the consortium vying to build power plants in Saudi Arabia.

That purchase needed the approval of the Trump administration: it was subject to review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which includes senior officials from nine US government agencies. The deal required US approval because Canadian-based Brookfield is a foreign company that was seeking to buy an American firm in the nuclear industry. In the past, the committee required some foreign companies to abandon or make changes in their proposed deals. But Brookfield’s takeover of Westinghouse Electric was approved, and the deal closed on 1 August.

On 3 August, Brookfield’s property unit announced it had closed its deal with Kushner Companies and that it would be paying the rent for the entire 99-year lease upfront: an infusion of about $1.1bn that would help the Kushners pay off a large portion of $1.4bn in mortgages due in February 2019. Without a deal, those looming mortgage payments could have forced the Kushners to sell the Fifth Avenue tower at a significant loss.

It’s unclear if Kushner’s business interests played a role in the US approval of Brookfield’s acquisition of a nuclear company. But these conflicts underline the Trump administration’s entire approach to Saudi Arabia and its allies. With his blind support for the reckless crown prince, Trump has dropped the pretense that the US-Saudi alliance is more than a transactional arrangement based on oil, weapons deals and some perceived security interests.

On 16 October, the same day that the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, arrived in Riyadh to meet with the Saudi king and crown prince over Khashoggi’s fate, Saudi officials deposited $100m in funds that had been pledged to the Trump administration in August to help stabilize parts of Syria liberated from the Islamic State. American diplomats were unsure when the money would arrive until it suddenly appeared in US accounts.

The timing of the funds was a signal to Trump in the deal-making language he understands: the kingdom would continue to honor its financial promises and business commitments to the United States if Trump cooperates in the crisis precipitated by Khashoggi’s murder. Saudi leaders conveyed to Trump – and Kushner – that they too value family loyalty and financial interests above all else.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/mar/10/us-saudi-arabia-trump-kushner-mohammed-bin-salman

#DrainingTheSwampOrRefillingTheSwamp?
11   anonymous   2019 Mar 28, 3:47am  

U.S. approved secret nuclear power work for Saudi Arabia

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry has approved six secret authorizations by companies to sell nuclear power technology and assistance to Saudi Arabia, according to a copy of a document seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

The Trump administration has quietly pursued a wider deal on sharing U.S. nuclear power technology with Saudi Arabia, which aims to build at least two nuclear power plants. Several countries including the United States, South Korea and Russia are in competition for that deal, and the winners are expected to be announced later this year by Saudi Arabia.

Perry’s approvals, known as Part 810 authorizations, allow companies to do preliminary work on nuclear power ahead of any deal but not ship equipment that would go into a plant, a source with knowledge of the agreements said on condition of anonymity. The approvals were first reported by the Daily Beast.

The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said in the document that the companies had requested that the Trump administration keep the approvals secret.

“In this case, each of the companies which received a specific authorization for (Saudi Arabia) have provided us written request that their authorization be withheld from public release,” the NNSA said in the document. In the past, the Energy Department made previous Part 810 authorizations available for the public to read at its headquarters.

A Department of Energy official said the requests contained proprietary information and that the authorizations went through multi-agency approval process.

Many U.S. lawmakers are concerned that sharing nuclear technology with Saudi Arabia could eventually lead to a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.

More: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-saudi-nuclear/u-s-approved-secret-nuclear-power-work-for-saudi-arabia-idUSKCN1R82MG
12   Al_Sharpton_for_President   2019 Mar 28, 3:51am  

Why the fuck does Kushner have any status at all in the administration?

Please register to comment:

api   best comments   contact   latest images   memes   one year ago   random   suggestions