In a two-part analysis of the recent and ongoing revolutionary developments in Saudi Arabia instigated and executed by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MBS), Asia Times editor Uwe Parpart and roving correspondent Pepe Escobar recount the details and background of the recent MBS power grab and attempt to ascertain whether it will last. In a matter of days, MBS may ascend to the throne, leaving to his father, King Salman, the ceremonial role of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. The November 4/5 MBS power play was a prelude. What does it portend? Who masterminded it and drove it? Who will benefit? What does it mean for the world’s most volatile region? Below, part 1.…
In the good old days, the US merely paid too much for its supplies and equipment. No one hurt except the taxpayers.
Flash forward to the current never ending wars. Many military contractors have made a lot of money over our never ending wars.
But it’s not just the taxpayers that are losing. It looks like the money is getting so huge that we are killing Americans over the threat of being discovered.
Something is really wrong.…
The deep state “swamp” is still angry with us for ignoring their elite choices for the Presidency. Despite their best efforts, we’re still supporting Trump.
The swamp has declared war on us and the battle ground today is Judge Moore. Yet, we’re winning in spite of them. Strange is gone. Corker won’t be running. Flake won’t be running. We’re achieving success.
But they aren’t stopping their attacks. They are back to taking down Trump.
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North Korea has been turned into one of the hottest hot spots in the world.
It’s bad enough that we have no diplomatic relations with them. Amazingly enough, we don’t even have communications across the DMZ.
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Our allies, who were given M1 tanks and used them in wars, have decided to buy Russian T-90s.
Perhaps it was the pictures of the US TOW missile bouncing off the front of a T-90 in Syria.
Perhaps it was the complexity of the M1 and the difficulty Iraq has in keeping their M1 operational.
Perhaps it’s money. You can buy two T-90s for every M1 you buy…. And have $100,000 left over!
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I guess it’s nice that L’Oreal did something nice for female veterans.
I’ve always had a problem though with “hyphenated” anything. Women veterans is just another one.
Are veterans all veterans, or is there something special about be a white, black, Hispanic, Asian, male, female or anything else? Isn’t the idea of praising veterans to pay homage to their service to the country, not merely some characteristic that they have no control over?
Imagine if some group wanted to pay homage to white male veterans. Gun displays, four wheel drive trucks, hunting, fishing, you name it. They would be vilified across the country.
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Well, the Neos are getting as organized as George Soros. And they are hiding being the web.
One of them was PropOrNot, a group that insists on public anonymity, which issued a report identifying more than 200 websites that, in its view, wittingly or unwittingly published or echoed Russian propaganda
A number of those sites have objected to being included on PropOrNot’s list, and some of the sites, as well as others not on the list, have publicly challenged the group’s methodology and conclusions.
The Post wrote about them, (and did not name any of the sites,) does not itself vouch for the validity of PropOrNot’s findings regarding any individual media outlet. Since publication of The Post’s story, PropOrNot has removed some sites from its list.
I don’t know for sure, but this one smells. I’ve vetted and read a number of the sites and find them to be reliable.…
I’m a devout capitalist. I won’t deny it. I have no problem with people making lots of money. These three men named here are businessmen who took risks and got rich.
The current challenge in the world is with wealthy people using their wealth to achieve political change. It goes against the very American concept of one man one vote.
Politicians who act on bribes are the evil ones, not the folks who offer the bribes.
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The swamp is incredibly angry with us. We, the “unwashed” had the temerity to ignore their chosen candidates and elect Donald Trump.
Remember back in the early days of the primaries who got the majority of the money and support from the swamp? It was “common core” Jeb Bush of course. When that didn’t work, then it was “gang of 8” Marco Rubio. As it was all falling apart they were even willing to settle for “Goldman-Sachs” Ted Cruz. Anyone other than a representative of the masses.
Well, we beat the swamp. The swamp has been dedicated to punishing us ever since. Initially they wanted to show us that we’d made a mistake. The continuous attacks on President Trump were less over Trump himself, and more to show us that we voted for the wrong guy. In the beginning they were willing to take us back into the fold.
But we failed to fall for their ploys. The attacks on Trump didn’t make us stop supporting what Trump represented. We elected him to drain the swamp, and we wanted him to do it. We meant it.
The Alabama senate race to replace Jeff Sessions presented the swamp with its first big challenge. Luther Strange was appointed to fill the vacancy by Governor Robert Bentley. For those who don’t follow Alabama politics, Governor Bentley was under investigation in Alabama and was probably going to be impeached. Strange was the state’s Attorney General. In a refreshing moment, Bentley’s biggest offense was cheating on his wife. Strange met with Bentley and announced soon afterwards that the investigation was going to end. Strange got the appointment, and Bentley resigned.
Kay Ivey, the current governor was sworn into office upon Bentley’s resignation. Ivey, along with most Alabama folks saw the appointment of Strange to be, “strange”. In order to limit the damage that Strange might cause, she scheduled an early election to fill Sessions’ seat.
The first primary election had numerous candidates running. Congressman Mo Brooks appeared to be the strongest challenger to Strange. The swamp went viral. They spent many millions of dollars to defeat Brooks. The lies and attacks were some of the worst things seen in modern politics. It worked. Brooks dropped in the polls.
The swamp made their first strategic error in their anti-swamp efforts. They completely misread the amount of mistrust that existed towards Strange. They were stunned to see that Strange came in second to a candidate that wasn’t the most popular guy in Alabama. Heck, in Judge Moore’s last statewide race, he only won 52-48.
The second primary was even more ugly than the first one. $32 million was spent to get Strange elected. The swamp’s senatorial committee, the NRA, and the US Chamber of Commerce dumped lots of money to defeat Judge Moore. The NRA alone spent over $1 million in the last week of the race.
And then the anti-swamp folks, led by Steve Bannon weighed in on the election. He ably garnered the support of folks like us to vote against the swamp’s selection. And Judge Moore won.
As bad as this was for the swamp, the anti-swamp folks were energized. The anti-swamp realized that they could defeat the swamp creatures. Bob Corker and Jeff Flake decided not to run for reelection in light of bad polling numbers. Anti-swamp candidates were doing well in polls in other races.
The future of the swamp was under attack.
The swamp decided to stop this insurgency once and for all. So they developed their battle plans.
Their objectives were threefold:
1. Defeat Steve Bannon. Send the message that his influence doesn’t work.
2. Punish us. Send the message that our choices are flawed choices. We need to trust the elites in their choices.
3. Demoralize us. Who will be willing to run against the swamp if our lives are going to be destroyed in vicious attacks?
This was an incredible act of desperation. If it worked, the swamp would be saved for now. If it failed, the swamp would suffer major harm and possible destruction. We all need to realize that this isn’t about Moore. The candidate could be Mother Theresa. This is totally about the swamp versus the anti-swamp. The swamp made their second strategic error as they launched their attack. There is an old saying in war, “no battle plan survives contact with the enemy”. The swamp’s first attack was flawless. Great accusers, impossible to verify or deny and great psychological optics. Except it didn’t resonate with the Alabama voters.
They bet on the first attack working and didn’t have follow up actions developed. The follow on attacks were done on the fly and we’re seeing the results. Poorly planned, easy to refute accusers, and poor optics. Despite the “quality” of the first attacks, the poor follow on attacks the credibility of the initial attacks.
So, what do they do now? Just like in any other battle, you can’t just quit and ask for a do over. They are committed to continue the war until they win or lose. We will see more attacks.
The sex abuse attacks will continue, but in the absence of physical proof, they stand the risk of alienating the Alabama electorate. Too many allegations lend towards thinking they are all fake.
There will be attacks on Judge Moore’s religious foundation. They will have to be careful in these attacks. Alabama has a large religious population and this could back fire. Moore’s wife is very active in this foundation and attacks on a man’s wife won’t sell well in Alabama.
I anticipate attacks on financial issues. If possible, they will find IRS problems and other funding issues. Not sure what they can make up at this stage, but if possible they will. Again, just like the issues with attacking the religious foundation, they run the risk of alienating the cause.
The next three weeks will be interesting to watch. The swamp is in trouble and they know it. Desperation causes desperate acts.
The only good news is that investigations will eventually reveal who is behind this. These aren’t the acts of a single person. The swamp took a risk to save itself. When the truth comes out, it may only be a pyrrhic victory.
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I was going to save this for the Sunday humor section. Until I realized that this was a real story, published in a real newspaper.
They are telling us that if our society was following the teachings of Islam, there would be so sexual abuse of women!
Forgive my skepticism, but I never realized that societies that follow Islam are havens of nirvana for women. Can’t make this up, folks.
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