[zonbron]

Een aanrader.

Worried About Russian Foreign Interference? Take a Look Into Saudi Arabia.

For decades, the D.C. establishment has been on the payroll of a foreign terror state. But because it’s Saudi Arabia, you won’t hear a peep.

<sub>Who Owns Trump?

The disparity between how Saudi Arabia and Russia appear in the public consciousness is perhaps best illustrated by Donald Trump. Trump is widely believed to be Vladimir Putin’s puppet, subverting the United States from within at the behest of his master in the Kremlin. Accusers point to his friendly rhetoric toward Putin, his many business interests in Russia, and, of course, the country’s alleged collusion with the Trump campaign.

Perhaps this will all turn out to be true. But if “Russia owns Trump,” Putin has received remarkably little return on his purchase.

Since Trump became president, his administration has widened sanctions against Russia; maintained its rhetorical and material support of Ukraine (and publicly mused about sending Ukraine weapons, a marked escalation from Obama’s policy); bombed Russia’s ally, Syria; shot down a Syrian warplane, which led to an escalating series of threats between the United States and Russia; and forcedstate-funded Russian news channel RT to register as a foreign agent, triggering retaliation from the Kremlin.

Trump’s special envoy tasked with ending the Ukrainian conflict saysUS-Russian relations are still at rock bottom. According to Dimitri Skorbutov, a former editor at the state-run Rossiya news agency, who has criticized the Russian state media’s pro-Trump coverage: “Russian authorities failed with their hopes that financial and media support will make Trump really Russian.”

Now compare this to Trump’s relationship with Saudi Arabia. On the campaign trail, Trump was a strident anti-Saudi critic. He complained about having to support Saudi Arabia militarily, gripedabout (and factually mangled) the story of the Saudi nationals who were flown out of the United States after September 11, accused the Saudis of bigotry and “funding hate,” and charged the “dopey” Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal with seeking “to control our U.S. politicians with daddy’s money.” “Can’t do it when I get elected,” he wrote.

He even brought up Saudi Arabia’s 9/11 connections. “Who blew up the World Trade Center? It wasn’t the Iraqis, it was Saudi — take a look at Saudi Arabia, open the documents,” he told Fox and Friendslast February.

Once president, however, Trump performed a neat U-turn. He chose the country he’d recently accused of carrying out the September 11 attacks to be the site of his first foreign trip as president, breaking from his five predecessors, who had all first traveled to either Canada or Mexico. Once there, he happily took part in a sword dance, touched a glowing orb, and bowed his head to receive a medal from the king, something he had mocked Obama for doing years before. He then lavished the country with praise in a major speech in Riyadh, violating his own insistence on using the term “radical Islam” lest he offend his hosts.

He dutifully (and ludicrously) kept Saudi Arabia off his already ludicrous travel ban, which is supposedly an anti-terrorism policy. When the Saudis and their allies told him Qatar funded terrorists, he eagerly and publicly backed their attempt to isolate the country, forcing the state department to put out yet another fire. He’s ramped up Obama’s policy of facilitating Saudi war crimes in Yemen and shows every sign of continuing to sell them billions of dollars worth of weapons. Most recently, he cheered on the crown prince’s consolidation of power.

And why should we be surprised? Trump has vast business interests in Saudi Arabia, including eight companies tied to hotel interests that he registered right after he announced his campaign. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates pledged a combined $100 million to his daughter’s fund for women entrepreneurs. The country owns the forty-fifth floor of Trump World Tower, and one of Trump’s appointees is even a registered agent for Saudi Arabia.

In other words, there is far more evidence that Trump is a Saudi puppet than a Russian one. But you won’t hear Democrats level this accusation. How can they, when they know any criticism of ties to Saudi Arabia would be tantamount to criticizing their own party’s foreign policy establishment?
Saudi-Gate

Something very fishy happened between the Trump campaign and Russia, and with any luck we’ll one day find out what exactly that something was. But it remains dumbfounding that the alleged Russian collusion is treated as an apocalyptic event while similar and far more insidious interference from Saudi Arabia over the course of decades is met with a collective shrug.

Over three decades, Saudi Arabia has successfully ingratiated itself at the highest levels of power in the United States. The Saudi ruling class has provided favor after favor to American officials, insinuated itself into the good graces of both high-ranking officials and reporters, and donated a steady stream of many millions of dollars to a bipartisan group of policymakers, including two of the country’s foremost political dynasties, receiving the backing of the United States in return.

It’s done all this while openly spreading fundamentalist ideology and assisting extremists in carrying out attacks on Americans, and in spite of the voting public’s distaste for the regime. And that’s without even mentioning its government’s and royal family’s involvement in September 11, or the Bush administration’s dubious attempts to shield it from scrutiny, neither of which have been subject to a full investigation.

Whatever transpired between Trump and Russia will remain secret for now, but Saudi Arabia’s meddling has long been out in the open.

This piece first appeared at Jacobin.</sub>

http://inthesetimes.com/article/2072...p-saudi-arabia