Saudi General Reportedly Tortured To Death After Refusing To Fork Over His Fortune

Rumors that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman has hired mercenaries to torture recalcitrant royals and officials sleeping in the ballroom of the Ritz Carlton in Riyadh have been circulating since shortly after last month’s “corruption crackdown” naked cash grab.

Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman

Now, Middle East Eye reports that one of MbS’s guests has reportedly died under torture rather than fork over his money and assets to his domineering relative. He was reportedly beaten and tortured so bad his family members had difficulty recognizing his body.

Major general Ali Alqahtani, who was detained in early November as part of an alleged anti-corruption drive, had been working in the royal guard forces.

 

He was the manager of the private office of Prince Turki Bin Abdullah, the son of former king Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz, according to the newspaper.

 

Alqahtani died on 12 December after being tortured with electric shocks, and his family struggled to recognise him after receiving his body, according to sources, the newspaper reported.

We know this might come as a shock to some – Tom Friedman and the New York Times said MbS was such a nice guy! But that doesn’t change the fact that he is effectively extorting members of his own family to help plug a gaping hole in the Saudi government’s budget, willfully employing violence when necessary in a fashion that would make Tony Soprano proud. Case in point: Yesterday, we noted that the Saudi government had reportedly made Prince Alwaleed bin Talal – one of the world’s richest men - an offer he cannot refuse: Either fork over $6 billion to the Treasury, or spend the rest of his life being strung upside down and tortured by foreign mercenaries.

Back when oil was at $100 and above, the Saudi economy was firing on all cylinders, and nobody even dreamed that the crown jewel of Saudi Arabia - Aramaco - would be on the IPO block. But official data released earlier this week showed the Saudi economy contracted this year for the first time in eight years. It’s estimated to have shrunk by 4% as thousands of state-subsidized jobs have disappeared.

But despite the contraction, the Saudis have announced a radically expansionary budget for 2018. The government is forecasting spending at 978 billion riyals ($260.8 billion), up 10% on 2017 estimates, as the royal family’s proxy war against Iran in Yemen enters its third year.

Even though oil prices are seemingly stuck at $50 a barrel, the Saudi government knows that its survival depends in part on placating the country’s citizens, who’ve grown accustomed to the trappings of a lavish welfare state.

This goes back to one of the reasons MbS has been able to get away with his crackdown: millions of regular Saudis have lauded MbS’s treatment of his fellow royals, seeing it as their long-overdue comeuppance.

Given that political opposition to the Crown Prince – who is expected to soon succeed his ailing father as king.

Paul Craig Roberts: "ISIS Is Defeated, The US Is Next In Line"

Authored by Paul Craig Roberts,

Is the US really a superpower or just the biggest collection of stupidity on the planet?

Washington has already lost the Syrian war once. Now it is about to lose it a second time.

A few days ago the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, declared a “complete victory” in Syria:

“Two hours ago, the (Russian) defense minister reported to me that the operations on the eastern and western banks of the Euphrates have been completed with the total rout of the terrorists.”

The Iranian commander of the forces which support the Syrian and Iraqi governments sent a note to the U.S. to let Washington know that any remaining U.S. forces in Syria will be fought down:

“The commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corp Brigadier General Haj Qassem Soleimani sent a verbal letter, via Russia, to the head of the US forces commander in Syria, advising him to pull out all US forces to the last soldier ‘or the doors of hell will open up."”

 

“My message to the US military command: when the battle against ISIS (the Islamic State group) will end, no American soldier will be tolerated in Syria. I advise you to leave by your own will or you will be forced to it.”

According to reports, Russia has confirmed that Iran will stay in Syria as long as Syrian President Assad, who insists on liberating all of Syria without exception for the Americans, decides. Washington’s plan to occupy a corner of Syria and revive ISIS is dead in the water, as will be all US troops sacrificed to this purpose.

According to reports, CIA director Mike Pompeo sent a letter to Soleimani expressing his concern about Iran’s intention to attack American interests, declaring Washington “will hold Soleimani and Iran accountable for any attack.”

According to reports the CIA’s letter had no effect and was treated with total contempt:

“Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, a senior aid to the Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei confirmed Pompeo’s attempt to send a letter but said  ‘Soleimani refused to read it or to take it because he has nothing further to add.’

 

Sources in the area believe it is not unlikely that Kurdish troops – operating in al-Hasakah and who are faithful to the government of Damascus – are willing to be spearheaded against the US forces. Many of these troops remained loyal to Syria: they reject any occupation forces on its land or the partition of the country.”

There are references to 1983 events where hundreds of US Marines and French paratroopers were killed following double suicide attacks by Islamists in Beirut. As a consequence of these attacks, the American forces left in a rush. The future could well mirror this past event.

Possibly this is fake news.

If not, we must accept that the humiliation that the United States, its government and its peoples have suffered is the work of the Neoconservatives and their doctrine of American World Hegemony. It is the Neoconservatives who caused the US to be at war with Muslims for 16 years. It is the Neoconservatives acting through Obama and Hillary who brought America to humiliating defeat in Syria.

There are only a handful of these neoconservatives. Why do Americans tolerate them?

Why doesn’t Trump have them arrested? They are anti-American, pro-Israel to the core. The Neoconservatives are the worst enemy of Americans and of all mankind.

It looks like the Russians have had enough of Washington’s arrogance.

Russian general Konashenkov, whose Su-35 chased away the inferior US F-22 that was attempting to interfere with a Russian attack on ISIS said that any claims made by US military officials concerning the fact that there is “any part of the airspace in Syria that belongs to the US” are “puzzling.”

 

 Konashenkov also said that “Syria is a sovereign state and a UN member and that means that there can be no US airspace ‘of its own.’ Unlike the Russian Air Force, the US-led coalition is operating in Syria without any legal basis.”

Will Washington realize that it has squandered its leadership in the Middle East and go home, or will Washington bring more humiliation upon America?

New Footage From Inside Riyadh Ritz-Carlton Reveals Princes Swapping Assets For Freedom

A BBC reporter and film crew has gained rare access inside Riyadh"s "gilded cage" - the Ritz-Carlton which became a luxury prison after a dozen or more princes were detained during the shocking events which began with Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman"s (MbS) internal purge on November 4th.

BBC"s tour was "facilitated" under highly controlled and coordinated conditions, as initial photographs and short cell phone videos produced during the first few days of the crackdown revealed harsher and more restricted conditions as princes and/or their staff were forced to sleep on the floor camp-style in the middle of the luxury hotel"s lobby.

According to the new BBC broadcast from inside the Ritz-Carlton, the princes are desperately scrambling to cut deals through their lawyers in order to secure release, this as new unconfirmed reports of torture have emerged:

When people were brought here around midnight on November 4th they were understandably angry. Some of them thought it would just be a show and it wouldn"t last. And then when they realized they were here to stay they were furious. Almost everyone here - 95% I was told - are willing to make a deal, to give back what are said to be substantial sums of money in order to get out of here.

The torture allegations began with an explosive Daily Mail report, which said mercenaries purportedly employed by Academi, a successor to infamous US security contractor Blackwater, have been stringing up some of MBS’s “guests” at the Riyadh Ritz Carlton by their feet and savagely beating them during interrogations. The claims have spread rapidly on Arabic-language social media, and even Lebanon’s president Michel Aoun has accused MbS of using mercenaries. Still, the Daily Mail isn"t the most reputable news organization, so these early torture reports should be taken with a grain of salt.

But what is certain is that the list of detained princes and businessmen, which has reportedly grown to multiple dozes, and which includes billionaires such as Alwaleed bin Talal and Mohammed Hussein al-Amoudi - the first and second wealthiest men in the country, respectively - constitutes the kingdom"s elite and internationally well-connected. As we"ve consistently reported this is not a "corruption purge" as its being sold to international media, but in reality a massive cash grab and shakedown.

As multiple reports confirm, the princes are frantic to swap assets for freedom, and royal accountants and lawyers are no doubt busy pouring through records while "separating cash from assets like property and shares, and looking at bank accounts to assess cash values."

Reuters further detailed specific arrangements based on victims" testimonies:

One businessman had tens of millions of Saudi riyals withdrawn from his account after he signed. In another case, a former senior official consented to hand over ownership of four billion riyals worth of shares, the source said.

 

The Saudi government earlier this week moved from freezing accounts to issuing instructions for “expropriation of unencumbered assets” or seizure of assets, said a second source familiar with the situation.

Though Western governments and media by and large continue towing the line of a healthy and necessary anti-graft crackdown underway, recent geopolitical tensions involving Lebanese PM Saad Hariri"s release and return to Lebanon, as well as the Saudi war on Yemen and threatening rhetoric directed at Iran clearly demonstrate the glaring falsehood of the official narrative which is limited to fairy tale notions of "the visionary reformer prince". 

And no less than the US Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, is aggressively promoting this line, who when asked last week about agreements to hand over wealth for detainees’ freedom, told CNBC: “I think that the Crown Prince (Mohammed bin Salman) is doing a great job at transforming the country.”

Meanwhile the Saudi internal arrests have caused economic turmoil in some unlikely places. Middle East Eye this week reported that the largely under-reported arrest of billionaire businessman "Sheikh" Mohammed Hussein al-Amoudi threatens to "disrupt the economy of an entire country" - Ethiopia, which lies over 1000 km away. Amoudi is an Ethiopian-Saudi dual citizen with an estimated net worth of about $11 billion according to a 2016 Forbes profile. 

Mohammed Hussein al-Amoudi, an Ethiopian-Saudi dual citizen and the kingdom"s second richest man. Image source: Twitter/@amggebre via Middle East Eye

According to Middle East Eye which bases its analysis on WikiLeaks diplomatic cables and other internal economic data:

"The Sheikh"s influence in the Ethiopian economy cannot be underestimated," according to a diplomatic cable from 2008 released by Wikileaks.

 

Nearly 10 years later, it"s hard to put a dollar figure on Amoudi"s total investments in Ethiopia, one of the world"s poorest countries, yet one of the fastest growing in Africa.

 

His PR team does not comment on external figures and cautions against third party figures. One analyst put a $3.4bn value on his investments – or 4.7 percent of Ethiopia"s current GDP.

The report characterizes the general atmosphere among Ethiopia"s media and political punditry as hysterical and in "freak out" mode over Amoudi"s detention and the potential seizure of the bulk of his assets:

Another said his companies employ about 100,000 people which would account for 14 percent of Ethiopia"s small private sector, according to country"s latest Labor Force Survey conducted in 2013. However, World Bank analysts cautioned that these figures will have increased significantly over the past four years as the sector has grown... 

 

"They are just freaking out left and right," said Henok Gabisa, a visiting academic fellow at Washington and Lee University in Virginia who researches Ethiopia.

It will be interesting to see if any level of similar negative economic fallout resulting from the seizure of royal investments and assets could have lasting impact on American and other Western companies or allies. Perhaps only at that point would officials like Mnuchin change their tunes.

Israel Gives Official Confirmation Of Covert Ties With Saudi Arabia

Yet more confirmation emerged today regarding the recently established relationship between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which is being defined by a shared desire to see Iranian influence and expansion rolled back in the Middle East. For the first time a high level Israeli government official has formally acknowledged the increased ties between the two countries which have historically been bitter enemies, and which have never had official diplomatic relations. 

The historic news, which is worrisome for the fact that it could bring the region closer to major war as the newfound "allies" eye the Iranian proxy Hezbollah, follows the leak of an Israeli diplomatic cable sent to all Israeli embassies throughout the world which revealed Israeli and Saudi behind the scenes coordination. The cable gave instructions to Israeli diplomats to express support for the Saudi war against Shia forces in Yemen and also urged embassies to aggressively lobby their host governments to take steps toward pushing Hezbollah out of Lebanon.

And today the Times of Israel reports the following Reuters story under the bombshell headline, Israel Has Secret Contacts With Saudi Arabia, Senior Minister Reveals:

Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said on Sunday that Israel has had covert contacts with Saudi Arabia amid common concerns over Iran, a first disclosure by a senior Israeli official of such contacts. In an interview on Army Radio, Steinitz was asked why Israel was hiding its ties with Saudi Arabia, which does not have diplomatic ties with Israel.

And in response Steinitz replied in the affirmative, explaining that:

"We have ties that are indeed partly covert with many Muslim and Arab countries, and usually (we are) the party that is not ashamed. It’s the other side that is interested in keeping the ties quiet. With us, usually, there is no problem, but we respect the other side’s wish, when ties are developing, whether it’s with Saudi Arabia or with other Arab countries or other Muslim countries, and there is much more ... (but) we keep it secret.”

The official confirmation follows closely on the heels of an unprecedented interview that Israel Defense Force (IDF) chief-of-staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot gave to a prominent Saudi newspaper last Thursday in which he said that, "Israel is ready to share intelligence with Riyadh on their shared arch-foe Iran." Eizenkot explained further, according to Tel Aviv based i24NEWS, that "Israel and Riyadh - which he noted have never fought one another - are in complete agreement about Iran"s intentions to dominate the Middle East."

In early September we broke the story that no less than Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MBS) may have been among a Saudi delegation which secretly visited Israel at the time. This was based on an Israeli state funded radio broadcast (Kol Yisrael), which made cryptic reference to the "secret" visit while withholding names and specifics. "An emir of the Saudi royal court visited the country secretly in recent days and discussed with senior Israeli officials the idea of advancing regional peace," the station reported. 

As knowledge of the Saudi-Israeli ties are becoming public knowledge, this could certainly result in embarrassment for both countries, especially on the Saudi domestic front. As the Israeli Energy Minister said today, "It’s the other side that is interested in keeping the ties quiet."

Could news of official ties with the Jewish state be recipe for more internal unrest to come in Saudi Arabia? No doubt, the kingdom"s radical Wahhabi religious establishment will have much to say on the issue. This is perhaps why MBS has reportedly continued his unrelenting and broadening crackdown.

"Thank Goodness The Stock Market Only Goes Up..."

Authored by James Howard Kunstler via Kunstler.com,

It must be exciting to wake up on a gilded bed somewhere in Riyadh and realize that you are Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, mover and shaker of Middle East order. Actually, exciting just to have woken up at all.

Perhaps Prince MBS checks to make sure that there aren’t seventy-two virgins in the room before he rises to prayers, state business, and the prospect of World War Three.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has been a giant gasoline bomb waiting to explode for decades. It occupies one of the geographically least hospitable corners of the earth. Its existence as a modern (cough cough) state relies strictly on the reserves of oil discovered as recently as the late 1930s, that is, within the lifetime of people still reading this blog. The oil supply is in steep decline, and so, of course, is the stability of the kingdom.

Politically, it’s a super-medieval operation, an absolute monarchy tied to a severe religious order with the law floating precariously between the two, and old-fashioned customs such as the public beheading of criminals (for misdeeds such as “adultery,” “atheism,” and “sorcery”). The Saud clan has controlled the throne all these years, and its grip on power is slipping as the country itself slips into the prospective next era of its history, minus the endless gusher of oil that has made its existence possible - hence, a true existential crisis without the usual pseudo-intellectual bullshit.

How are they going to support the thirty or forty million people who will still be there when the oil exports dribble down? Most of the work done in the country is performed by foreign “guests.” The indigenous folk don’t even remember how to milk a camel, let alone run routine maintenance on a desalinization plant. (And what are you going to run the de-sal plant on when the oil runs down?) These are questions that must drive thoughtful Saudi royalty mad.

Hence, the Kingdom is going mad. The current king, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, is the latest in a line of geriatric monarchs. His brother and predecessor, Abdullah, spent his last years in a limbo of medical life-support (virgins standing by), and Salman is reputed to be dotty. Crown Prince MBS has assumed more of the king’s duties by necessity, but the land is filled with thousands of other princes, many of them frustrated, angry, and jealous of the Crown Prince’s prerogatives.

One can only imagine the clouds of intrigue wafting through the ornate corridors of wealth and power. Crown Prince MBS is lately out to deprive his many royal rivals of those two critical assets, and a couple of said rival princes - Abdul Aziz bin Fahd and Mansour bin Muqrin - were offed altogether (gunfight, helicopter crash) two weeks back. A score of non-royal public officials and business poobahs have also been arrested, including top ministers (Finance, Economy & Planning), the former CEO of the national airline, and a brother of Osama bin Laden, whose family ran the country’s biggest construction company.

It really amounts to a nascent civil war and it comes around at exactly the moment that the Kingdom’s arch-enemy, Iran, is feeling comfortably aggressive. Iran, formerly known as Persia, is a much sturdier old polity that has been around long before there was much ado about oil. They were fighting the ancient Greeks and Romans back in the day, and won a few rounds. But, of course, Iran has a good deal of oil, too. And having pissed off the Americans not so long ago by overrunning the US embassy and all, our country has been striving to punish them ever since — especially making it difficult for them to sell oil to our “friends” in Europe. As it happens, there are plenty of customers elsewhere for Iran’s oil — and, yes, they will eventually face their own depletion problems, but they do have the world’s largest untapped reserve stash next door in Iraq, which they are steadily and increasingly coming to control. And they do have that millennium-and-a-half beef with Arabia’s Sunni branch of Islam headquartered in KSA.

Crown Prince MBS may see war as a unifying theme for his domestic difficulties. He has a fifty-plus years’ stock of American war toys that have hardly been used - except for turning neighboring Yemen into a landfill. The USA has been KSA’s staunch ally all these years, and MBS has every reason to believe we have his back, as Iran probably believes Russia has its back. And then there is Israel in the background with its nuclear-armed subs… Israel, which actually took seriously Iran’s declaration a few years ago to wipe it off the face of the earth - and which now much of the world castigates Israel for so doing.

And in the middle of all this, poor, feckless, Hezbollah-haunted Lebanon, and the boneyard formerly known as Syria. The region is seriously coming apart. Someone is going to make a dangerous misstep.

The Golden Golem of Greatness has been off far away sampling General Tsao’s chicken and Singapore noodles.

And this country is completely preoccupied with Sex Among the Stars. Thank goodness the stock market only goes up.

The Saudi Purge: The Middle-East Is On The Verge Of A New War

Via SouthFront.org,

Saudi Arabia is going through a major internal political crisis the likes of which has rarely been seen.

A missile gets fired on the Saudi capital. A missile, which was allegedly built in Iran and smuggled to Yemen, just to be fired at Saudi Arabia.

According to initial reports, two Saudi princes died back to back in 24 hours: one in an “accidental” helicopter crash, the other during a firefight that broke out while security forces were trying to arrest him. On November 7, Saudi Arabia’s information ministry spokesman said that “Prince Abdulaziz is alive and well”. However, the prince could not be independently reached for comment by the media.

Other high-ranking members of the establishment and the royal family - the two tend to be one and the same in Saudi Arabia - get arrested on charges of corruption, with their bank accounts frozen.

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri unexpectedly resigns after he was summoned to Riyadh by his Saudi-backers.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia accused Iran of conducting acts of “direct military aggression” and accused Lebanon of “declaring war” on Riyadh by allowing Hezbollah “aggression” against the kingdom.

All this happened in a span of just a few days.

With ever-growing security challenges and problems at the regional level, the crisis that took hold of Saudi Arabia does not seem to be slowing down.

One contributing factor to the ongoing crisis is a major split in the Saudi royal family: the power struggle that resulted in the former crown prince being deposed and replaced with a new one, a move that shook things up quite a bit inside the country. The echo of this can be seen in the current “anti-corruption” persecution, enforced by the current Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.

Outside the country, several key foreign policy projects failed: the effectiveness of the Yemen intervention can be judged by the fact that it resulted in a missile being fired at Riyadh. Bashar al-Assad is still in power in Syria. The attempts to scare Qatar into submission backfired, as Qatar has been getting more and more friendly with Russia, Turkey and Iran.

Iran is gaining more and more influence in the region, while the Saudis seem to be losing it, hence they are trying to compensate for their losses by participating in proxy wars elsewhere.

The Saudis also tried to flex their diplomatic muscle. King Salman even visited Moscow, where the two sides exchanged promises with no guarantees that these will ever be fulfilled. This also backfired, as some considered it a demonstration of weakness or an attempt to make peace by making concessions.

Add economic struggles to this series of failures, and one can see why the King’s and his Crown Prince’s position seem less and less stable by the minute. The situation apparently seemed so dire, that in order to keep everything afloat active persecution seemed the only possible way to keep the King and his successor in power. The “anti-corruption” campaign is just an excuse: the corruption has always been high in Saudi Arabia, and no one batted an eye before now.

These are temporary measures.

Persecution can hardly solve foreign and internal matters, and it will not lead to a solution of the problems. Right now, the kingdom’s leadership is desperately in need of an enemy to unite the population and draw their attention away from the chaotic events that unfolding in the country.

A warlike rhetoric against Iran, Lebanon and Hezbollah are a clear sign of this. While Iran is a potent regional power in military and diplomatic terms, Hezbollah is a non-state actor. So, Riyadh may choose the group as an enemy for its risky foreign policy undertaking. Saudi Arabia and Israel are obvious allies in their will to destroy Hezbollah. On November 5, Tel Aviv started the largest-ever aerial exercise in the history of Israel. A leaked diplomatic cable confirmed that the Saudis and Israelis are coordinating their efforts against Iran and Hezbollah thus escalating the already tense situation in the Middle East.

The region may be heading for another large-scale military conflict.

Pepe Escobar: The Inside Story Of The Saudi Night Of The Long Knives

Authored by Pepe Escobar via The Asia Times,

Princes, ministers and a billionaire are "imprisoned" in the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton while the Saudi Arabian Army is said to be in an uproar...

The House of Saud’s King Salman devises a high-powered “anti-corruption” commission and appoints his son, Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, a.k.a. MBS, as chairman.

Right on cue, the commission detains 11 House of Saud princes, four current ministers and dozens of former princes/cabinet secretaries – all charged with corruption. Hefty bank accounts are frozen, private jets are grounded. The high-profile accused lot is “jailed” at the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton.

War breaks out within the House of Saud, as Asia Times had anticipated back in July. Rumors have been swirling for months about a coup against MBS in the making. Instead, what just happened is yet another MBS pre-emptive coup.

A top Middle East business/investment source who has been doing deals for decades with the opaque House of Saud offers much-needed perspective:

“This is more serious than it appears. The arrest of the two sons of previous King Abdullah, Princes Miteb and Turki, was a fatal mistake. This now endangers the King himself. It was only the regard for the King that protected MBS. There are many left in the army against MBS and they are enraged at the arrest of their commanders.”

To say the Saudi Arabian Army is in uproar is an understatement.

 “He’d have to arrest the whole army before he could feel secure.”

Prince Miteb until recently was a serious contender to the Saudi throne. But the highest profile among the detainees belongs to billionaire Prince al-Waleed Bin Talal, owner of Kingdom Holdings, major shareholder in Twitter, CitiBank, Four Seasons, Lyft and, until recently, Rupert Murdoch’s Newscorp.

Al-Waleed’s arrest ties up with a key angle; total information control. There’s no freedom of information in Saudi Arabia. MBS already controls all the internal media (as well as the appointment of governorships). But then there’s Saudi media at large. MBS aims to “hold the keys to all the large media empires and relocate them to Saudi Arabia.”

So how did we get here?

The secrets behind the purge

The story starts with secret deliberations in 2014 about a possible “removal” of then King Abdullah. But “the dissolution of the royal family would lead to the breaking apart of tribal loyalties and the country splitting into three parts. It would be more difficult to secure the oil, and the broken institutions whatever they were should be maintained to avoid chaos.”

Instead, a decision was reached to get rid of Prince Bandar bin Sultan – then actively coddling Salafi-jihadis in Syria – and replace the control of the security apparatus with Mohammed bin Nayef.

The succession of Abdullah proceeded smoothly. Power was shared between three main clans: King Salman (and his beloved son Prince Mohammed); the son of Prince Nayef (the other Prince Mohammed), and finally the son of the dead king (Prince Miteb, commander of the National Guard). In practice, Salman let MBS run the show.

And, in practice, blunders also followed. The House of Saud lost its lethal regime-change drive in Syria and is bogged down in an unwinnable war on Yemen, which on top of it prevents MBS from exploiting the Empty Quarter – the desert straddling both nations.

The Saudi Treasury was forced to borrow on the international markets. Austerity ruled – with news of MBS buying a yacht for almost half a billion dollars while lazing about the Cote d’Azur not going down particularly well. Hardcore political repression is epitomized by the decapitation of Shi’ite leader Sheikh Al-Nimr. Not only the Shi’ites in the Eastern province are rebelling but also Sunni provinces in the west.

As the regime’s popularity radically tumbled down, MBS came up with Vision 2030. Theoretically, it was shift away from oil; selling off part of Aramco; and an attempt to bring in new industries. Cooling off dissatisfaction was covered by royal payoffs to key princes to stay loyal and retroactive payments on back wages to the unruly masses.

Yet Vision 2030 cannot possibly work when the majority of productive jobs in Saudi Arabia are held by expats. Bringing in new jobs raises the question of where are the new (skilled) workers to come from.

Throughout these developments, aversion to MBS never ceased to grow; “There are three major royal family groups aligning against the present rulers: the family of former King Abdullah, the family of former King Fahd, and the family of former Crown Prince Nayef.”

Nayef – who replaced Bandar – is close to Washington and extremely popular in Langley due to his counter-terrorism activities. His arrest earlier this year angered the CIA and quite a few factions of the House of Saud – as it was interpreted as MBS forcing his hand in the power struggle.

According to the source, “he might have gotten away with the arrest of CIA favorite Mohammed bin Nayef if he smoothed it over but MBS has now crossed the Rubicon though he is no Caesar. The CIA regards him as totally worthless.”

Some sort of stability could eventually be found in a return to the previous power sharing between the Sudairis (without MBS) and the Chamars (the tribe of deceased King Abdullah). After the death of King Salman, the source would see it as “MBS isolated from power, which would be entrusted to the other Prince Mohammed (the son of Nayef). And Prince Miteb would conserve his position.”

MBS acted exactly to prevent this outcome. The source, though, is adamant; “There will be regime change in the near future, and the only reason that it has not happened already is because the old King is liked among his family. It is possible that there may be a struggle emanating from the military as during the days of King Farouk, and we may have a ruler arise that is not friendly to the United States.”

‘Moderate’ Salafi-jihadis, anyone?

Before the purge, the House of Saud’s incessant spin centered on a $500 billion zone straddling Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, on the Red Sea coast, a sort of Dubai replica to be theoretically completed by 2025, powered by wind and solar energy, and financed by its sovereign wealth fund and proceeds from the Aramco IPO.

In parallel, MBS pulled another rabbit from his hat swearing the future of Saudi Arabia is a matter of “simply reverting to what we followed – a moderate Islam open to the world and all religions.”

In a nutshell: a state that happens to be the private property of a royal family inimical to all principles of freedom of expression and religion, as well as the ideological matrix of all forms of Salafi-jihadism simply cannot metastasize into a “moderate” state just because MBS says so.

Meanwhile, a pile-up of purges, coups and countercoups shall be the norm.

Saudi Wealth Fund Aims To Double AUM To $400 Billion By 2020 - Discovers Leverage Boosts Returns

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, a key engine of the kingdom’s plan to diversify the economy, on Wednesday laid out new targets for growth, saying it aims to nearly double the value of assets it manages to around $400 billion by 2020. That sum includes the expected proceeds from the planned initial public offering of up to 5% of state-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco. The listing, slated for next year, could raise as much as $100 billion, Saudi officials have said. The Saudi fund, called the Public Investment Fund or PIF, held assets worth roughly $224 billion as of September, it said in a document released on Wednesday. It had previously struggled to calculate the value of its holdings, estimating them to be between $200 billion and $300 billion. The PIF has made a series of high-profile investments and announcements since Saudi Arabia unveiled its long-term plan for economic overhaul last year. It has invested $3.5 billion in Uber Technologies Inc., and committed $45 billion to a technology fund led by SoftBank Group Corp.

The PIF’s announcement highlighted its aim of raising the fund’s annual returns.

“The Program also encompasses efforts to maximize value in PIF’s existing assets, which make up the majority of the Fund’s holdings, and a new target to increase PIF’s Total Shareholder Returns (TSR) up from 3 percent to between 4 to 5 percent.”

While our calculation suggests that they’ll need at least 5% to reach $400bn by 2020, Reuters reports that the PIF is even more optimistic about the “long-term”, aiming for 6.5-9.0% - all-time highs in equities and all-time lows in bond yields notwithstanding.

How will it do this?

As Reuters reported from the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, it will invest in almost every asset class (apart from gold and cryptos it seems) and – this might be important - add leverage to juice its performance.

“The 96-page program said PIF will structure its investments in six areas: Saudi equity holdings, sector development, real estate and infrastructure, mega projects, international strategic investments and a “diversified pool” across global asset classes….

 

Outside of Saudi Arabia, PIF’s investments will be in a number of assets such as fixed-income, public equity, private equity and debt, real estate, infrastructure and alternative investments such as hedge funds, the fund said…

 

It also outlined its four major sources of funding to include capital injections from the government, government asset transfers, loans and debt instruments as well as retained earnings from investments.

The PIF’s managing director, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, explained to Bloomberg how it discovered collateralized lending.

“If you look at investments we have today, it’s basically all equity -- we need to look at leverage,” Al-Rumayyan said at the event Tuesday.

 

“If we’re in one project, we can use the underlying project as the base for the leverage with no recourse to the rest of the portfolio.”

It"s not just about returns, however. The PIF’s press release estimated that its program will lead to the creation of nearly 300,000 new jobs.

The Public Investment Fund (PIF) Program (2018-2020) has today been launched as part of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 Vision Realization Programs (VRP)…

 

The four key objectives underpinning the Program include growing and maximizing PIF assets; launching new sectors; localizing advanced technologies and knowledge; and building strategic economic partnerships…

 

The PIF Program, which is underpinned by 30 separate initiatives, will see the Fund’s AUM increase to SAR 1.5 trillion (over $400 billion) by 2020, creating 20,000 direct domestic jobs, more than half of which are high-skilled roles, and 256,000 construction jobs, which will increase PIF’s contribution to real GDP from 4.4 percent to 6.3 percent

For anyone who’s a tad skeptical about any of this, there were soothing words from “MBS” in the PIF’s press release. HRH Prince Mohammad bin Salman Al-Saud, said:

“The PIF Program represents a vital milestone as we work towards realizing Vision 2030. As well as being recognized for being well-capitalized, the Fund also wants to be known as being well-run, transparent and well-governed, and the PIF Program will ensure this ambition is delivered."

Can Trump Drive A Wedge Between Saudi-Russian Alliance?

Authored by Zainab Calcuttawala via OilPrice.com,

Together, Russia and Saudi Arabia produce a fourth of the world’s oil. The laws of competitive international commodity trading have pit the two petrostates on opposite poles of the U.S.-Russia geopolitical rivalry. But a new era of American oil exports and ailing national budgets is pulling Moscow and Riyadh together in trying financial times.

President Barack Obama’s administration maintained a cold distance from Saudi Arabia in its final years. As the United States and its European allies began a war against the Islamic State in 2014, Saudi Arabia focused its military might on Yemen—a country on the Arabian Peninsula facing the brutal consequences of an extended Arab Spring. Iranian arms and funding reached the pockets of the Shiite Houthi rebels, who hoped to build a new regime in Yemen, to the chagrin of Wahabbi Saudi Arabia. 

President Donald Trump’s White House has extended an olive branch towards Riyadh as the new State Department lays out its foreign policy agenda.

But this new diplomatic program runs contrary to the KSA’s economic goals. American oil exports, reinstated back in December 2015, counter the effects of OPEC’s landmark agreement to lower bloc-wide output by 1.2 million barrels per day in an effort to alleviate an international supply glut.

As a major oil exporter, Russia was invited to participate in the agreement when it was being discussed back in 2016. American exports were still limited to specific destinations back then, and U.S.-based companies had only just begun to secure supply contracts in Asian and European markets. Any threat to the success of the deal from the other side of the Atlantic seemed far-fetched just a year ago. 

But the tables have turned.

Washington doesn’t rely on oil profits to run its nation. Moscow and Riyadh do—and heavily so. A boost in active rigs in the Permian basin, as well as other areas in the north of the country, has put shale oil and gas in the center of Russo-American geopolitics. As Moscow approves an extension of its 300,000-bpd output drop commitment with OPEC, the U.S. department of energy eyes new markets for American fossil fuels. Energy Secretary Rick Perry made his rounds to Japan in May to open the world’s largest liquified natural gas (LNG) consumer’s doors to U.S.-drilled supplies. The carbon-light fuel is considered a gateway energy source for developed countries as grid systems shift to renewable and alternative power options.

In Europe, American infringement of Russian dominance in gas markets is even clearer. The European Union has faced off against Moscow regarding the Crimea annexation and the Syrian revolution in recent years, but Russian control over Europe’s energy supplies undermined the continent’s geopolitical leverage. 

This new landscape puts Saudi Arabian interests in line with those of Russia. Both mega producers need to contain the growth of the outbound American fossil fuel industry, but the Iran issue remains a key point of contention between Riyadh and Moscow. The KSA is neck-deep in a showdown against Qatar for its involvement with Tehran on the South Pars gas field. New Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s assertive stance locks the country in an irreconcilable rivalry with Iran. In contrast, Moscow stood by Iran through the latter’s experience as an international global pariah.

So far, President Trump has announced Iran’s official decertification from the nuclear deal, which doesn’t dismantle the deal completely, but provides the Republican Congress a route to sanctions it didn’t have before. The White House also approved new sanctions against the country’s Revolutionary Guard last week. These new developments are bound to bring back the Tehran and Moscow alliance in full force, potentially alienating the KSA in its anti-Iran stride.

The exact dynamics of the Moscow-Riyadh axis are still being forged in OPEC meetings around the world. Time will tell whether Saudi wants this new ally badly enough to reduce its belligerence against Iran, if that’s what the future of the relationship comes to.

OPEC To Take Drastic Action Despite Shale Slowdown

Authored by Nick Cunningham via OilPrice.com,

WTI recently dipped below $50 per barrel for the first time in a month, erasing the strong September rally. It’s no coincidence that after two weeks of price declines, OPEC has tried to talk up the oil market again, hinting that more drastic action could be forthcoming.

Echoing the world’s top central bankers, OPEC’s Secretary General said that the oil cartel might need to take “extraordinary” measures to balance the oil market next year. “There is a growing consensus that, number one, the re-balancing process is underway,” OPEC’s Mohammad Barkindo told reporters on Sunday in New Delhi. “Number two, to sustain this into next year, some extraordinary measures may have to be taken in order to restore this stability on a sustainable basis going forward.”

As always, OPEC is vague on the specifics, but the working assumption is that the group will agree to an extension of the cuts until at least mid-2018, or perhaps even as late as through the end of the year. There’s been some discussion about deeper production cuts, but there aren’t a ton of analysts who see OPEC going that far, despite Barkindo’s cryptic language.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia engaged in a bit of its own psy-ops with the oil market on Monday, saying that it was taking “unprecedented” steps to cut its oil exports. Saudi Aramco said it would lower exports by 560,000 bpd next month, “the deepest customer allocation cuts in its history.”

The comments are consistent with the country’s longstanding pattern of trying to jawbone the market when it wants higher prices. Based on Monday’s activity, the effort didn’t work.

“The fact that we did not get any significant strength from the Saudi news is rather disheartening for the bulls,” Stephen Schork, an analyst and author of the Schork Report, told the WSJ. “The market is very skeptical of this.”

Of course, real cuts to oil exports will be felt if they are carried out, but after a few years of getting jerked around by every utterance from OPEC, the markets want to see proof in the pudding. Aggressive rhetoric no longer moves the market the way it did a year ago, so we’ll have to just wait and see what OPEC does at its November meeting.

“With rising production levels and no definitive word from OPEC and the Russians that they are going to extend the cut or deepen it, the rally seems to have lost its momentum,” Gene McGillian, a market research manager at Tradition Energy, said in a Bloomberg interview.

That reaction seemed to be widespread on Monday. “I think that without the support of products and Brent, the market may get dragged lower in the near term as it’s apparent that the market doesn’t care much about OPEC already jawboning about an extension of the deal,” Scott Shelton, a broker at ICAP, told Reuters.

The ironic thing is that while OPEC ponders more drastic action, there are signs that U.S. shale is actually not doing as well as everyone thought it would be at this point. Production is up, but signs of strain are showing. The rig count fell last week, after weeks of unimpressive gains. The slowdown suggests the industry is becoming more cautious, particularly with oil prices running out of steam.

In fact, some cracks are becoming visible in the Permian basin, often cited as the most attractive shale basin in the U.S. Costs are on the rise and some drillers are running into production problems. Production is up, but profits are scarce.

That could lead to a wholesale rethink for the industry - the days of explosive growth in the shale patch could be coming to an end. A growing number of investors are demanding that E&Ps slow down and focus on profitability, which will likely come at the expense of the industry’s blistering growth rate.

OPEC has yet to enjoy the fruit of this potential receding tide of shale drilling - oil looks softer than it did a few weeks ago and hedge funds and other money managers have pared back their bullish bets lately, a harbinger of more cautious sentiment.  

But while OPEC is nervous about near-term oil prices, and is planning “extraordinary measures,” they can at least take comfort in the fact that the shale bonanza is moderating.

Is This The Geopolitical Shift Of The Century?

Authored by Cyril Widdershoven via OilPrice.com,

The geopolitical reality in the Middle East is changing dramatically.

The impact of the Arab Spring, the retraction of the U.S. military, and diminishing economic influence on the Arab world - as displayed during the Obama Administration - are facts.

The emergence of a Russian-Iranian-Turkish triangle is the new reality. The Western hegemony in the MENA region has ended, and not in a shy way, but with a long list of military conflicts and destabilization.

The first visit of a Saudi king to Russia shows the growing power of Russia in the Middle East. It also shows that not only Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, but also Egypt and Libya, are more likely to consider Moscow as a strategic ally.

King Salman’s visit to Moscow could herald not only several multibillion business deals, but could be the first real step towards a new regional geopolitical and military alliance between OPEC leader Saudi Arabia and Russia.

This cooperation will not only have severe consequences for Western interests but also could partly undermine or reshape the position of OPEC at the same time.

Russian president Vladimir Putin is currently hosting a large Saudi delegation, led by King Salman and supported by Saudi minister of energy Khalid Al Falih.

Moscow’s open attitude to Saudi Arabia—a lifetime Washington ally and strong opponent of the growing Iran power projections in the Arab world—show that Putin understands the current pivotal changes in the Middle East.

U.S. allies Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and even the UAE, have shown an increased eagerness to develop military and economic relations with Moscow, even if this means dealing with a global power currently supporting their archenemy Iran. Analysts wonder where the current visit of King Salman will really lead to, but all signs are on green for a straightforward Arab-Saudi support for a bigger Russian role in the region, and more in-depth cooperation in oil and gas markets.

In stark contrast to the difficult relationship of the West with the Arab world, Moscow seems to be playing the regional power game at a higher level. It can become an ally or friend to regional adversaries, such as Iran, Turkey, Egypt and now Saudi Arabia. Arab regimes are also willing to discuss cooperation with Russia, even though the country is supporting adversaries in the Syrian and Yemen conflicts and continues to supply arms to the Shi’a regime in Iran.

Investors can expect Russia and Saudi Arabia to sign a multitude of business deals, some of which have already been presented. Moscow and Riyadh will also discuss the still fledgling oil and gas markets, as both nations still heavily depend on hydrocarbon revenues. Arab analysts expect both sides to choose a bilateral strategy to keep oil prices from falling lower. Riyadh and Moscow have the same end goal: a stable oil and gas market, in which demand and supply keep each other in check to push price levels up, but without leaving enough breathing space for new market entrants such as U.S. shale.

Putin and Salman will also discuss the security situation in the Middle East, especially the ongoing Syrian civil war, Iran’s emerging power, and the Libya situation. Until now, the two have supported opposite sides, but Riyadh has realized that its ultimate goal, the removal of Syrian president Assad, is out of reach. To prevent a full-scale Shi’a triangle (Iran-Iraq-Syria-Lebanon), other options are now being sought to quell Tehran’s power surge. Moscow is key in this.

Putin’s unconditional support of the Iranian military onslaught in Iraq and Syria, combined with its support for Hezbollah in Lebanon or Houthis in Yemen, will be discussed and maybe tweaked to give Riyadh room to maneuver into the Russian influence sphere. The verdict on this isn’t yet out, but Riyadh’s move must be seen in light of ongoing Moscow discussions with Egypt, Libya, Jordan and the UAE.

A growing positive Putin vibe in the Arab world is now clear. The strong leadership of Russia’s new Tsar has become a main point of interest for the (former pro-Western) Arab regimes. The U.S. and its European allies have only shown a diffuse political-military approach to the threats in the MENA region, while even destabilizing historically pro-Western Arab royalties and presidents. Putin’s friendship, however, is being presented as unconditional and long lasting.

Even though geopolitics and military operations in the Middle East now are making up most headlines, the Saudi-Russian rapprochement will also have economic consequences. Riyadh’s leadership of OPEC is still undisputed, as it has shown over the last several years. Saudi Arabia’s eagerness to counter the free-fall of oil prices has been successful, but a much bigger effort is required to bring prices back to a level of between $60-75 per barrel. Russia’s role—as the largest of non-OPEC producers—has been substantial, bringing in not only several emerging producers, but also by putting pressure on its allies Iran, Venezuela and Algeria.

The historically important Moscow-Riyadh cooperation in oil and gas is unprecedented. Without Russia’s support, overall compliance to the OPEC production cut agreement would have been very low, leading to even lower oil prices.

The Saudi-Russian rapprochement could, however, be seen as a threat by the West and OPEC itself. Western influence in the region has waned since the end of the 1990s, not only due to the peace dividend of NATO, but especially because OECD countries are moving away from oil. Saudi Arabia had to find new markets, which happened with China and India. The Saudi future is no longer based on Western customers or support, but lies in Asia and other emerging regions. The FSU region has also popped up on Saudi screens. Investment opportunities, combined with geopolitical support and military interests, are readily available in Russia and its satellite states.

For OPEC, the Moscow-Riyadh love affair could also mean a threat. Throughout OPEC’s history, Riyadh has been the main power broker in the oil cartel, pushing forward price and production strategies; most of the time this was done in close cooperation with all the other members, most of them Arab allies. This changed dramatically after Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed to cooperate in global oil markets. Through the emergence of this OPEC/ non-OPEC cooperation, Moscow and Riyadh have grown closer than expected. The two countries now decide the future of global oil markets before they discuss it with some of the other main players like UAE, Iran, Algeria and Nigeria. King Salman’s visit is seen as another step toward a more in-depth cooperation in oil and gas related issues.

Besides global oil market cooperation, Saudi Arabia is and will become more interested to invest in natural gas development, not only to have an interest in Russia’s gas future but also to bring in Russian technology, investment and LNG to the Kingdom. 

At the same time, media sources are stating that Saudi Arabia is NOT asking Russia to take part in the long-awaited Aramco IPO in 2018. Russian individual investors and financial institutions, however, are expected to take an interest.

Putin understands not only Russian chess tactics but also the Arab “Tawila” approach. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman already will prepare his Tawila strategy, putting enough stones on the table to ensure his successful end game. MBS, currently de-facto ruler of the Kingdom, is targeting a full house—Russian cooperation in energy, defense and investments—while softening Moscow’s 100% percent support of the Shi’a archenemy Iran.

For both sides, Moscow and Riyadh, the current constellation presents a win-win situation. Moscow can reach its ultimate goal in the Middle East: to become the main power broker and knock the US from the pedestal. For Riyadh, the option to counter the Iranian threat, while also bolstering its own economy and hydrocarbon future, is now within reach.

King Salman’s trip could go down in history as the point of no return for the West. Pictures of Russian President Vladimir Putin and King Salman of Saudi Arabia could replace historic pictures of King Saud and U.S. President Roosevelt (Bitter Lake, 1945). In a few years, King-to-be Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman might tell his children that this was one of the pillars that changed not only the Middle East but also supported his Vision 2030 plan of becoming a bridge between the old (West) and the new (Russia-Asia).

Brent Crude Spikes To Highest Since July 2015

North Korean war-talk has extended early gains for Brent Crude (driven by anxiety over the post-Kurd-referendum fallout), pushing prices to their highest since July 2015.

To the highest since July 2015...

As Bloomberg reports, Kurdish oil supplies may be in jeopardy as Turkey, Iran and the Iraqi central government in Baghdad sought to isolate the semi-autonomous Kurds as balloting began on Monday. Meanwhile, OPEC and its partners implemented more than 100 percent of their agreed cuts last month, OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said Friday in Vienna, providing more fuel to the oil rally.

“It’s pretty clear the Kurds are going to vote for independence and we will have yet another geopolitical hot spot in the Middle East that threatens a significant amount of oil supply,” John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital LLC, a New York-based hedge fund, said by telephone.

At the same time, “the cooperation and the strong effort by OPEC is registering with the market.”

Brent crude oil futures curve has moved into backwardation in recent weeks, indicator of supply tightness...

And the Brent-WTI spread reaches its highest since August 2015...

King Of Saudi Arabia To Visit Russia In October

Authored by Peter Korzun via The Strategic Culture Foundation,

Despite differences over Syria and the Iranian nuclear deal, current Russia-Saudi Arabia relations are arguably at an apex, both in terms of shared interests and mutual understanding. It has just been announced that King of Saudi Arabia Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud will visit Russia in late October. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on September 5 that the exact date will be announced later. Only some details are left to be discussed.

The visit has been anticipated for a long time. This will be the first time a Saudi king visits Russia. The event is very symbolic against the background of burgeoning rapprochement between the two countries. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is expected to visit the Kingdom in a few days.

The Saudi Vision 2030 long term development program has been launched to move the Kingdom from oil profits and dependency on the United States to diversified modern economy and strong military potential, allowing it to implement independent foreign policy. The main goal is to lay down the basis of its independence from natural resources. Saudi Arabia is intensifying its diplomatic efforts. Russia is a partner in the Kingdom’s far-reaching ambitious plans. The potential of bilateral relations development is extraordinary.

Russia"s leading oil company Rosneft has said it is interested in buying Saudi oil giant’s shares after the privatization takes place next year as planned. Both sides agreed to establish a joint energy investment fund during the talks at the 2017 St. Petersburg international economic forum (SPIEF)

In May, then Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman visited Russia to take part in the SPIEF and meet President Vladimir Putin. Six deals were signed, including a nuclear cooperation agreement that could see Russia helping to build up to 16 atomic power stations in the Kingdom. Contracts on infrastructure development and a deal on deliveries of high-end Russian weaponry were also inked. During the talks, it was revealed that there are 25 mutually beneficial investment projects totaling $10 billion under examination. The parties are exploring joint ventures in construction and upgrade of railways.

Back then, the crown prince said that «relations between Saudi Arabia and Russia are going through one of their best moments ever». The fact that the prince arrived in Russia one week after the historic «Muslim NATO summit« in Saudi Arabia demonstrated that the Kingdom was eager to keep balance in its foreign policy and diversify its ties. Muhammed Bin Salman and Vladimir Putin discussed stabilizing the world oil market and Syria.

The parties have made considerable progress on Syria. Moscow greatly appreciates the role played by the Kingdom in the signing of the two Cairo agreements between Russia and the Syrian opposition on East Ghouta and Rastan. The Kingdom may have a very important role to play when the de-escalation zones are established. Russia is well placed to mediate between the Kingdom and Iran in Syria.

For Saudi Arabia, Russia’s influence in Iran, Syria, Yemen, Turkey, and even Qatar, is a strategic asset. Hence, the Saudis see Russia in the role of negotiator on all political issues. Both countries welcomed the change of power in Egypt in 2013 and continue to jointly support President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. It’s an open secret that Egypt"s massive procurement of Russian weapons was possible thanks to Saudi financial assistance to Cairo. Riyadh also seems to have appreciated Moscow’s restrained position on the Yemeni issue.

No doubt that the Qatar crisis will be on the agenda of the Russia-Saudi summit. Moscow has not taken sides in the current dispute between Qatar and other Arab states and it has a recent history of cooperation with all sides of this conflict. As a result, Russia is well suited to act as a mediator and a communications channel between Riyadh and those who support Doha – such influential actors as Iran and Turkey.

Saudi Arabia is one of many other Arab countries turning to military cooperation with Russia against the backdrop of its success in Syria. In July, Russia and Saudi Arabia agreed an arms deal valued at $3.5 billion. The deal will be finalized during King Salman’s visit. The Saudis have requested transfer of technology to accompany the signing of the deal. The Kingdom is interested in negotiating both defensive and offensive weapon systems including the S-300 and/or the S-400 air defence systems, MiG-35 lightweight fighters, T-90 main battle tanks and also the Russian tactical missile system Iskander-E.

Up until a year ago, the two sides had virtually no dialogue on energy at all. Since then, they have made a joint effort to push for further cutting of oil production to help bring up prices. Today they are effectively coordinating their oil policies. It has been announced that Russia and Saudi Arabia mull OPEC deal extension. The oil ministers maintain close and intensive contacts. Russian oil company Tatneft has announced that it is open for cooperation with Saudi Arabia.

Russia and Saudi Arabia might launch joint projects in petrochemical industry, in the field of renewable energy and liquefied natural gas (LNG) technologies among others. Saudi Arabia would particularly consider the issue of participating in the Arctic LNG projects. Saudi Aramco has always been heavily involved in the gas sector, as it is already a very large gas producer. It is pursuing shale gas in the future, with first production expected around 2020-2021.There are prospects for OPEC - non-OPEC cooperation going beyond crude oil to integrate the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF). A new cartel would be powerful enough to stabilize the energy market.

The blossoming relationship signals yet another sea change in the ever-evolving global order. The Kingdom acknowledges the importance of Russia as a major global player, and its potential role in the region as a regional power that can talk to all sides. Neither country shares the so-called “Western values’ or likes being criticized by the US. Having joined together, the two can achieve a lot.

The upcoming Russia-Saudi summit is a milestone event to demonstrate that both countries are set for a much closer relationship. It’s a sign of an emerging partnership driven by shifting global winds with new poles of power playing an increasingly larger role in international affairs. It also reflects the tectonic changes taking place to change the political landscape of the region.

"Burn Them And Their Families": As ISIS Crumbles, Vigilantes Run Amok in Iraq

Authored by Daniel Lang via SHTFplan.com,

It’s hard to appreciate the effect ISIS has had on ordinary Iraqis and Syrians who wanted nothing to do with the terror group.

There are cities in these countries that have been ruled by these monsters for several years. Monsters whose cruelty and depravity knows no bounds. Most people in the West can’t imagine what that must be like, because the vast majority of us have never lived under those conditions.

So what does happens to people who have been living under ISIS for so long?

Well, try to imagine what you would do if a bunch of lunatics had been running your community for several years. Imagine if they had cut you off from the outside world, tortured and killed family members and neighbors, sold female relatives into sexual slavery, and indoctrinated your children.

Some people manage to move on with their lives after those conditions pass. Others do not. In Iraq for instance, there are now vigilante groups that have risen in the wake of the Islamic State’s collapse, and they’re targeting members of ISIS, as well as their families.

Eleven suspected jihadists who were recently found blindfolded, bound and shot to death on the side of the road 20 miles south of Mosul are some of the victims of the group, which on its Facebook page tells supporters to ‘burn’ the families and homes of ISIS members.

 

The vigilante group, which has dubbed themselves the Hammam al-Alil Revolution, created a Facebook group to launch revenge on ISIS members in May. It now has 650 members.

 

‘Soon we will start our operation, we are now locating Deash families,’ read the first post on the page from May 28. ‘We will make them regret joining. Good luck everyone,’ it signs off.

This is what happens when law and order breaks down. People don’t just mete out justice. They are free to go on bloody rampages.

‘Today we targeted Mohammad Atrash, we threw two grenades and attacked the family with gunfire, as they did to us,’ the post said.

 

The Facebook page posts the addresses of dead and imprisoned ISIS fighters, encouraging its members to go after them and their families.

 

The group told its followers last month to ‘burn them and their families’.

 

One member of the group told The Telegraph that it was carrying out attacks as revenge after his cousin was killed by ISIS militants.

 

The man, only identified as Omar, said: ‘It’s a reciprocity. They hurt my family, now we will hurt theirs.’

So these people, who have had their families shattered by ISIS, are now doing the same thing to the noncombatant families of ISIS fighters. It reminds me of a famous quote from Friedrich Nietzsche. “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.”

Pakistan Hands Down First-Ever Death Sentence For Blaspheming On Facebook

A Pakistani counter-terrorism court just handed down the first death penalty for blaspheming on social media on Sunday, according to Reuters. The ruling is the latest step in an intensifying crackdown on dissent on social media by the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Taimoor Raza, 30, was convicted for making derogatory remarks about the Prophet Mohammad, his wives and companions, according to Shafiq Qureshi, a public prosecutor in Bahawalpur, a city about 300 miles south of provincial capital Lahore. Raza was arrested last year after a debate about Islam on Facebook with a man who turned out to be a counter-terrorism agent. He was one among 15 people arrested by the counter-terrorism department last year, accused of blasphemy, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and Reuters.

Raza’s brother, Waseem Abbas, told the Guardian that the family was “poor but literate”, and belonged to Pakistan’s minority Shia Muslim community.

“My brother indulged in a sectarian debate on Facebook with a person, who we later come to know, was a [counter-terrorism department] official with the name of Muhammad Usman,” he said.

As Reuters reports, blasphemy is a highly sensitive topic in Muslim-majority Pakistan, where insulting the Prophet Mohammad is a capital crime for which dozens are sitting on death row. Even mere accusations are enough to spark mass uproar and mob justice.

"An anti-terrorism court of Bahawalpur has awarded him the death sentence," Qureshi told Reuters. It is the first ever death sentence in a case that involves social media.

Authorities have asked Twitter and Facebook to help identify users sharing blasphemous material, and have distributed text messages encouraging Pakistanis to report fellow citizens, according to the Guardian. Human rights defenders have expressed concern that the zealous application of the country’s blasphemy laws provides a tool for people to carry out personal vendettas, particularly because nobody is ever punished for making false accusations.

“The casual manner in which death sentences are handed in blasphemy cases coupled with the lack of orientation of Pakistani courts with technology makes this a very dangerous situation,” Saroop Ijaz, a lawyer with Human Rights Watch in Pakistan, told the Guardian.

“Such sentences will embolden those who want to wrongly frame people,” he said, noting with concern that Saturday’s sentence was handed down by an anti-terrorism court, not a regular court. “The confusion between national security and religion is very alarming,” Ijaz said.

The death sentence is part of a larger campaign of suppression: The Federal Investigation Agency recently detained dozens of social media users for posting “anti-military” content, including journalists and supporters of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e Insaf (PTI) party, one of whom shared a satirical photo of prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

While Raza is the first person sentenced to death for blasphemy on social media, several others are on death row for alleged blasphemy in public. Among them is Asia Bibi, a Christian woman convicted in 2010 after a row with two Muslim women in a village in Punjab. With a long-awaited final appeal adjourned, Bibi is still in solitary confinement.

In Pakistan, blasphemy is so contentious that the mere mention of unfounded allegations can ignite mass uproar. In April, a mob at a north-western university took 23-year-old Mashal Khan from his dormitory and lynched him, angered by accusations that Khan had offended Islam.

Last week, a joint investigation concluded the baseless allegations had been a conspiracy by some students and university staff.

In May, a 10-year-old boy was killed when a mob tried to storm a police station in Balochistan in anger at a man held on blasphemy charges. Four people were sentenced to death for blasphemy last year, according to the HRCP.