The Memo: Trump in a corner on Saudi Arabia | TheHill

President Trump’s efforts to walk a fine line on Saudi Arabia could soon prove untenable, as demands for action cross the partisan divide.

In the wake of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Trump has appeared ambivalent about the right response to the kingdom and its crown prince, Mohammed Bin Salman, whom the U.S. administration has previously backed.

Trump’s son-in-law and senior White House adviser Jared Kushner was an emphatic supporter of Mohammed, often known in Washington circles by his initials, MBS.

On Friday, Trump said he viewed the latest Saudi statement as credible and called the arrest of 18 Saudi nationals in connection with the case “a great first step.”

But the kingdom’s statement — its first acknowledgement after more than two weeks that Khashoggi was killed inside its consulate in Istanbul — drew derision in Washington, including from Republican lawmakers such as Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Bob Corker (Tenn.). Graham has, of late, been a strong Trump ally.

Nine other GOP senators, as well as Graham and Corker, have signed a letter to Trump calling for an investigation into whether sanctions should be levied against individual Saudis over Khashoggi’s death. Those sanctions could target the crown prince himself or his allies.

The Republican critiques point to a larger problem for Trump.

The Saudis are not viewed sympathetically even by conservative foreign policy voices or by Trump’s broader base, which tend to regard U.S. support for Riyadh as a necessary evil aimed at countering Iranian influence in the Middle East.

That makes it harder for Trump to gain traction with his case, outlined this week, that the Saudis have been somehow treated unfairly.

Trump twice compared the Saudis’ situation with that of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearings — first, in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday and, in milder form, while speaking to reporters on Friday.

 

Source: The Memo: Trump in a corner on Saudi Arabia | TheHill

The world has a question for the White House: When do murders matter?

With Trump’s views on journalists what is the betting that he wishes this could occur in any of the US Embassies and Consulates.

The Secular Jurist

For nearly three weeks, the world has watched President Trump downplay the disappearance and apparent slaying of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and waited for the most powerful man in the world to act. They are waiting still.

Trump’s inconsistent and cautious remarks about the case have renewed questions about U.S. credibility and complicated the global response, emboldening adversaries such as Russia and China and discouraging robust action by traditional allies, according to analysts and former U.S. officials.

“This is a drastic break from American practice,” said Vali R. Nasr, dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. “It signals a very different foreign policy that does not hold governments accountable for things that are outside normal legal or ethical parameters.”

Continue reading:  The world has a question for the White House: When do murders matter?

Further reading:  Republicans Break With Trump Over Khashoggi Death

Related story:  Diners confront Mitch…

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Trump vows ‘severe punishment’ for Saudi Arabia if Khashoggi was killed

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said in a CBS interview on Saturday that there would be “severe punishment” for Saudi Arabia if it turns out that missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

 

Source: Trump vows ‘severe punishment’ for Saudi Arabia if Khashoggi was killed

Saudi women can drive, but are their voices being heard? : The Conversation

Earlier this summer, Saudi Arabia lifted the decades-long ban on women’s driving. The move is part of a series of reforms that the country has been implementing. In April the kingdom loosened male guardianship laws – under which women need the permission of a male guardian to work, travel or marry. And in 2015, women were granted the right to vote and run for elections. The reforms serve to revamp the image of Saudi Arabia in the international arena.

More recently, however, in a diplomatic spat, Canada has criticized Saudi Arabia for human rights violations. Saudi officials have responded by cutting all economic and diplomatic ties, withdrawing investments and stopping flights. One of the main issues for the Canadians is the arrest by Saudi authorities of two prominent women’s rights activists. Tweets by Canadian diplomats called on the kingdom to release the activists. Saudi Arabia arrested several women’s rights activists in weeks prior and following the lifting the ban on women’s driving.

As a scholar of gender politics in Middle Eastern societies, I argue that all this goes to show that the kingdom is extending limited reforms to women to represent itself as modern but is adamant on not opening space for more voices.

Women, nationalism and modernization

 

Source: Saudi women can drive, but are their voices being heard? : The Conversation

Fake Downing Street ‘protesters’ could mark a sinister new trend for the UK | The Canary

On 23 July, a London casting agency advertised for extras to ‘protest’ outside Downing Street. This coincided with a visit from the Qatari emir to visit Theresa May. Since then, the plot has thickened over who ordered the actors. And the whole matter could mark a sinister new trend for the UK.

Protest?

Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the emir of Qatar, was due to visit No. 10 on 24 July. An email, sent by casting agency ‘Extra People’, emerged on social media to book actors for an ‘anti-Qatar event’:

 

Source: Fake Downing Street ‘protesters’ could mark a sinister new trend for the UK | The Canary

Trump’s Connections With Dictators

Trump’s support of Erdogan shows exactly what Trump is and how he would really wish to govern America.

Josep Goded

Trump’s connections with a large number of dictatorships has raised several questions about his morality and political convictions. Since he became president, numerous human rights organizations have protested against him for welcoming human rights violators onto US soil. However, Trump has always denied those accusations, claiming that classic tyrants such as Al-Sisi (Egypt) and Erdogan (Turkey) are US allies who lead free countries.

Despite Trump’s efforts to manipulate public opinion, the recent visit of the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan caused a political earthquake. During his visit to the Turkish embassy in Washington DC on Monday, Erdogan ordered his bodyguards to attack people who were peacefully protesting against him. As result, a number of protesters were injured and needed medical assistance. A few hours before that regrettable incident, Trump said:

“We have had a great relationship and we will make it even better.”

“Today, we face a…

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Jimmy Dore: Pentagon-Backed Rebels Fight CIA-Backed Rebels in Syria

America never learn, but do believe they are the sole masters of the universe and what they do must be right. Trump said he was different, but as we see he is just the same.

Oil is the paymaster and oil has to be obeyed.

Beastrabban\'s Weblog

Here’s another brilliant little video from the Jimmy Dore Show, which casts further light on the US’ role in spreading the carnage and chaos in Syria. In this clip, the comedian, with his co-hosts Steffi Zamora and Ron Placone, talk about a story which appeared in March, 2016, in the Los Angeles Times. The Pentagon and the CIA are backing different rebel factions in Syria. The Pentagon is backing one bunch as part of their campaign against ISIS, while the CIA is arming another group in order, the paper claimed, to bring Assad to the negotiating table. As Dore points out, this isn’t what the CIA and its government paymasters want. They want to oust Assad altogether. He reminds his viewers how the United States was approached by Saudi Arabia and Qatar several years ago. The two Arab nations offered to pay if America invaded Syria and overthrew Assad…

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Jimmy Dore Show: US Begins Bombing in Somalia Again, Because Oil Found

Oil is the reason for many conflicts, so is the case for the American involvement in the Middle East but not mentioned only are the atrocities.

But atrocities happen in other countries, but there is no American involvement as there is no oil.

Oil the root of all evil.

Beastrabban\'s Weblog

This is yet another video about the expansion of the American war machine and war propaganda by the Jimmy Dore Show. In this video, he discusses the report that AFRICOM, the part of American High Command responsible for Africa, has decided to put troops back into Somalia after 24 years. The troops are apparently there at the request of the Somalian government, and will be there for training purposes. The article does reveal that American troops have also been deployed several times within that space of 24 years in minor missions, such as scouting for bombing sites.

The US troops are being deployed to help the Somali government against the Islamist group, al-Shabaab. The article states that al-Shabaab, although sharing a similar Islamist ideology with ISIS and al-Qaeda, aren’t actually part of those organisations. Most of the time, they’ve been confined to Somalia. They arose after a long period of…

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Jimmy Dore on the MIT Professor Showing Trump Wrong about Sarin Gas Attack in Syria

Just who is telling the truth, is it propaganda on both sides.

In any conflict it is not just the innocent that suffer, but also the truth.

The innocents should be the prime consideration on all sides of any conflict, not the last, as is shown and proven many times.

Beastrabban\'s Weblog

As well as appearing on Counterpunch’s website, Theodore A. Postol also appeared on RT, and his analysis of the Sarin gas attack in Syria was also covered by Jimmy Dore. Postol is the emeritus professor of Science, Technology and National Security at MIT. He concluded that, contrary to what the American government and Syrian rebels were saying, the poison gas that killed the people of Khan Shaykhun was not dropped as a bomb from a plane, but was released from an improved ground-based weapon, about 12 cm long. Trump and the American media have claimed that the attack was the responsibility of Assad, and launched an attack by Tomohawk missiles on the air force base, from which the attack was supposedly launched, in reprisal.

In this video, Dore savagely critiques the statements of Trump, Sean Spicer and other members of the White House. He makes the point that the American…

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Saudi Arabia plays ‘spot the female’ with its new girls’ council | Metro News

Saudi officials have just called the first meeting of the girls’ council, but there’s just one problem…

There were no women or girls in sight.

A picture has emerged showing the first official meeting of the Qassim Girls’ Council, which appears to be made up of 13 men.

Source: Saudi Arabia plays ‘spot the female’ with its new girls’ council | Metro News