Muhhamad bin Salman as liberator.

 

"The imprisoned, among whom are billionaire and Kingdom Holding chairman Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, Al Tayyar Travel Group founder Nasser bin Aqeel al-Tayyar and chairman of builder Red Sea International construction company Amr al-Dabbagh, are accused of money laundering, bribery, extorting officials and misappropriation of public office.

Interestingly, the Saudi authorities have announced that all economical assets seized from those found guilty will be confiscated as state property. Even a no-fly list has reportedly been drawn up, and security forces have been deployed in order to prevent private jet owners from leaving the kingdom."  AMN

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

Let's not kid ourselves.  What the West calls "corruption" in business and government is the very basis of life in Saudi Arabia along with the the Wahhabi version of Islam, a version that resembles a bug frozen for all time in amber. 

 A lot of these business people and their companies (same thing normally in SA where true public companies are rare) will have long ago offshored much of their assets.  Foreign bank accounts, dummy chains of shell holding companies leading to a pot of gold at the end of the chain, Foreign law firms that manage hidden assets as in the the Paradise Papers, these are all methods. 

It is significant that MbS has imprisoned these people in a luxury hotel rather than putting them in house arrest where they could attempt to arrange to be smuggled out of the big sand box.  He has also not put them in hotel style royal guest houses where they might have connections among the government people who run them.  IMO MbS intends to beggar some of these people and geld the rest, figuratively speaking.  

This purge of his possible enemies and rivals was well prepared.  Key to preventing a counter-coup was the removal and replacements of the heads of the security services and the silencing of the Wahhabi ulema.'  I earlier thought that MbS might act against the senior Shia ulema'  but that may not be true.  He has been engaged in "preaching" toleration of other than Wahhabism.  Quelle horreur!!  In this circumstance the Shia clergy may see MbS as a friend and he may leave them alone.

Might one someday see a church in Saudi Arabia like those in many other majority Muslim countries?  Saudi Arabia as I have personally known it has been a theocratically driven police state.  When I was DATT there I was repeatedly asked by attache colleagues to smuggle Filipino, Pakistani and other Christians into the secret Christmas services held in the US Embassy.  I was glad to do so. 

MbS has abolished the arrest powers of the Mutawi'iin, the religious "decency" police.  These are the worthless, scrawny old bastards in short thawb who wander the streets beating women whose behavior they do not like. For that alone I am favorably inclined to him. 

Unfortunately, he has foreign policy delusions of grandeur in which he is making common cause with redheiferland and the gaudy world of Trump Administration delusions about the Middle East.  pl 

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/riyadh-freezes-1200-saudi-bank-accounts/

Comments

[turcopolier]

All

I was puzzled as to what "musharaat al suq" meant in the photo. I now understand that it means gains and losses in the market in the riba-free financial system pl

[DianaLC]

My brother took a temporary position in SA several years ago because it paid so well and he wanted to use the money to take his son and daughter-in-law on a nice trip to Italy later.

He just hated his time there, and he felt so sorry for the young woman who had been sent with his team to do the office work. She lived those months basically in house arrest.

I've had a few SA students in college courses I have taught. In all cases, which means that my sample is not statistically valid, I was impressed with them. I always got the feeling they really wanted a more open society. The last SA student I met was one that my sister invited to Thanksgiving. He and his wife and two little boys were very happy to be invited. I spoke with him at length because he could tell I knew quite a bit about Christianity, and he was trying to understand all the differences in churches. It was as confusing to him as it is for us to understand all the different sects of Islam. He was surprised that what little I knew was far more than what anyone else he had spoken with knew about the differences in Islam.

His wife stayed in America for a while and brought her female cousin over to live with her and the boys while that woman also studied English. She missed her family, but she was also liking the freedom she had as a woman in America.

This new turn of affairs in SA is something that causes me hope, but of course I will hold my breath a little, too.

[kooshy]

According to Iranian news sites Talal daughter is also arrested. And base on India today Mogrin’ helicopter was shot down. According to Colonel’ suggestion, this must have been planed way in advance, If so one wonders if the Hariri’ resignation was part of over all plan as a news detour, distraction? Some claimed estimate over 500 people have been arrested.

“Bin Muqrin had apparently sent a letter to over a thousand princes, asking them to not support Mohammed bin Salman's
succession to the throne, Middle East Monitor quoted the New Khaleez as reporting”
http://m.indiatoday.in/story/saudi-arabia-prince-bin-mugrin-helicopter-crash-crown-prince-mohammed-bin-salman/1/1085783.html

[Peter AU]

I read both Saudi Arabia and now Kuwait telling their nationals to leave Lebanon.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-kuwait-lebanon-travel/kuwait-foreign-ministry-orders-its-nationals-to-leave-lebanon-immediately-kuna-idUSKBN1D92P0

Looks like Israel and SA about to take the plunge and set something off?
MBS - gathering a war chest and grassroots support in preparation?

[kooshy]

IMO, now is obvious that from the beginning R+6 and PMU ( Iraqi Basij) focus and priorities was securing and owning Syrian Iraqi borders, and not the oil fields. More importantly they were not fooled or distracted by SDF/ US maneuvering and deals with locals occupying Syrian state owned oil fields.

[robt willmann]

This note indicates that `Abd-Al-Mansur Hadi of Yemen is also detained and confined in addition to Hariri--

http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2017/11/two-arab-leaders-under-house-arrests-in.html

[robt willmann]

In addition, the governments of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have asked their citizens who are in Lebanon to leave right away--

http://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=1686201#1686201

http://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2659785&language=en

See Col. Lang's recent posts: "Confirmation - straight from the Red Heifer's mouth" (8 November), and "Hariri resignation - Israeli attack comes next?" (4 November).

[turcopolier]

james

Saudi princes are far too egotistical for that. He thinks he is running them, not the other way around. pl

[Dmcna]

Whatever the ther motivations, I will watch to see if anti corruption can spread as corruption did. The western world has become corrupt with money from the Middle East. The purchase of influence is disguised but it is rife and yet it is not widely recognised as a major problem.

[eakens]

Good interview of Chas Freeman, particularly the part about how we nailed SA and actually made money off the Gulf War. Seems like we may be getting ready for second act.

https://youtu.be/ukrE4jgjARg?t=27m6s

[turcopolier]

All

Ra'i al-yowm (Opinion of the Day), a UK based newspaper is reporting that Salman will abdicate within the week. At the same time SA and Kuwait have ordered their nationals out of Lebanon. If I were still in the bidness I would consider those factoids to be Imminence of Hostilities (IOH)indicators in the present climate of SA/Israeli/US collusion. Does anyone know who owns this newspaper? pl

[ann]

Thank you for making me chuckle since I would prefer hiding under a rock. It sounds like poor Lebanon will be a battle zone once again.
Last I saw, el Sisi, (Egypt) was not supporting the Saudi's. Do you think they will be involved or will they be able to remain neutral if SA does attach Lebanon?

[turcopolier]

Ann

Egypt needs US and Saudi money. they will do nothing. pl

[Peter AU]

Also reported here https://twitter.com/Geostrat_ME

Their media site here http://geostrategicmedia.com/about-us/
Nothing about who owns or runs the site in the "about" page.

[J]

Colonel,

Do you think that MbS's under-the-covers-romp with the Israelis will be his undoing in the long run? I mean, there are better prostitute governments than the Tel Aviv club for him to romp with and still the get same results he may long for.

MbS need to wear a full body condom when romping with Natanyaha.

[turcopolier]

J

The internal coup in SA has been so thorough that I don't see who would remove MbS. If there is war in Lebanon SA's part will be political and symbolic. pl

[FourthAndLong]

scamadvisor.com runs a check (10 sec) outputs that geostrategicmedia.com is Serbia based & no further info available.

No idea the value of the above.

[Laguerre]

Me, I would say an attempt at assassination is in short order. Serious money is in question. they can offer plenty to suborn a guard, who will be shot dead on site

[turcopolier]

Laguerre

could be. pl

[FB Ali]

Col Lang,

You are quite right - it is very unlikely that there could be a counter-coup against MbS. And, that the Saudis will participate in any war in Lebanon only with financial and media support.

Not only has MbS's coup been very thorough, but also SA and its inhabitants are rotten to the core. So much so, that I very much doubt if even an assassination attempt would be made.

[turcopolier]

FB Ali

What model of Islam would you recommend for a re-boot? pl

[Yeah, Right]

OK, I can understand MbS launching a pre-emptive coup against potential rivals. Obviously if you aren't super-confident of gaining the throne then wiping the floor with your rivals is A Good Idea.

But rattling sabres towards Lebanon at the same time?
When does that get smart?

After all, I assume everyone accepts that the Saudi armed forces can't hope to prosecute that war.

In which case the only possible reason for throwing war-words at Lebanon is to lay the groundwork for an unprovoked IDF attack on Hezbollah.

Let's leave aside the terrible optics of looking like you are acting as the IDF's lapdog, bad though that looks.

Regardless, it just seems to me to be extraordinarily foolhardy to makes your plans hostage to the performance of the IDF. Who, need it be said, do not answer to MbS.

I mean, consider this: what if the Israelis take MbS's sabre-rattling as the signal to attack Hezbollah and...... Hezbollah then proceed to wipe the floor with that bunch of prissy IDF ponces.

If they get routed (which is a very real possibility) then Bibi will not hesitate to run to the UNSC to demand a ceasefire, all the while crying that "It wasn't my idea! I never wanted this war! The Saudi's put us up to it and we couldn't say No!"

Honestly, MbS is putting his testicles in Netanyahu's hands, and doing so in the expectation that Bibi will then squeeze Nasrallah's happy-sacks.

Which doesn't sound like a particularly sound strategy to me.
What if Nasrallah sinks the knee into Bibi's Balls(tm) instead?

[FB Ali]

We already have a "re-boot" in Islam in the al Qaeda and Islamic State ideologies. Their versions are the culmination of the 'reformist' trends in various Muslim countries that seek to reform Islam by taking it back to a supposed ideal form that existed in the very early years of the faith.

The other 'reformist' path being followed in Muslim countries is that adopted by the elites - ignoring the religion while continuing to pay lip service to it. I think this will be MbS's path as well. It certainly is the one being followed by most of his young supporters.

It seems to me that these two paths are not peculiar to Islam, but are being traversed by the followers of all religions. They are a function of the challenges that Religion face in the modern world.

[Will.2718]

The Col. once wrote the Oman version of Islam was pretty tolerant. Doubt it would make much headway outside of its enclaves.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibadi

[blue peacock]

Col. Lang,

Who are the key staff that would have been necessary to have planned and executed such a thorough internal coup for MbS?

It would seem they are very competent.

If there's no loyalty for those deposed even by those who have benefited from them and may lose much in the new order, can MbS expect loyalty from those who benefit from his rule?

I am really curious about their recent Moscow visit as well as Kushner hanging out a few days before the coup, Hariri's resignation and now Macron in Riyadh. They all seem connected.