“INVOLUTION POLICY?”

What are the changes that are taking place and those that can be seen in the short term in the Middle East due to the abuses of a strategic US ally? Who are its beneficiaries?

By Ali Al Najafi

The implementation by the US State Department of the “Kashoggi Ban” has given rise to a series of comings and goings between Washington and Riyadh that seem to show the wear and tear of a relationship that has lasted 75 years and that is has seen framed in situations as rugged and dark as they have been the clandestine cooperation with the CIA against its own Arab brothers -against Iraq, Libya and Syria-, the unclear events of September 11, 2001 -which link the royal family and the Bushes- and the same assassination within the Saudi legation in Turkey in October 2018 of the Saudi journalist and “The Washington Post” columnist Yamal Kashoggi How could Washington turn its back on someone who for decades has participated in issues that would politically complicate the United States and What do you know about so many dirty deals?

For decades and especially since September 2001, Riyadh and Washington have been united by a symbiotic relationship that many could not explain. In reality, that relationship was highly secret, due to its highly strategic value. From the media of the time (since the second half of the 20th century) there was not much interest in deepening these relationships since they were conditioned by the secrecy and intrigue of the years of the “Cold War”. Not only the strategic importance of oil forged this union. During an important part of this time, a closed silence was maintained about the true connections that existed between both partners and the consequences that they brought for their own brothers from neighboring secular Arab countries. Even more. Long before the so-called “Abrahamic Agreement” between the United Arab Emirates and Israel took shape, Riyadh already had contacts with Tel Aviv that were aimed at conspiring against the revolutionary Arab governments in the region.

In this sense, Washington always let all the abuses and bestialities of Riyadh pass. The White House could accuse promoting sanctions against a government that allegedly violated human rights but at the same time covered up the inequalities, torture and beheadings that the Saudi regime led -and still carries out-. And it is that how could he annoy one of his best suppliers of Arab agents to form the jihadist militias and subversive groups “Wahabi” useful for Washington that would star in bloody charades such as “Jabbat Al Nusrah” in Syria and the “Islamic State” (ISIS) in Iraq?

Biden during his campaign has shown his presumed interest in civil liberties, immigration, respect for human rights and under these motivations he has not hesitated to criticize his predecessor in dealing with the rugged Kashoggi affair, who undoubtedly protected the Saudi royal family and in particular the discolous crown prince Mohamed Bin Salman of the political and legal consequences resulting from such a brutal crime, proven to be carried out by a “Special Team”.

What was committed by that “special group” within a consular legation in a foreign country, due to the characteristics of what was executed and how it was carried out, would cause nausea to any unsuspecting person who, without distinguishing it from political or ideological implications, was a witness to a scene as terrifying as the one that happened. Yamal Kashoggi entered the consulate in Istanbul to carry out a procedure and ended up leaving in pieces. How could this be explained? In this way the “Saudi experts” have made it clear that they are expert butchers and just as efficient as their Mossad partners; and if not, who can forget that murder in a lavish hotel in Dubai back in January 2010? Like the stealthy Saudis, the “team of Mossad assassins” tried to get out of their job clean but were caught by the security cameras of the hotel complex and that turned into one of the hardest embarrassments to get around for Tel Aviv.

The same happened with the Kashoggi removal and disappearance operation.

It should not be forgotten that as soon as the case was exposed to the public knowledge Riyadh and the paid media in the Gulf tried to free the royal family of any responsibility in the case, the questions of the public opinion did not stop being asked. But true to their Zionist colleagues, the officials in Riyadh were not taken for granted. So shameless was his stance before the public that they only need to say that Kashoggi fell in the lobby and cut his limbs himself. But the technology of the security cameras (like the Israelis) ended up revealing all that sinister operation and in the face of the fait accompli there was no alternative but to accept the blame, but not so much. Averting the gaze to the “Special Security Team” who would have acted on their own or other arguments as little credible as this, made public opinion in general and independent journalists in particular see themselves as insulted in their intelligence.

The obsequious sectors in the US also came to carry out damage control, who, in addition to the good and historical businesses that link them, have extensive relationships that could be seriously affected if Saudi Arabia falls from grace. If this strategic Arab ally loses credibility and respect in the region and what little it has left at the international level, where will the US get jihadists and mercenaries for its hoaxes? In short: A joint effort so that the Kashoggi affair does not reach beyond a few international media and for a short time. How to do it?

For this they had the inestimable support of their hidden partners, the Israelis who have very good and extensive experience (thanks to influences and money) in manipulating sources and Western news traffic to try to cut the reality of what they committed for 70 years to the present against the Palestinian population. They are also a key piece in hiding the continuous provocations and desecrations against Palestinian cemeteries and holy buildings such as the “Al Aqsa” and “Omar” mosques. In this sense, that those (the Saudi royal family) have custody of the holy places of Islam in “Kaaba” and “Mecca” and present themselves as seekers of a political solution to the situation of the occupation of Palestine seems nonsense. Reality reveals that Riyadh is biased on the matter and, worse, officiates against the interests of the Palestinian Arabs.

Another front that has already fallen is the war against Yemen, which despite massive US and Israeli support, has already been lost by Riyadh. With this in view, we can intuit that Saudi Arabia has lost the opportunity to become the ruler of the region, demonstrating in turn, that despite the inexhaustible source of money provided by oil extraction, it can be used to buy the best tanks and missiles. Americans or paying the most professional mercenaries in the market is not enough to win a geopolitical seat. Today the White House is in talks to resume talks with Tehran not only to reactivate the “5 + 1” nuclear Treaty but also (and perhaps most importantly) to try to remove it from the influence of Moscow with the possibility of negotiate a likely and tempting proposal for Iran as the ruler of the entire region.

But Tehran does not lose sight of the fact that the current US State Department in addition to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is made up of elements such as Victoria Nuland, Wendy Sherman and even Susan Rice, fervent Zionist activists within the US political and governmental structure who have promoted during their previous periods, all kinds of sanctions and plots against Iran in which the Saudis were inscribed with great interest. That is why the Iranians are already preparing to cover their ears to these possible siren calls of the Biden administration.

However, the political circumstances have changed ostensibly and they are clearly adverse`s to Saudi interests and especially to the personal pretensions of Mohamed Bin Salman. Someone advised the crown prince very badly, there is no doubt about that. They made him believe that he could behave like a “tough man” (Top guy) in the neighborhood -which some delusions tried to match Saddam Hussein- without anyone holding him accountable for it. Perhaps his intelligence advisers, widely influenced by his American and Israeli colleagues (with whom they have been cooperating closely since 2010), blinded him to reason or perhaps more precisely manipulated him to do what was convenient for them; Or perhaps (and most certainly), he has been a victim of his arrogance that has led the kingdom to the brink.

Anyway, today the Biden administration seems to want to get rid of this alliance or at least show the world that it wants to do it or perhaps pretend that there will not be the same relationship that it had been enjoying until the Trump administration. From a metapolitical perspective, it could be said that the hour of payment has come for Salman and his adventures falling into accounts that -as happened to Saddam- was only a disposable resource.