Neocons To Offer Nukes To KSA; Other Corruption Of Our Politics

Just when you think that the craziness that is the American Empire can’t get worse, the corruption can’t drag us further down into the Swamp, well …

This report is coming from the WSJ. I’m going with that. No, the WSJ doesn’t put the matter as baldly as my title does, but if you do some DDG searches framed around the provision of nuclear programs to KSA, you’ll see that that’s exactly what’s on everybody’s minds. We’ll get to The Duran’s commentary on this, which is excellent, but before I forget I want to link to an article that commenter Melinda Romanoff pointed me to this morning—since we’re talking about corruption and the Empire being up for sale:

The Progressive Benefactor Who Makes U.S. Barriers to Foreign Cash Look Like Swiss Cheese

As I like to say, we have the best government money can buy. Only, it’s definitely not your money and may not even be US sourced money. Just to give you some idea of how much money we’re talking about—and how distorting its influence on US politics is—here’s the first few paragraphs. There’s lots more at the link:

The Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss has a profound interest in American politics. Over the years, he has pumped $475 million he has earned manufacturing medical devices into left-wing advocacy groups – $72 million in 2021 alone, according to a new report from the conservative watchdog group, Americans for Public Trust. 

Hansjörg Wyss: Since 2016, some $245 million of the Swiss billionaire's spending on American politics has gone to Arabella Advisors, which controls a vast network of progressive nonprofits.

Oceana /The Wyss Foundation

According to a biography of Wyss written by a sister, Wyss’ goal is not to bend laws to his business’s advantage but to “[re]interpret the American Constitution in the light of progressive politics.”  

Although foreigners are prohibited from donating money directly to political causes, Wyss has donated lavishly to progressive political organizations. The New York Times reported in 2021 that these include the “Center for American Progress and Priorities USA, as well as organizations that ran voter registration and mobilization campaigns to increase Democratic turnout, built media outlets accused of slanting the news to favor Democrats, and sought to block Mr. Trump’s nominees, prove he colluded with Russia and push for his impeachment.” Since 2016, some $245 million of his spending on American politics has gone to Arabella Advisors, which controls a vast network of progressive nonprofits which, among other activities, has financed hundreds of smaller groups that campaign for specific issues and candidates. Arabella, which raised $1.6 billion in 2021, was dubbed by The Atlantic “The Massive Progressive Dark-Money Group You’ve Never Heard Of.” 

Again, there’s much more at the link. With names.

But, back to nukes. Nominally, the US opposes nuclear proliferation, but we can be flexible. The Duran has commentary on the story:

Biden White House to Saudi Arabia, ditch BRICS and get nuclear weapons program

I’ve done an edited transcript:

All right Alexander, let's talk about some Biden White House diplomacy with Saudi Arabia. Can we call this diplomacy? The Biden White House is looking to get Saudi Arabia back on side, even though MBS despises Biden. Biden has said very nasty things about MBS but they realize that they need Saudi Arabia. Without Saudi Arabia the U.S economy, the US dollar, just doesn't work as well. So what is going on with the Biden White House and their diplomatic effort, their diplomatic charm offensive?

I think the penny has finally dropped, and I think what's probably creating all the concern is Saudi Arabia's bid to join the BRICS. That will probably be considered by the BRICS states over the next couple of days. There's a BRICS summit just a few days off that has spooked the US because, of course, at the BRICS Summit the BRICS states are going to be discussing their payment system. If Saudi Arabia becomes a part of that and backs that payment system with its oil wealth, well, that system could become a massive challenge to the position of the dollar. I think that the US finally understands that.

I think there's something else which is particularly important for Biden and for the Democrats, which is the election next year. There's been upward pressure over the last few weeks on oil prices. The Saudis have cut production, the Russians have started to cut production. There hasn't been a smooth upwards trajectory for oil prices because there's the drag from China's slowing economy, but there is still the worry that oil prices may start to rise in the Autumn. Prices at the gas pumps are already rising in the U.S. Biden's ability to go on releasing oil from the American Strategic Petroleum Reserve is now almost exhausted, so we have this diplomatic offensive to make up with the Saudis.

And the Wall Street Journal has told us what this is all about. Normally it's all about getting the Saudis to agree to establish diplomatic relations with Israel. But it seems that the reality is that the Americans are bringing up other things. They want the Saudis to go on transacting their oil business in the USD. In other words, they want the Saudis to give up on their plan of joining BRICS, involving themselves in this new payment system, taking payment in Chinese RMB. They want the Saudis to go back on what the Saudis already agreed to. They also want the Saudis to agree to more U.S military bases in Saudi Arabia.

This probably means that the Neocons understand that the US bases elsewhere in the region—Syria, to give just one example—are built on unstable foundations, shifting sand, as it were. The Persian Gulf is also increasingly insecure for unwelcome naval assets. Shifting to Saudi Arabia on a long term deal would get around the increasing pressure in the region from Russia and Iran. And China. And a frankly unfriendly Saudi Arabia—but that requires a major bribe to the Saudis, or so the Neocon calculation appears to be. And what more major bribe could there be than nukes?

Now, why would the Saudis agree to that? There has to be a major offer to the Saudis that would get them to agree to all of these things. Well, firstly, we're told by The Wall Street Journal that the United States is supposedly going to provide indefinite security guarantees to Saudi Arabia. That's nonsense because, in theory, Saudi Arabia has already had that ever since the 1940s when Franklin Roosevelt first agreed to that with the Saudi king, Ibn Saud, in the 1940s. That whole agreement was renewed in the early 1970s by Henry Kissinger and King Faisal. So you're just giving the Saudis the promise that they've already had, which means that that can't be the other thing to attract the Saudis to a new deal.

In this next paragraph I think Mercouris chooses his word well: “supposedly.” The dynamics of current US - Saudi relations do not suggest that MBS would be coming to the Zhou administration asking for help, when he has so many other strategic partners to turn to—as Mercouris points out.

But the Saudis have supposedly asked for help with a nuclear program, and that is the key to this. What we're really talking about is not a civil nuclear program. Saudi Arabia can access nuclear technology from all sorts of places--from Russia, from China, from France. All these countries would probably be very happy to provide the Saudis with that kind of technology. What it really must mean is that the US is quietly hinting to the Saudis, 'Look, if you decide to go ahead and develop a nuclear weapons program we're going to look the other way, just as we have with India and Pakistan.' There were light sanctions on India and Pakistan, but those have been lifted. 'We'll do the same with you. We'll pretend we don't agree but, ultimately, if you acquire nuclear weapons it's okay with us.'

That's what I think is the inducement that the Biden Administration is offering to the Saudis.

What would China and Russia say to that?

I think the Chinese and the Russians would say to MBS, 'Do you really trust Biden at the end of the day? If you go along with this what real benefit accrues to you? There's nothing preventing you from acquiring nuclear weapons if that's what you want to do. You've probably got the technology, you've got the resources, you've got the money, you've actually got quite a lot of scientists and engineers. You're very close friends with Pakistan, which has nuclear weapons and can probably share technology with you. We're not going to stand in your way. But we're giving you a place in the BRICS, we're giving you a big position in the Gulf. Above all, we are able--and this is absolutely key as far as the Saudis are concerned--we can offer you continued support through OPEC. Plus, you need the cooperation of Russia to be able to keep oil prices stable--and indeed not just stable but stably high--the United States cannot do that. So it is in your interests to stick with us.'

Why would Saudi Arabia want the nuclear weapons?

Well, that's a very good question. What's the threat? Well, there isn't a threat at the moment. They've patched up relations with Iran, then they're not threatened. And what about the countries in the neighborhood? If this happens it destroys the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and will probably drive Iran, Turkey, and Egypt to acquire nuclear weapons. We would potentially have an unstable and nuclearized Middle East.

This is the stuff of nightmares but, if this report in the Wall Street Journal is true (which I'm sure it is) and if my reading of what is going on is true (which I'm also sure it is), then the Biden Administration is prepared to take these enormous risks because it's got an election to win next year and has to shore up the position of the dollar, and that's its priority.

It’s been so easy over the years to assume that America always wears the white hat.