U.S. Nears $100bn Saudi Arms Deal: White House Official

[DonViejo]

Source: Reuters




BY REUTERS ON 5/13/17 AT 7:31 AM

The United States is close to completing a series of arms deals for Saudi Arabia totaling more than $100 billion, a senior White House official said on Friday, a week ahead of President Donald Trump's planned visit to Riyadh.

The official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said the arms package could end up surpassing more than $300 billion over a decade to help Saudi Arabia boost its defensive capabilities while still maintaining U.S. ally Israel's qualitative military edge over its neighbors.

"We are in the final stages of a series of deals," the official said. The package is being developed to coincide with Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia. Trump leaves for the kingdom on May 19, the first stop on his maiden international trip.

Reuters reported last week that Washington was pushing through contracts for tens of billions of dollars in arms sales to Saudi Arabia, some new, others already in the pipeline, ahead of Trump's visit.



Read more: http://www.newsweek.com/us-near-100-billion-saudi-arabia-arms-deal-white-house-official-608731

[Honeycombe8]

1. Trump owes a lot of money to Saudi Arabia, who gave him loans after bankruptcies.

When the US would no longer extend him credit, for obvious reasons.

So expect Trump to be very friendly to those nations to whom he owes money.

[Astraea]

2. Just what the world needs

Nice to see the 'defense' industry is making bank.

[Achilleaze]

3. "Sweet." - KGOP, Inc.

[EX500rider]

4. Good.....if we didn't make the sale the Russians or Chinese or Germany or France would..

The five biggest exporters in 2010–2014 were the United States, Russia, China, Germany and France.
So if they are going to get the weapons anyway better the jobs go to Americans.

[tenorly]

5. Looks like il Douche wants the Saudis to strike Iran.

It would accomplish nothing - but would send oil to $200+ a barrel, which would make Uncle Vlad happier than a room full of 19-year-old gymnasts.

[FairWinds]

6. This is how the Drumph admin confronts . .

the nation responsible for . .

the founding of ISIS

the Syrian civil war

genocide in Yemen

9/11

[EX500rider]

7. While Saudi sucks...

....and their fundamentalist Wahhabi doctrine of Sunni Islam also sucks...

They are not responsible for the Syrian civil war, that was a offshoot of the Arab Spring and was homegrown.
Saudi now supports some of the rebel groups, but so does the US and other countries.

ISIS was/is a Iraqi homegrown offshoot of Al Qaeda in Iraq. According to a Reuters report that cited "jihadist ideologues" as a source, 90% of ISIL's fighters in Iraq are Iraqi, and 70% of its fighters in Syria are Syrian.

Although Saudi Arabia's government rejected the claims, former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki accused Saudi Arabia of funding ISIL. Some media outlets, such as NBC, the BBC and The New York Times, and the US-based think tank Washington Institute for Near East Policy have written about individual Saudi donations to the group and the Saudi state's decade-long sponsorship of Wahhabism around the world, but have concluded that there is no evidence of direct Saudi state support for ISIL.

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

There are civilian casualties on both sides of the fight in Yemen but it falls way short of "genocide".

9/11 was planned by Al Qaeda out of Afghanistan, and Saudi Arabia & AQ are at war with each other.
There is private Saudi financing of various Islamic terror groups but as one of AQ's motives has been the overthrow of the House of Saud, you can bet it's not official government help.

[FairWinds]

8. Respectfully disagree . .

as do many authorities such as HRC

http://www.salon.com/2016/10/11/leaked-hillary-clinton-emails-show-u-s-allies-saudi-arabia-and-qatar-supported-isis/

and 16 of the 19 9/11 hijackers were Saudi, as was virtually all the money involved. Mere coincidence?

former Congressman Dennis Kucinich says that the Syrian Civil War "is a Saudi project."
And there is this http://www.foreignpolicyi.org/content/fpi-bulletin-saudi-arabia-and-syrian-civil-war

[EX500rider]

9. "16 of the 19 9/11 hijackers were Saudi, as was virtually all the money involved. Mere coincidence?"

There is a big difference between private support and government support.

If some US yahoo in Alabama (or wherever) sends money the the KKK or the Nazi Party, that does not equal "US govt supports the KKK", etc

Syrian Civil War

The protests began on 15 March 2011, when protesters marched in the capital of Damascus, demanding democratic reforms and the release of political prisoners. Security forces retaliated by opening fire on the protesters.


Until 7 April, the protesters predominantly demanded democratic reforms, release of political prisoners, an increase in freedoms, abolition of the emergency law and an end to corruption. After 8 April, the emphasis in demonstration slogans shifted slowly towards a call to overthrow the Assad government. Protests spread; on Friday 8 April, they occurred simultaneously in ten cities. By Friday 22 April, protests were taking place in twenty cities. On 25 April, the Syrian Army initiated a series of large-scale deadly military attacks on towns with tanks, infantry carriers, and artillery, leading to hundreds of civilian deaths. By the end of May 2011, 1,000 civilians and 150 soldiers and policemen had been killed and thousands detained; among the arrested were many students, liberal activists and human rights advocates.

Somehow I doubt the Saudi Kingdom was behind protests calling for democratic reform.
That was a homegrown offshoot of the Arab Spring, Saudi got involved later.

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