2018-04-03 at 8:08 AM UTC
aldra
JIDF Controlled Opposition
Muhammad bin Sultan (MbS) has given a high-profile interview in US foreign policy mouthpiece The Atlantic - he's officially admitted that Saudi princes have funded extremist Islam groups around the world, but has laid the blame on those he's had arrested on 'corruption' charges. In the same interview, he's officially stated that KSA now fully supports Israeli statehood and his only issue is with jedi handling of Muslim holy sites.
It's important to understand that MbS has long handled much of his father the Sultan's affairs, and that he himself was one of the key orchestrators of the Syrian unrest - intercepted radio recordings indicate that he took a personal hand in ordering strikes by the 'FSA' and ISIS alike. He appears to be attempting to wash his hands of the whole Syrian affair given it appears to be fast-turning into a standoff between Turkey and US proxies - a split of loyalties between their ostensible ally the US and Islamic 'brothers' in Turkey could be disastrous for the state. This also coincides with the US lawsuit against KSA over the failed WTC landings in 2001, and can be seen as a defensive manoeuvre to deflect the pending trial.
The bit about Israel is more important than it seems as well - KSA sees itself as a 'leader of the Islamic world', and almost certainly expects others, especially the Gulf states, to fall in line - it'll be interesting to see who does... Qatar in particular would likely tell them to get bent, but given the immense economic pressure on them it's likely they're unable to defy the order. On the other hand, your everyday Arab hates Israel with a passion, so states aiming to side with Israel will have their share of domestic pushback.
In short - my guess is that KSA is cutting it's terrorist losses and attempting to consolidate what remains of it's power. Closer ties with Israel are a worrying hint at action against Iran; the only thing they see as a threat considerable enough to force them to work together.
Along with Trump's recent remarks, I believe the 'coalition' is pulling their forces, conventional, terrorist and otherwise, out of Syria because they'll soon be needed elsewhere. They comprehensively lost the war there months ago but refused to admit it - the question now is, since Syria is no longer going to be the staging ground against Iran, where is?
2018-04-06 at 12:23 AM UTC
Damn, Jim Stone might be going down
He might be a kook sometimes but he was a great investigative journalist
2018-04-06 at 12:43 AM UTC
aldra
JIDF Controlled Opposition
I'm not familiar, searched him and his site's still up.
UKRAINE - Ukrainian authorities have intercepted a Crimean fishing boat, interrogated and tortured the sailors and is threatening to charge them with treason.
Amusingly their basis for this is that Crimea is Russian occupied territory, but they refuse to allow Russian diplomats access to the sailors because they don't recognise them as Russian nationals... Which begs the question of what they've been 'arrested' for in the first place.
Ukrainian authorities claim they will continue to arrest (/abduct) such vessels from the Azov sea and Kerch Strait which they claim as Ukrainian national waters, but which are actually recognised as shared Russian-Ukrainian EEZ.
2018-04-06 at 4:43 AM UTC
aldra
JIDF Controlled Opposition
That entire investigation was a bad joke. The 'parties to the investigation', including the Ukraine, one of the possible suspects, were all able to veto any information that could be 'potentially damaging'.
When it came down to it, almost all physical evidence was ignored (including ballistic analysis by the company that made the BUK-M1 missiles claimed to have downed the plane) in favour of two things that 'proved Russia's guilt' -
1. Unsourced, undated, unverified and at an unknown location, photos of a BUK/GADFLY missile launcher missing one missile
2. Unsourced and unverified radio chatter implying Russian co-ordination, entered into evidence by the SBU in the last days of the 'investigation'
2018-04-06 at 5:51 AM UTC
aldra
JIDF Controlled Opposition
"If my plane explodes, ask the CIA about it" - Duerte
2018-04-06 at 6:32 AM UTC
aldra
JIDF Controlled Opposition
YEMEN - The Saudis appear to be getting desperate here - they've been trying to push the Yemenis back from their southern border for the last few weeks, but have had roughly zero success.
KSA is relying on African mercenaries, mostly Sudanese, as a ground force coupled with western-inherited air superiority tactics. The mercenaries, though, are poorly trained and unable to properly co-ordinate air support, leading to the Yemeni military pulverising them and falling back before the airstrikes can do any serious damage.
2018-04-08 at 5:33 AM UTC
aldra
JIDF Controlled Opposition
lol, not even the 'Syrian Observatory for Human Rights' (A guy in London with a bunch of rebel contacts and the western media's go-to expert) will confirm it was a chemical attack... I'll wait until a little more information surfaces.
At the moment it's unverified with the only real source being the White Helmets, and they're claiming it was a chlorine gas attack but that there may be other chemicals present.
