Guest Post by Patrick J. Buchanan
If the crown prince of Saudi Arabia has in mind a war with Iran, President Trump should disabuse his royal highness of any notion that America would be doing his fighting for him.
Mohammed bin Salman, or MBS, the 32-year-old son of the aging and ailing King Salman, is making too many enemies for his own good, or for ours.
Pledging to Westernize Saudi Arabia, he has antagonized the clerical establishment. Among the 200 Saudis he just had arrested for criminal corruption are 11 princes, the head of the National Guard, the governor of Riyadh, and the famed investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.
The Saudi tradition of consensus collective rule is being trashed.
MBS is said to be pushing for an abdication by his father and his early assumption of the throne. He has begun to exhibit the familiar traits of an ambitious 21st-century autocrat in the mold of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey.
Yet his foreign adventures are all proving to be debacles.
It is my sincere desire to provide readers of this site with the best unbiased information available, and a forum where it can be discussed openly, as our Founders intended. But it is not easy nor inexpensive to do so, especially when those who wish to prevent us from making the truth known, attack us without mercy on all fronts on a daily basis. So each time you visit the site, I would ask that you consider the value that you receive and have received from The Burning Platform and the community of which you are a vital part. I can't do it all alone, and I need your help and support to keep it alive. Please consider contributing an amount commensurate to the value that you receive from this site and community, or even by becoming a sustaining supporter through periodic contributions. [Burning Platform LLC - PO Box 1520 Kulpsville, PA 19443] or Paypal
-----------------------------------------------------
To donate via Stripe, click here.
-----------------------------------------------------
Use promo code ILMF2, and save up to 66% on all MyPillow purchases. (The Burning Platform benefits when you use this promo code.)
The rebels the Saudis backed in Syria’s civil war were routed. The war on the Houthi rebels in Yemen, of which MBS is architect, has proven to be a Saudi Vietnam and a human rights catastrophe.
The crown prince persuaded Egypt, Bahrain and the UAE to expel Qatar from the Sunni Arab community for aiding terrorists, but he has failed to choke the tiny country into submission.
Last week, MBS ordered Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri to Riyadh, where Hariri publicly resigned his office and now appears to be under house arrest. Refusing to recognize the resignation, Lebanon’s president is demanding Hariri’s return.
After embattled Houthi rebels in Yemen fired a missile at its international airport, Riyadh declared the missile to be Iranian-made, smuggled into Yemen by Tehran, and fired with the help of Hezbollah.
The story seemed far-fetched, but Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said the attack out of Yemen may be considered an “act of war” — by Iran. And as war talk spread across the region last week, Riyadh ordered all Saudi nationals in Lebanon to come home.
Riyadh has now imposed a virtual starvation blockade — land, sea and air — on Yemen, that poorest of Arab nations that is heavily dependent on imports for food and medicine. Hundreds of thousands of Yemeni are suffering from cholera. Millions face malnutrition.
The U.S. interest here is clear: no new war in the Middle East, and a negotiated end to the wars in Yemen and Syria.
Hence, the United States needs to rein in the royal prince.
Yet, on his Asia trip, Trump said of the Saudi-generated crisis, “I have great confidence in King Salman and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, they know exactly what they are doing.”
Do they? In October, Jared Kushner made a trip to Riyadh, where he reportedly spent a long night of plotting Middle East strategy until 4 a.m. with MBS.
No one knows how a war between Saudi Arabia and Iran would end. The Saudis has been buying modern U.S. weapons for years, but Iran, with twice the population, has larger if less-well-equipped forces.
Yet the seeming desire of the leading Sunni nation in the Persian Gulf, Saudi Arabia, for a confrontation with the leading Shiite power, Iran, appears to carry the greater risks for Riyadh.
For, a dozen years ago, the balance of power in the Gulf shifted to Iran, when Bush II launched Operation Iraqi Freedom, ousted Saddam Hussein, disarmed and disbanded his Sunni-led army, and turned Iraq into a Shiite-dominated nation friendly to Iran.
In the Reagan decade, Iraq had fought Iran as mortal enemies for eight years. Now they are associates, if not allies.
The Saudis may bristle at Hezbollah and demand a crackdown. But Hezbollah is a participant in the Lebanese government and has the largest fighting force in the country, hardened in battle in Syria’s civil war, where it emerged on the victorious side.
While the Israelis could fight and win a war with Hezbollah, both Israel and Hezbollah suffered so greatly from their 2006 war that neither appears eager to renew that costly but inconclusive conflict.
In an all-out war with Iran, Saudi Arabia could not prevail without U.S. support. And should Riyadh fail, the regime would be imperiled. As World War I, with the fall of the Romanov, Hohenzollern, Hapsburg and Ottoman empires demonstrated, imperial houses do not fare well in losing wars.
So far out on a limb has MBS gotten himself, with his purge of cabinet ministers and royal cousins, and his foreign adventures, it is hard to see how he climbs back without some humiliation that could cost him the throne.
Yet we have our own interests here. And we should tell the crown prince that if he starts a war in Lebanon or in the Gulf, he is on his own. We cannot have this impulsive prince deciding whether or not the United States goes to war again in the Middle East.
We alone decide that.
Is this looking a little Daniel eleveny/twelvey?
Could just be me.
And I’m not a snob about which version of this interesting book you prefer. I find the fact so many online translations exist so easily accessed helpful when looking for a version that suits my purpose best.
I like the ISV most of the time, but depending on what sort of word I’m after, Daniel offers up some great prophetic imagery suitable for a 4th Turning of Highest Order:
Daniel 11International Standard Version (ISV)
11 1 In year one of King Darius the Mede, I arose to fortify and strengthen him.’”
International Conflicts to Come
2 “‘Now I’ll tell you the truth: Pay attention! Three more kings will arise in Persia. Then a fourth will gain more than them all. As soon as he gains power by means of his wealth, he’ll stir up everyone against the Grecian kingdoms.
3 “‘A mighty king will come to power, and he’ll rule with awesome energy, doing whatever he pleases. 4 However, after he has come to power, his kingdom will be broken and parceled out in all directions.[a] It won’t go to his succeeding descendants, nor will its power match how he ruled, because his sovereignty will be uprooted and given to successors besides them.
5 “‘The southern king will become strong, along with one of his officials, who will become stronger than he and rule over his own realm with great power. 6 After a number of years, they’ll become allies and the daughter of the southern king will go to the northern king in order to craft alliances. But she won’t remain in power, nor will he retain his power. Instead, she’ll be surrendered, along with her entourage, the one who fathered her, and the one who supported her at that time.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel+11&version=ISV
Nice, Reverend Martha! Got exegesis?
1). Who, TODAY, are the three kings in PERSIA?
2). Who is the 4th king more powerful than them all?
3).Who is the southern king?
4). Where is Saudi Arabia mentioned?
5). Has this prophecy ever been fulfilled, or was it (at the time it was written) entirely futuristic? If futuristic, how do you know which future?
That’s all. You should be able to knock these out of the ballpark between bunny thumpings. Thank yeew.
People who ask difficult questions should be stoned.
QuranDeZara,verse1
I try to not let reality interfere with prophecy. New bunny babies are hanging in there in spite of the mother taking the nesting box as her private sleeping place and using hay and her fur to make a nest for the kits in the corner. Meaning I don’t have a clue if they will make it or what makes a mature doe do such a crazy thing.
It’s not even good history. Darius only reluctantly went after the greeks because they had been raiding coastal cities in Persian-controlled Ionia. The King of Kings was obligated to defend his subject Kings. His campaigns against them were somewhat half-hearted. It was his son Xerxes who vowed to subdue those pesky Greeks once and for all. It is natural for a son to wish to achieve more than his father did, especially one who is a King. Darius I was a great King so those were big shoes to fill. That dream ended at Salamis.
We’ll see. The Saudis have been the tail wagging the dog since the early 70’s when Nixon convinced them to use the US Dollar instead of gold in exchange for oil propelling the dollar to be the world’s reserve currency.
To sweeten the deal, Nixon promised US security of Saudi Arabia. Remember the first Gulf War?
Things are better now concerning oil since we are producing more here at home. Had this shitstorm started under Batears we’d be in an economic crisis in short order.
I agree with Buchannan insomuch that we need to stay out of this. If the sand people want to kill each other off then so be it. It’s not our concern unless it threatens our national security.
What about oil supplies?
Stucky, we got so much oil it is ridiculous to worry about the supply we have available.
Political moves blocking its use by the anti petroleum people might be another matter we have to deal with before it is available on the market though.
Fuck it, Stuck. We’ll just buy it like anything else.
Yeah, they buy lots of pretty stuff that goes BOOM! from the USA!USA!USA!
But when you think of lean mean fighting machines .. do you EVER think of Saudis??
Iran will kick their Princey asses in two weeks. Three, tops.
“The U.S. interest here is clear: no new war in the Middle East, and a negotiated end to the wars in Yemen and Syria.”
No that might be Buchanan’s choice and the desire of Putin but it certainly doesn’t mean it is to the advantage of the United States. Letting Iran run amok in the Arab world doesn’t seem to suit the Arabs either. Let’s apply Occam’s Razor here.
A large missile ( Scud derivative) with a warhead in excess of 1000lbs flies hundreds of miles over Saudi Arabia and is shot down over Riyahd. Look at a map. Riyadh is closer to Iran than Yemen! Anyone seriously think lightly armed ‘Houthi Rebels’ are building IRBM in their backyard workshops? Come on. Hezbollah doesn’t have missile of this size and range in its arsenal and Hamas homemade rockets have a range of just a few kilometers not hundreds of miles. Either Werner Von Braun has been reincarnated as a Houthi tribesman or Iran launched that missile!
MBS has had enough. For better or worse he appears to be willing to roll the dice now and why not. Iran, courtesy of the Obama Administration will, sooner or later, mate an atomic warhead with its North Korean derived missiles and become immune to Saudi Air power. MBS realizes time is not on his side. If there is to be a war with Iran, Saudi Arabia and the Arabs need for it to happen now.
Letting SAUDI’S run amok in the Arab world…….
Oh yes, much preferable for them to start a war with US weaponry and support.
What has Iran done to deserve being attacked?, probably as little as Gaddafi and Assad = zilch.
I thought I just covered that. Launching a ballistic missile at its neighbors capital ought to do for a start!
If a missile fired from Cuba was shot down over Reagan National and the missile was of North Korean manufacture… well, see the problem!
The missile was launched from Yemen you idiot. SA only claimed it was mfg’d by Iran.
Also, what you are saying, since the US is the biggest exporter of weaponry around the world, and those weapons are used at other countries, the countries of the world should attack the US.
You are an idiot.
In 1962 Kennedy did not accuse Cuba of being in possession of missiles capable of attacking the United States even though he had photographic evidence of those missiles sitting on Cuban territory. Itjust wasn’t possible for Cuba in 1962 to possess such missiles. They had to be Russian!
The exact same circumstance applies in regards to the missile fired from Yemen that reached Riyadh. It is simply not possible for a primitive rebel army to have a long range guided missile. Iran HAD to have fired it.
It was a missile made in Yemen. Hello, Gulf of Tonkin anyone?
The Saudis have been blockading Yemeni ports for many months. Iran has tried to send some humanitarian aid but even that has been almost impossible to send. Yemen is a long way from Iran. Just how in the fuck are they supposed to be arming the Houthis anyway?
“Iran is running amuck”. Where’d you get that info Mike Fucking Morrell?
Yemen has lots of old missils bought from North Korea and China . The houthis have captured lots from national stocks. What was fired at Riyadh was an old Chinese rocket. Scuds are low level tech. Basically it’s like catapulting a mini bus filled with explosives . Saudis declared war on Yemen,get their arses kicked by a ragtag outfit ,so they need to blame someone. House of Saudi doesn’t have long left .
Forget about reining in anyone. The only viable option is to leave, now before we have to.
ISISraHell won’t like that.
People seem to be both critical of Saudi Arabia being what it is and about someone trying to change it.
They’re trying to be the masters of sitting on both sides of the fence?
If Trump’s Aryan Princess daughter had married an Iranian, we’d be backing the Shia, but she married a Heeb. If Trump’s rise hadn’t been so improbable, I’d wonder if the matchmaker was Robert Kagan. Given Trump’s incipient neoconism, you’d think even Bill Kristol would be in his corner by now. All we can hope is that Trump’s sword dance in Arabia was just for show and that he’ll enjoy thwarting Jared’s schemes – on account of the punk putting the wood to the princess.
Some major power will always control the middle east until either oil is no mas or we have found a reliable substitute for it.
Do we want it to be the US,Russia,China,or some other nation?
The real power controlling the ME is Islam.
Everyone else is just trying to influence it.
You will not ‘find’ a substitute for oil. There may be processes in the future that can manufacture a substitute.
Short article that contrasts income distribution between the respective govts and their people in Iran and Saudi Arabia.The article implies that Iran does it better.
The Axis of Evil (NeoCons, Israel, KSA ) have been trying to suck Iran into wars outside Iran for 20 years to beat them down and hopefully ignite a major Mideast war so the Axis of Evil can bomb Iran. We should smash the ZOG Snakes’s head and send all it’s supporters to their other Dual Passport Country.