The NY Times today published a blockbuster story about collusion between Jared Kushner and the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, to silence the scandal surrounding the savage murder of Saudi dissident journalist, Jamal Khashoggi.
Times reporters received previously unknown secret documents from inside the Saudi regime, which revealed its engagement with the Trump administration. This material, mainly in the form of a slideshow, revealed the Saudi assessment of Kushner as an inexperienced, shallow, ill-informed individual who, if cultivated properly, could be molded into a major asset of the Sunni regime.
He stupidly admitted to Saudis themselves during private talks that he knew nothing about Saudi Arabia and its historical relationship with the U.S. Though this subject doesn’t appear in the Time article, Kushner also knows next to nothing about the Palestinians, as many have pointed out. Yet in his hubris, he purports to advance a peace plan he somehow believes that both side will embrace.
But there is one party which Kushner knows, and knows well: Israel. In fact, during his visits to the U.S. several decades ago, Bibi Netanyahu used to sleep in young Jared’s bed in the Kushner home. So Jared knows precisely what Bibi wants him to know. He is Israel’s made-man. And now Saudi Arabia’s.
MBS proceeded with a carefully constructed plan to cultivate Kushner. After Trump was elected, the former sent senior officials to open a channel to the president via the son-in-law, who was viewed as a
trusted confidant, and thus a key to access. Nor did Kushner disappoint. He lobbied hard inside the administration to support MBS’ hopeless war in Yemen. He succeeded in cancelling the Iran nuclear agreement against the advice of senior officials like Secretary of State Tillerson and Defense Secretary Mattis.
In return, Kushner brought home the bacon: the Saudis pledged to buy hundreds of billions in U.S. military hardware. They pledged to bring the Palestinians to heel so that the president’s Golden Boy could realize his dream of sealing a peace deal between them and the Israelis.
Kushner and White House Lied About Extent of Secret Saudi Contacts
Despite assurances from the White House that Kushner’s direct contacts with MBS were both limited, and vetted through proper channels, including the National Security Council, Kushner maintained regular, informal communications with the Saudi de facto ruler.
When the Saudi hit team murdered Khashoggi, Kushner was on the phone within days outlining a plan which would satisfy the White House and the rest of the world that the regime had nothing to worry about. This is an extremely important matter since, in effect, one of the president’s closest advisors was not just suggesting ideas, but helping direct a Saudi cover up of a major crime.
In effect, MBS and his entourage are a Middle Eastern crime family. They eliminate dissenters at will. They extort hundreds of billions from the richest and most powerful figures in the country. They flaunt their own wealthy hypocritically by spending more hundreds of billions in Old Master paintings whose authenticity isn’t even guaranteed.
A Tale of Two Crime Families
Kushner too represents another sort of crime family. An American real estate family whose wealth was earned by doing business with world-class thieves needing to launder their billions by investing in U.S. real estate. Both he and his father in law knew their buyers were dirty. They not only didn’t care, they welcomed funds that were looted from the treasuries of multiple foreign states.
Then the American people promoted Trump and Kushner to the highest office in the land. From there they could take their con to a whole new level. Instead of remaining satisfied with plying their trade in New York real estate, they could now expand their ambitions to the entire world: negotiate deals not just with rich individuals, but with entire governments. They took the art of hondeling on real estate deals to a whole new level.
Right now, no one knows precisely where this will lead. OF course, many of us where we would like it to lead. But impeachment or resignation is many steps down the line and many ducks will have to be lined up in a row for it to happen.
Who Hacked the Saudi Documents?
The Times noted twice in its article that the slideshow prepared by Saudi officials detailing their involvement with Kushner came from the Lebanese newspaper, Al Ahkbar. It is affiliated with Hezbollah. The Lebanese Islamist group is closely allied with Iran. Which immediately raises the prospect that much of the material in the Times’ report was not only hacked from Saudi government computers, but that the party which hacked them was Iranian intelligence.
There is a bitter irony here: MBS and his henchmen, according to recent Times reporting, bought the malware of the world’s leading cyber-hacking companies. They spent tens of millions buying Pegasus, a product of Israel’s NSO Group, which “broke” the phones of the prince’s leading opponents. This permitted him to know everything they did; what they wrote; who they ‘conspired’ with; what they said. The spyware successfully targeted the phone of one of Khashoggi’s closest collaborators, and no doubt was used to track the former’s whereabouts and trap him in the net that led to his death.
But apparently, the Saudis were far less careful protecting their own secrets. The Iranians or some other rival broke into their most secret government computer systems and stole critical documents which implicated both the Saudis and the Americans in a blatant, cold-blooded cover-up of murder.
Oh the irony of the criminals being hoisted on their own petard!
There is also the possibility that agents of Qatar might have been involved. But the latest indications are that MBS, in his current distress, is seeking to mend fences with the Qataris. Therefore, it’s less likely they would drop this bombshell in American media.
Iran knows it is in the crosshairs both of the Saudis and high level officials in the Trump administration like John Bolton and Mike Pompeo, who’s aggressively lobbied for a regime change approach. It is in the Iranian interest to weaken both MBS and the Trump administration. It knows that if Trump falls, it will be more likely a Democrat will win the White House in 2020. That offers a far more pragmatic approach to U.S.-Iran policy than the current one.
@Richard
“Kushner brought home the bacon: the Saudis pledged to buy hundreds of billions in U.S. military hardware”
Fact check, please.
There have been six State Department announcements of approval of Saudi sales, totalling just $4 billion, and, it was Obama who offered Saudi Arabia $115 billion in deals, about half of which resulted in actual sales.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/10/11/trumps-billion-arms-sales-saudi-arabia-still-fake/?utm_term=.77699facf6bc
Cyber weapons, like Pegasus, tend to be double-edged swords, and a necessity in today’s world.
“The Saudis had understandable reasons for arming themselves in cyberspace. Iran had reportedly launched the “Shamoon” virus in mid-2012, crippling tens of thousands of Saudi computers that took nearly half a year to repair. The kingdom also faced deadly terrorist threats, especially after the fireball of the Islamic State exploded across Syria and Iraq in 2014
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/how-a-chilling-saudi-cyberwar-ensnared-jamal-khashoggi/2018/12/07/f5f048fe-f975-11e8-8c9a-860ce2a8148f_story.html?utm_term=.e24e5137f28f
@ Fast Lane: Cyber weapons are no more “necessary” than nuclear weapons. And they are a double edged sword because the sword you raise will be raised against you. Proven by the hack (probably by Iran) of Saudi secret docs confirming that Kushner is a Saudi intelligence asset.
The Kingdom faces these threats not because it is a poor pitiful victim, but because it is a brutal, kleptocratic regime intent on bullying its own citizens and its Shiite neighbors. Stop the bad behavior and the threats stop. HOlds true for Israel as well.
The United states have always represented the interests of Israel in the ME. Kushner just made it more blatant than ever. The Saudi’s playing his wish to benefit Israel to further their own agenda; delicious that this came out now.
@Elisabeth.
The United States and Saudi Arabia have had a ‘special relationship’ that dates back to before World War 2, and pre-dates the creation of the State of Israel
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137025258_6.
The United States wasn’t a real ally of Israel until after the 1967 War, when Israel proved itself a potent bulwark against the Soviet Union’s Arab allies.
Israel’s main military patron had been France, and, President John Kennedy had worked very hard to prevent Israel acquiring nuclear technology, and Kennedy’s predecessor, President Eisenhower opposed Israel and her allies during the Suez War, 1956.
https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/When-Ben-Gurion-said-no-to-JFK
Blah blah blah. In negotiations with the Palestinians the US have represented Israel for decades. Pro-Israel think tanks promoted the Gulf war etc. etc.
“Potent bulwark” huh? How exciting. Sounds like the name of one of these Israeli slaughter campaigns in Gaza. Or maybe the next one in Lebanon. Always the good neighbor.
[comment deleted: You are now banned for being a fraud.]
@ Fast Lane: Not quite. The U.S. and Saudi Arabia have only had an alliance since WWII and it is solely based on Saudi oil. It is not based on values or any other commercial interests.
The U.S. voted for Israeli statehood and has been an important ally since 1947. It is true that the current status of slavish embrace didn’t commence till the 6 Day War, but the U.S. was instrumental in Israel getting the bomb. It stole uranium with the help of Arnon Milchan and the U.S. did nothing to pursue the culprits. Kennedy and Johnson also looked the other way as Israel developed the bomb at Dimona. Kennedy permitted Abe Feinberg to raise tens of millions here to fund Ben Gurion’s bomb. It did NOT work hard to prevent the bomb. ON the contrary, it was willingly hoodwinked into permitting it to happen.
As for Eisenhower, he was an anomaly. Truman and every president following Eisenhower were pro-Israel through and through.
Please no more ersatz Zionist history lessons.
[comment deleted: anyone who uses the moniker “Muslim Zionist” is ipso facto a fraud and will not have a comment published here]