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So there's a coup underway in Saudi Arabia?
So Jared Kushner goes on a secret mission to Saudi and days later this happens? Coincidence?
...From the inimitable @lrozen
...From the inimitable @lrozen
And all this hours after Lebanon's Prime Minister resigns, saying he fears assasination. bbc.co.uk/news/world-mid… /3
Probably unrelated but Israeli PM Netanyahu was in London meeting May for Balfour Declaration anniv. this week. theguardian.com/world/2017/nov… /4
More informed twitterers than me are guessing that it may be a crack-down following a failed coup attempt. /5
A report from the ground - talk is of failed Saudi Arabian coup. /6
More contemporaneous background, Kuwait's Govt. resigned this week too, on Monday /7 petra.gov.jo/Public_News/Nw…
The "Anti-corruption" explanation in Kuwait's Govt. dismissal and Saudi's official announcements def similar. /8
Report that TV Network Owners all arrested - in Saudi Arabian Crown Prince's crackdown. /9
Apparently not everybody thinks its all madness in the streets of Riyadh
/9
/9
Bloomberg report on arrests of princes & change of National Guard command - in Saudi Arabia tonight. bloomberg.com/news/articles/… /10
Around the same time as the stories emerged a Yemeni rebel ballistic missile was intercepted over Riyadh. edition.cnn.com/2017/11/04/mid… /11
Whatever's happening, Prince Mohammad bin Salman (a.k.a. MBS) is in the driving seat. Son of King Salman. /14 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_…
Thread...
Iran FM SPOX on to resignation of Lebanese PM Hariri, blames Zionist plot to destabilise Arab world. /15
Iran FM SPOX on to resignation of Lebanese PM Hariri, blames Zionist plot to destabilise Arab world. /15
Neither @nytimes nor @washingtonpost have a story up yet on the breaking news in Saudi Arabia. On TV @BBCNews not reporting either. /16
Reuters on the developments in Saudi .
Saudi Arabia detains princes, ex-ministers in anti-corruption drive
reuters.com/article/us-sau… /17
Saudi Arabia detains princes, ex-ministers in anti-corruption drive
reuters.com/article/us-sau… /17
The Reuters report is only two paras so far. /18
More helpful is this report from @Haaretz
Lebanese PM Harrari's resignation is said to be down to the Saudis. /19
Lebanese PM Harrari's resignation is said to be down to the Saudis. /19
Harrari had visited Saudi Arabia twice in recent days, where it seems he was told to choose his allegiance between Saudi and Iran. /20
<< Hariri, who holds both Saudi and French passports, was having trouble deciding whether he was “Saudi or Iranian.” >> /21
Adding another mystery to today's events, @realDonaldTrump's tweet from this morning. /22
Now I don't want to seem too alarmist or conspiratorial but taken together there is possibly a pattern of things going on here. /23
On 25th October Jared Kushner travelled to Saudi Arabia on an unannounced visit, his third to the country. politico.com/story/2017/10/… /24
On an earlier trip to Saudi with his Father-in-law in May Kushner & Trump green-lighted a Saudi seige of Qatar. theintercept.com/2017/07/10/jar… /25
Kushner returned from his latest trip on Saturday 28th October. Nobody knows what he was doing, but he's supposed to be seeking ME peace./26
On Monday the Emir of Kuwait sacked his Govt. citing on the pretext of an anti-corruption crackdown. /27
Also this past week Lebanon's PM Harriri travelled twice to Saudi Arabia. He resigning yesterday, probably due to a Saudi ultimatum. /28
Harriri says he was frightened of being assassinated, Saudi Arabia was apparently incensed at the growing influence of Hezbollah. /29
Hezbollah is closely allied to Iran, chief backer of Houthi rebels who have been lobbing ballistic missiles in the direction of Riyadh. /30
Contemporaneously this week speculation has been mounting r.e. Saudi Arabia's plans to float Oil Giant Aramco. nytimes.com/2017/10/24/bus… /31
This morning Trump departed on a critical tour to Asia where he will be visiting one of the U.S. competitors for Aramco funding, China. /32
10 Hours ago Trump tweeted that he would like Aramco to list on the NYSE. /33
Simultaneously @AlArabiya_Eng reports Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman has launched an anti-corruption crack down . /35
So that is the timeline, the countdown to tonight's Saudi Coup. But what's behind it? What kind of deal might Jared Kushner have done? /36
Occam's razor suggests that if Kushner did do a deal with MBS, the security and Aramco moves are both involved. /37
With Mueller breathing down their necks, Trump and Kushner are both looking for a miracle to keep them out of jail. /38
Back in May Kushner's Qatar seige deal involved Trump green-lighting an aggressive military/trade move by Saudi Arabia against a rival. /39
In a similar deal, Kushner, for Trump, could have agreed to Saudi cleaning its house & shaking some neighbouring trees, Lebanon/Kuwait. /40
MBS could have sold this deal on the basis it would also help him to have decision making power for Saudi Arabia on the Aramco float. /41
& given Kushner's ties to Netanyahu, & Trump's strongly held views, it's
possible there was also some discussion re Iran containment. /42
possible there was also some discussion re Iran containment. /42
The BBC is finally reporting on events in Saudi Arabia. Apparently MBS is planning on getting rid of extremism.
bbc.com/news/world-mid… /43
bbc.com/news/world-mid… /43
Over on @CNN, the broadcaster is reporting, not the Saudi arrests, but rather the serious escalation of the conflict with Yemeni rebels. /44
