WTF? A UAE Bailout?

This Donny move needs to be spotlighted.

I recently read that Donny is considering a taxpayer bailout of an oil rich country, the UAE….

President Trump said he is considering a financial bailout for the United Arab Emirates (UAE), an autocratic state experiencing an economic downturn due to the war in Iran. If the Trump administration does use public resources to rescue the UAE, it will be assisting a country that has partnered extensively with the Trump Organization and the Trump family.

On Sunday, the Wall Street Journal reported that UAE Central Bank Governor Khaled Mohamed Balama “raised the idea of a currency-swap line” during meetings in Washington, D.C., last week with Treasury Department and Federal Reserve officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Officials from the UAE said that they “had so far avoided the worst economic effects of the conflict but might still need a financial lifeline.” According to the Journal, a formal request has not yet been made.

UAE officials argued that the war between the U.S. and Iran could damage the country’s economy and harm its global financial standing. The war has already damaged the country’s oil and gas infrastructure, and Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz has cut off oil shipments that are a key source of dollar revenue.

https://popular.info/p/trump-floats-taxpayer-bailout-for

I say bollocks to that!

Donny will do anything for his oil buddies….including throwing taxpayer money at them to preserve his standing with the wealthy.

Let them learn what it is like.

Then after ranting about this situation I read that the UAE is considering leaving OPEC….

The United Arab Emirates said Tuesday that it will leave the oil cartel OPEC and its wider OPEC+ group effective Friday, a move rumored for some time as the Emirates chafed under production restrictions and increasingly had frostier relations with neighboring Saudi Arabia. The UAE has been a longtime member of OPEC, first through its emirate of Abu Dhabi in 1967 and later when the UAE became its own country in 1971, reports the AP. But the UAE has been increasingly trying to leverage its own foreign policy in the Middle East, which has contradicted some positions of Riyadh over time—particularly as Saudi Arabia began to directly challenge the Emirates in trying to draw foreign investment as the kingdom opened up under assertive Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

“This decision reflects the UAE’s long-term strategic and economic vision and evolving energy profile, including accelerated investment in domestic energy production, and reinforces its commitment to a responsible, reliable, and forward-looking role in global energy markets,” the UAE said via its state-run WAM news agency. “Following its exit, the UAE will continue to act responsibly, bringing additional production to market in a gradual and measured manner, aligned with demand and market conditions.”

Saudi Arabia long has been considered a heavyweight of OPEC, an oil cartel based in Vienna that has seen some of its market power wane as the United States increased its production of crude oil in recent years. Saudi Arabia and the UAE increasingly have competed over economic issues and regional politics, particularly in the Red Sea area. The two countries had joined together in a coalition to fight against Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels in 2015. However, that coalition broke down into recriminations in late December, when Saudi Arabia bombed what it described as a weapons shipment bound for Yemeni separatists backed by the UAE. Saudi broadcasters long based in Dubai, the economic hub of the UAE, have pulled back to the kingdom in recent months as tensions rose.

Come Friday the UAE will be an independent oil producer…..what will that mean?

OPEC just lost a cornerstone member at the worst possible time. The United Arab Emirates’ decision to walk away from the producers’ group strips OPEC of about 13% of its capacity and one of its few members able to quickly pump more oil—right as war in Iran has shut the Strait of Hormuz and scrambled Middle East alliances, reports the Wall Street Journal. “It’s the hardest blow ever,” Homayoun Falakshahi, a senior oil analyst at commodities data company Kpler tells the newspaper. “It raises the question about whether OPEC can survive.” The sentiment is widespread:

  • It’s “the beginning of the end” for the alliance, Saul Kavonic of MST Financial tells the BBC. The UAE is OPEC’s fourth-largest producer behind Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Iran, accounting for about 3.6 million barrels a day, or 3% of the global supply, per the New York Times.
  • The effect on prices will be minimal in the short term because of the war, but the longer-term effect is harder to gauge. Greater volatility is one likelihood, per the Times. “But beyond the oil market implications, a deeper fault line is at play,” per Semafor. “The UAE’s move is the latest sign that it is no longer willing to go along with historic alliances it views as unnecessary purely for the sake of harmony.”
  • The nation has been signaling a break with OPEC for a while as its ties with Saudi Arabia in particular have frayed, per Reuters. The UAE no longer wants to be constrained by OPEC quotas, and it “would have both the incentive and the ability to increase production, raising broader questions about the sustainability of Saudi Arabia’s role as the market’s central stabilizer,” analyst Jorge Leon of Rystad tells the outlet.
  • One other common refrain is that the move is seen as a win for President Trump, who has previously complained that OPEC was “ripping off the rest of the world” with inflated prices, per Reuters. The BBC sees the move as opening the door to closer ties between the US and the UAE.
  • The break leaves 11 core members at OPEC, notes the Washington Post: Algeria, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.

Bet prices go up.

Why is no one talking about a taxpayer bailout for a foreign country?

This is going to bite the US in the ass in several ways.

Need I say more?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Dash Through The Middle East

Our Clueless Leader is on a state visit to the Middle East, well not the whole region just the to the ones with the most cash to spread around, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar, I believe his first trip on his first admin was to Saudi as well and I remember the creepy photo of him and the Saudi king holding a shimmering orb.

So what’s up with this visit?

Follow the cash.

The Saudis will be getting a sweetheart weapons deal from the US and do not forget that there is the promise of another Trump Tower in the capital.

And then on to Qatar where he will schmooze the emir and of course take ownership of that luxury Air Force One that will be donated to him (and he has said when (and if) he retires it will be part of a presidential library)

As a reminder, it’s actually unconstitutional for presidents to profit from or receive compensation from foreign governments—but that hasn’t stopped Trump one bit. The Trump family’s Middle East real estate plans include a Trump-branded golf course in Qatar (as part of a $5.5 billion development project), a $1 billion Trump hotel and residence in Dubai, and a $2 billion cryptocurrency investment by an Abu Dhabi firm into one of Trump’s cryptocurrency projects, the World Liberty Financial coin.

The family also revealed in December that it would be expanding its presence in Saudi Arabia, announcing Trump Tower Jeddah. The price tag for the building has not been made public, but one of the developers on the project, Dar Global, compared it to another $530 million Trump Tower in the city, reported Reuters.

https://newrepublic.com/post/195205/donald-trump-syria-sanctions-business-deal

The Trump Organization has similarly partnered with Dar Global on a Trump Tower set to be built in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and an upcoming Trump International Hotel and luxury golf development in neighboring Oman.

During the crypto conference, a state-backed investment company in Abu Dhabi announced it had chosen USD, World Liberty Financial’s stablecoin, to back a $2 billion investment in Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. Critics say that allows Trump family-aligned interests to essentially take a cut of each dollar invested.

While visiting these countries that are stroking his ego Donny met with the Syrians and announced the dropping of sanctions on that nation.

Trump told reporters that he wanted to give Syria a “fresh start” by lifting sanctions.

Proponents of more US engagement with Syria hoped that getting Trump into a room with Sharaa, who remains a US-designated terrorist over his al-Qaeda past, could help soften the Republican administration’s thinking on Damascus and cool an increasingly tense relationship between Syria and Israel.

“Sharaa wants a business deal for the future of his country,” Bass said earlier, noting it could cover energy exploitation, cooperation against Iran and engagement with Israel.

“He told me he wants a Trump Tower in Damascus. He wants peace with his neighbours. What he told me is good for the region, good for Israel.”

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-tower-syria-sanctions-meeting-b2750667.html

There it is….a Trump Tower in Damascus that was probably the best selling point for Donny’s decision.

Let’s not forget the UAE…..

Eric Trump announced plans for an 80-story Trump Tower in Dubai, the UAE’s largest city. He also attended a recent cryptocurrency conference there with Zach Witkoff, a founder of the Trump family crypto company, World Liberty Financial, and son of Trump’s do-everything envoy to the Mideast, Steve Witkoff.

“We are proud to expand our presence in the region,” Eric Trump said last month in announcing that Trump Tower Dubai was set to start construction this fall.

The presidential visit to the region, as his children work the same part of the world for the family’s moneymaking opportunities, puts a spotlight on Trump’s willingness to embrace foreign dealmaking while in the White House, even in the face of growing concerns that doing so could tempt him to shape U.S. foreign policy in ways that benefit his family’s bottom line.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-business-interests-family-middle-east-cryptocurrency-cbb7d2354304ce0308800819944cf3f8

And I bet you thought I was being a dick when I said follow the cash.

This visit is to promote Donny and his profitable enterprises not what is best for this country and its people.

When will the American people awaken from this nioghtmare?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Wannabe ‘King’s’ New Ride

Little Donny is on his second overseas trip this time he will visit Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar…..the visit is said to be for talks on the Middle East….while on the visit to Qatar he will accept delivery of his new Air Force One from the Qatari government.

U.S. President Donald Trump—no stranger to allegations of blatant corruption—faced an onslaught of criticism on Sunday in response to ABC Newsreporting that his administration is preparing to accept “what may be the most valuable gift ever extended to the United States from a foreign government.”

Ahead of Trump’s trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, sources told ABC that the administration “is preparing to accept a super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from the royal family of Qatar—a gift that is to be available for use by… Trump as the new Air Force One until shortly before he leaves office, at which time ownership of the plane will be transferred to the Trump presidential library foundation.”

The unnamed sources also explained that “lawyers for the White House counsel’s office and the Department of Justice drafted an analysis for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth concluding that is legal for the Department of Defense to accept the aircraft as a gift and later turn it over to the Trump library, and that it does not violate laws against bribery or the Constitution’s prohibition (the emoluments clause) of any U.S. government official accepting gifts ‘from any king, prince, or foreign state.’

…

Amid the uncertainty, a range of people across the internet blasted the supposed plan, slamming it as “indefensible,” “incredibly illegal,” and “comically corrupt.” Some critics pointed out that the reporting comes after the Trump Organization, the Saudi partner DarGlobal, and a company owned by the Qatari government last month reached a deal to build a luxury golf resort in Qatar.

Some critics highlighted security concerns. One legal expert declared, “An emolument and security risk all wrapped up in one!”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-air-force-one

If a new Air Force One is needed what was wrong with American manufacturer, Boeing?

This incident should keep the tongues wagging for some time or at least until the next bombshell that falls out of Donny’s mouth.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

There Is A Middle East Deal

Trump announced yesterday that there is a deal between the UAE and Israel that effects all parties in the conflict….here it is…..

President Trump said Thursday that the United Arab Emirates and Israel have agreed to establish full diplomatic ties—part of a deal to halt the annexation of occupied land sought by the Palestinians for their future state, per the AP. The announcement makes the UAE the first Gulf Arab state and only the third Arab nation to have active diplomatic ties to Israel. Trump, who helped broker the deal, per Reuters, tweeted a statement from the countries. He then told reporters in the Oval Office that it was “a truly historic moment,” adding, “now that the ice has been broken I expect more Arab and Muslim countries will follow the United Arab Emirates.” The recognition grants a rare diplomatic win to Trump ahead of the election, as his efforts to end to the war in Afghanistan have yet to come to fruition while efforts to bring peace between Israel and the Palestinians have stalled.

  • For Israel, the announcement comes after years of boasting by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that his government enjoys closer ties to Arab nations than publicly acknowledged. Netanyahu has sought to build settlements on lands sought by the Palestinians and embraced a Trump proposal that would allow him to annex large parts of the occupied West Bank while granting Palestinians limited autonomy in other areas.
  • For the UAE, home to skyscraper-studded Dubai and the rolling, oil-rich sand dunes of Abu Dhabi, it further burnishes its international campaign to be seen as a beacon of tolerance in the Middle East despite being governed by autocratic rulers. It also puts the UAE out first in a regional recognition race among neighboring Gulf Arab states.
  • For the Palestinians, who long have relied on Arab backing in their struggle for independence, the announcement marked both a win and setback. While Thursday’s deal halts Israeli annexation plans, the Palestinians have repeatedly urged Arab governments not to normalize relations with Israel until a peace agreement establishing an independent Palestinian state is reached.

The only state that benefits is Israel.

UAE has broken with the prevailing policies…..

The deal should be seen in the context of over three years of Trump administration policies that have tightened Israel’s grip on the Palestinians: moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, recognizing the Golan Heights as Israeli territory, and creating a so-called peace plan with no Palestinian participation or input. While no US administration has successfully brokered a resolution to Israel’s now 53-year-long occupation, the Trump years have been especially detrimental to the Palestinian cause. Palestinian leader Hanan Ashrawi wrote on Twitter that with this deal, “Israel got rewarded for not declaring openly what it’s been doing to Palestine illegally and persistently since the beginning of the occupation.” Indeed, with Donald Trump at the helm and son-in-law Jared Kushner as the primary strategist, even concessions for Palestinians have been done away with. To add insult to injury, while the deal had been couched in terms of a commitment by Israel to suspend annexation of Palestinian territories, in his Israeli press conference announcing the deal, Netanyahu said annexation was “still on the table” and that it was something he is “committed to.”

Among the most brutal aspects of this period for Palestinians have been the loss of support for their cause in neighboring Arab states. The Arab political party in Israel, Balad, said that by signing this pact, “the UAE has officially joined Israel against Palestine, and placed itself in the camp of the enemies of the Palestinian people.”

Don’t Be Hoodwinked by Trump’s UAE-Israel ‘Peace Deal’

Al this did was cease illegal destruction to Palestinian property that will only be a “pause” and not the end of the illegal activities of the Israelis.

I have seen where some think this is a success for the Trump maybe his first success in over 3 years. 

Really?

Who really benefits from this deal?

Only Israel and UAE…Palestinians are screwed as they always are…..the policies that keeps Palestinians down remain in place……and now the UAE is partner to all the human rights violations of Israel.

Then there is the true winners of this so-called “Deal”……M-IC!

With US officials hyping the historic Israel-UAE peace deal, experts say it could easily lead to a surge in US arms sales to the UAE, as it will open up more willingness to sign off on such deals.

Which isn’t to say that the US doesn’t already sell a substantial amount of arms to the UAE as it is. Congress questions such moves, however, and has even tried to block them on some occasions over Yemen war crimes.

And while that’s never been an obstacle for the administration, Congress may find the environment has changed, especially if Israel is suddenly inclined to go to bat for them in lobbying efforts, something Trump will likely emphasize.

The most controversial arms sales are usually the priciest, and the UAE is often in line to buy the newest, most expensive US arms. Being buddy buddy with Israel has been shown by nations like Egypt to work in the past, and may well help with deals here.

As usual it is more about PROFITS than anything else!

Where is this a success?

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

On The Arabian Peninsula

So much is happening these days while the pandemic has our attention diverted to national stuff….the peninsula in the Middle East is heating up…..

Let’s begin with the UAE……they recently co-signed a demand against Qatar and they demanded that Qatar end all ties with terrorist organizations….

Numbers 3 and 4 are of interest…….

3) Sever ties to all “terrorist, sectarian and ideological organisations,” specifically the Muslim Brotherhood, ISIL, al-Qaeda, Fateh al-Sham (formerly known as the Nusra Front) and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Formally declare these entities as terror groups as per the list announced by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE and Egypt, and concur with all future updates of this list.

4) Stop all means of funding for individuals, groups or organisations that have been designated as terrorists by Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Bahrain, US and other countries.

I bring up this because of the news I read…..after their demand for Qatar…..

The United Arab Emirates will be placed under a year-long observation by a global finance watchdog for failing to stem money laundering and terrorist financing. Abu Dhabi, says the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), is not doing enough and has been urged to take extra measures to avoid being included on an international watchlist.

“Generally, fundamental and major improvements are needed across the UAE in order to demonstrate that the system cannot be used for money laundering and terrorist financing,” said FATF in a report compiled after a 14-month investigation.

UAE failing to stem money laundering and terrorist financing, says watchdog 

Again Saudi Arabia forcing their neighbors to fall in-line with their desires……

Speaking of KSA…..mismanagement is driving the Kingdom to the point of bankruptcy….even with all the oil they are blowing it big time……and it all comes down to oil prices…..

On 6 March, the OPEC+ cartel failed to agree on a cut in oil production in the light of reduced demand due to the coronavirus pandemic affecting almost every country in the world. All of this came in the middle of a global financial crisis. Saudi Arabia proposed the cut, and OPEC members accepted it, but Russia, which is OPEC’s “+”, spearheaded the call to reject it.

“We have made this decision because no consensus has been found of how all the 24 countries should simultaneously react to the current situation,” Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters after the OPEC+ meeting in Vienna. “So as from April 1, we are starting to work without minding the quotas or reductions which were in place earlier, but this does not mean that each country would not monitor and analyse market developments.” Hours later, oil prices plummeted.

Mismanagement is driving Saudi Arabia towards bankruptcy

Speaking on oil prices……

Trump has told KSA that they need to cut their oil supply or lose  US funds….

In an April 2 phone call, Trump told Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that unless the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) started cutting oil production, he would be powerless to stop lawmakers from passing legislation to withdraw U.S. troops from the kingdom, four sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The threat to upend a 75-year strategic alliance, which has not been previously reported, was central to the U.S. pressure campaign that led to a landmark global deal to slash oil supply as demand collapsed in the coronavirus pandemic – scoring a diplomatic victory for the White House.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/special-report-trump-told-saudis-cut-oil-supply-or-lose-us-military-support-sources/ar-BB13pCYe

What about this pandemic?

The world is on the cusp of a geopolitical reset. The global pandemic could well undermine international institutions, reinforce nationalism and spur de-globalization. But far-sighted leadership could also rekindle cooperation, glimmers of which appeared in the G-20’s offer of debt relief for some of the world’s poorest countries, a joint plea from more than 200 former national leaders for a more coordinated pandemic response and an unprecedented multinational pact to arrest the crash in oil markets.

The remarkable effort to address the turmoil in the oil markets will be critical to oil’s eventual balance — although the past two weeks have shown that its promised production cuts were too slow and insufficient in the face of oil demand’s plunge. The challenges and opportunities that the collapse in the oil market is pushing to the fore are perhaps just the first taste of Covid-19 induced geopolitical crises that world leaders and policy makers will need to grapple with in the coming months and years.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-04-29/covid-19-oil-collapse-is-geopolitical-reset-in-disguise

So much is happening on the Peninsula…..and so much is being overlooked by the MSM…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Yemen: More Confusion Within Confusion

The war on Yemen by the Saudis and the UAE have been raging for years…..causing much devastation and death as well as a huge humanitarian crisis.

Recently I read some good news, at least I thought it was, about the UAE’s position in this war…..

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) may have finally learned what Washington will not: that armed interventions with ambiguous aims, unreliable allies, and no exit strategy are doomed to disaster.

Such interventions will rapidly deplete a nation of its blood and treasure while yielding an abundance of dangerous second- and third-order consequences. That’s why, after four years of fighting, the UAE announced that it is withdrawing a significant percentage of its forces from Yemen. It will now pursue a “peace first” strategy as opposed to a “military first” strategy.

The narrative around the UAE’s withdrawal from Yemen has been carefully managed in the American media with the help of some sympathetic Washington-based think-tanks. The shift in policy has been cast as a “mission accomplished” moment for the UAE. But the UAE is getting out of Yemen not because it is winning—or has won—but because the country’s leadership understands they cannot win. 

Why the UAE Cut Their Losses and Pulled Out of Yemen

So twenty days later I read that UAE is still involved and killing civilians in Yemen…..

An estimated 20,000 fighters involved in the Saudi-led invasion of Yemen split in half earlier this month, with half backed by the UAE and a separatist movement, and the other half Saudi-backed forces loyal to the Hadi government.

That fighting has raged, but the Saudis and UAE had talked of working something out. Thursday suggests the chances of a deal are shrinking, with the UAE getting directly involved in the fighting, and launching airstrikes against Saudi-backed government forces.

The UAE confirmed its involvement in the airstrikes, saying it was engaged in self defense of its forces, as well as civilians threatened by “terrorist militias,” and insisting it was in keeping with international law.

Yemen’s President Hadi, however, is angry with the “blatant aerial bombardment,” and is calling for the UN Security Council to hold a session. Hadi also called on the Saudis to directly intervene militarily against the UAE.

Saudi officials haven’t addressed that possibility, but historic closeness to the UAE makes it unlikely. Still, this could mean a third war-within-a-war for Yemen.

(antiwar.com)

As my grandmother use to say…..”Clear as mud”…..

Only thing to say about Yemen is that there is nothing good to say about the war on Yemen…

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

Once Around The Horn

I have written a bunch about the Arabian Peninsula…..the policies of Saudi Arabia and the situation with Qatar and in all that time only a mention has been given to the policies of the UAE…..I will try to change that……

Let’s begin with the Horn of Africa……for those not quite sure…..

Image result for horn of africa images

As you can see the importance of this region for a lot of the crude flows through this region….oil that is…Texas Tea, black gold….yada yada….

I have written about this region before (listed in further reading section at the close of this post)…..it seems that all nations are trying to get that toe hold in this region….US, Russia, China and now the UAE…..

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has emerged in recent months as an important protagonist in the Horn of Africa. Through political alliances, aid, investment, military base agreements and port contracts, it is expanding its influence in the region. A recent manifestation came in the summer of 2018, when Eritrea and Ethiopia announced – after a flurry of visits to and from Emirati officials – that they had reached an agreement to end their twenty-year war. Emirati and Saudi diplomacy and aid were pivotal to that deal. Elsewhere, however, Gulf countries have played a less constructive role. Competition between the UAE and Saudi Arabia, on the one hand, and Qatar on the other, spilled into Somalia beginning in late 2017, aggravating friction between Mogadishu and Somali regional leaders. Abu Dhabi’s relations with the Somali government have collapsed. As its influence in the Horn grows, the UAE should build on its Eritrea-Ethiopia peace-making by continuing to underwrite and promote that deal, while at the same time looking to reconcile with the Somali government.

https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/gulf-and-arabian-peninsula/united-arab-emirates/b65-united-arab-emirates-horn-africa

UAE is interested but they are by no means the only ones…….

  • Arab Gulf states are intervening more assertively in sub-Saharan Africa to capitalize on economic opportunities and protect their security interests.
  • They view Africa as a relatively uncontested arena in which they can experiment with foreign interventions as part of their strategy to prove their rising status on the world stage.
  • The impact of Gulf states’ rivalries in Africa is becoming increasingly damaging, as their zero-sum rivalry has provoked retaliations, which have dangerously destabilized vulnerable parts of Africa, such as during the fallout to the GCC crisis.

https://www.csis.org/analysis/gulf-scramble-africa-gcc-states-foreign-policy-laboratory

What does it say when our supposed “allies” show the shame adventurism for conflict that this country does?

Read!  Learn Stuff!

Further Reading:

https://lobotero.com/2016/08/29/chinese-presence-in-africa-shows-global-ambition/

https://lobotero.com/2014/07/22/all-around-the-horn/

https://lobotero.com/2018/01/23/djibouti-the-d-is-silent/

http://hornofafrica.ssrc.org/

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/what-is-saudi-arabia-up-to-in-the-horn-of-africa/

Have Gun Will Travel

As long as I am writing about assassination…….

Does anyone remember the Western from the 60’s?  Paladin–does it ring a bell?  Never mind….don’t hurt yourself it was a TV western about a hired gun and weekly he made the decisions of life and death…..Richard Boone played probably the first anti-hero hero….

But I digress!

I bring this up because of something that is being reported……there seems to be an hired American hit team operating for the UAE……

It’s “almost like a murder squad,” an incredulous former CIA official told BuzzFeed News. The site had called him for comment as it dug into a potential bombshell of a story: that former elite US special operations fighters were assassinating high-profile figures in Yemen, but not as part of a military operation. Rather, the targeted killings allegedly came at the request of the United Arab Emirates, which had engaged the private US company the former fighters now work for. The CIA official told BuzzFeed this simply wasn’t possible. Then he asked around and called back: “There were guys that were basically doing what you said.” So what is BuzzFeed saying? Aram Roston centers much of his lengthy piece around what he says was a planned Dec. 29, 2015, hit, staffed by employees of the Delaware-incorporated Spear Operations Group.

Spear’s founder is Abraham Golan, “a charismatic Hungarian Israeli security contractor who lives outside of Pittsburgh,” whose employees—a former Green Beret and former Navy SEALs among them—were to kill Anssaf Ali Mayo, a key figure in a political party the UAE sees as having terror ties (critics counter this). Roston recounts Golan and his team flying to the UAE and receiving a 23-person hit list while on board; Golan viewed the targets as “legitimate,” as Roston puts it, because the UAE selected them, and the US backs the UAE’s military efforts. Things went awry with Mayo; they managed to bomb the party’s HQ, but had no proof Mayo was dead, and he seems to still be alive. But Roston sees the attempt on his life as an opening salvo, with “members of Al-Islah, and other clerics in Aden [subsequently] dropping dead at an alarming pace.” Golan says his team was behind a number of those hits. Read Roston’s full piece, which explores the “surprisingly unclear” question of whether Spear’s alleged actions are illegal under US law.

The excuse for this rings hollow but also is used to justify the murder of Khashoggi…..

Once again mercs being used to do the dirty work that governments want to keep their hands clean….plausible deniability.

The report made me think of the TV show but it also lead me to something that was a secret until recently……Murder Inc…..when I was in the service of my country there was a group operating internationally their title was “Service 7″….it was an assassination squad from Bulgaria…..

“The Bulgarian state security services had a super-secret special bureau responsible for the eradication, kidnapping or discrediting of Bulgarian émigrés around the world long before the notorious assassination of Bulgarian writer Georgi Markov in London in 1978.

The SMERSH-style Cold War clandestine structure was called ‘Service 7’. It began operations in mid-1963 and by 1972 was engaged in at least 10 cases against Bulgarians who escaped to Italy, Britain, Denmark, West Germany, Turkey, France, Ethiopia, Sweden and Switzerland before 1989.

https://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/opinion/murder-bureau-department-of-murders-existed-in-bulgaria/

More on these American mercs……

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/aramroston/mercenaries-assassination-us-yemen-uae-spear-golan-dahlan

There was a time after Vietnam when I actually thought about becoming a merc or at least joining the Foreign Legion….but the birth of my daughter changed all that silliness.

There use to be a consequence for fighting in a war not declared by the US…those days are gone…sadly this trend is very disturbing.

Further Reading if you would like to know more……

https://lobotero.com/2018/05/15/wars-we-dont-know/

https://lobotero.com/2018/10/03/afghanistan-october-2018/

https://lobotero.com/2017/08/11/dont-privatize-the-afghan-war-just-end-it/

Yemen, An American War

For a couple of years the Saudis have been trying to kill every Yemeni on the planet simply because they can and with the help of their butt buddies, UAE.

Before I explain the title here are a couple of short vids that will help my reader understand…..

This war has created a huge humanitarian crisis that seeks to want to ignore…..

Now that my reader is as caught as one can be in this short span of time I would like to report on America’s fingers in this war……

Mike Pompeo’s certification earlier this month that the Saudi coalition was working to reduce harm to civilians in Yemen was an obvious sham. According to a new report in The Wall Street Journal, Pompeo made the decision to lie for the Saudis and Emiratis because he feared it would hurt arms sales:

Mr. Pompeo overruled concerns from most of the State Department specialists involved in the debate who were worried about the rising civilian death toll in Yemen. Those who objected included specialists in the region and in military affairs. He sided with his legislative affairs team after they argued that suspending support could undercut plans to sell more than 120,000 precision-guided missiles to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to a classified State Department memo and people familiar with the debate.

Even with a Trump as Our DEar Leader some thin gs NEVER change…..the Neocon tools will lie their asses off to keep America fighting wars and enriching the M-IC who own the Neocons lock, stock and barrel…….

Pompeo has always been a Neocon so please take anything he says about international relations with a grain of salt for his real loyalties lie with the M-IC.

To add to the misery of being bombed into the stone age, having to deal with epidemic outbreaks now news has come out that the food supply will run out within two months……

Yemen has only enough food to sustain its population for two to three months, CARE International has warned, as fears rise that the country’s main port could close as a result of increased Saudi-led coalition airstrikes.

If Hodeidah’s port is sealed off or put out of action, CARE’s Yemen Director Johan Mooij calculates that Yemen’s food supplies will last two to three months, taking into account the World Food Programme’s (WFP) stockpiles and estimated levels of commercial foods sourced from traders.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/yemen-food-supplies-two-months-charity-warns-a8551481.html

The only good news that could come from Yemen is that the Saudis will stop killing civilians and let peace have a chance.

Saudis Throw A Hissy Fit

There has been report after report that the Saudis and the UAE have been ignoring civilians when ordering these attacks…….After 2 separate attacks and the deaths of 60+ children in Yemen the UN finally has issued a report on the action of the Saudis…..The report noted Saudi and UAE forces killed thousands of civilians in airstrikes, tortured detainees, raped civilians, and used child soldiers as young as eight. The two nations repeatedly hit residential areas and there is “little evidence of any attempt by parties to the conflict to minimize civilian casualties.”

After the report was issued the Saudis threw one of their fits…..

the UN confirmed in considerable detail misdeeds by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, killing thousands of civilians in Yemen, raping and torturing detainees, and using child soldiers. The report warned these may amount to war crimes.

While they didn’t specifically dispute any of this, Saudi Arabia was predictably furious about the report, angrily condemning it as having “misconstrued the facts of the conflict… ignoring the true reasons for the conflict,” while saying that it was an Iranian coup against the “legitimate government in Yemen.”

(antiwar.com)

Not to worry….the Saudis will be protected by the US and the UK among others…..not to worry the Saudis have many “friends” on the Security Council so their position will be protected.

Many have asked just what does the US truly get for its undying support for the Saudis?

Ever since Franklin Roosevelt’s historic rendezvous in 1945 with Abd Aziz Ibn Saud, the founder of Saudi Arabia, American presidents have been enamored with Saudi kings.

But nothing in the 70 plus-year history of U.S.-Saudi ties comes close to the cosmic groveling that now defines President Donald Trump’s relationship with Saudi Arabia and his slavish obeisance to its dangerous and irresponsible policies.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/08/29/trump-mbs-saudi-arabia-yemen-middle-east-foreign-policy-219617

Personally, I think it is time to end our undying support for the Saudis and their allies and demand a cessation of hostilities in Yemen….end the cycle of death for the people of Yemen…..

If the US were to follow the rules of warfare written into US military law and treaties to which the US is a party, the US must immediately end its support for the Saudi Arabia-led war in Yemen. We should also marshal all of its diplomatic tools to end the conflict. Since 2015, Saudi Arabia, and allies such as the United Arab Emirates, have been waging a devastating war in support of the former government of Yemen against the current Houthi regime. Amnesty International has called the conflict a “forgotten war” because its deadly consequences have failed to rise to the level of international crisis in media or government agendas. However, under former President Barack Obama and now Donald Trump, the US has been complicit in war crimes and the creation of a completely preventable humanitarian nightmare for the people of Yemen

https://original.antiwar.com/Jared_Keyel/2018/08/30/no-more-forgotten-wars-end-us-support-for-saudi-coalition-war-crimes-in-yemen/

After writing this draft the Saudis have accepted they may have screwed the pooch on these attacks…..

The Saudi-led coalition fighting rebels in Yemen admitted on Saturday that “mistakes” had been made in an August air strike that hit a bus and killed 40 children, and pledged to hold accountable anyone who contributed to the error.

The rare concession follows mounting international pressure, including from allies, to do more to limit civilian casualties in a civil war that has killed more than 10,000 people and pushed the already impoverished country to the brink of famine, Reuters said.

(antimedia.com)

Do not believe it!  My guess is the PR group told them to take credit and the story would die…if they did not the backlash would be great and a story for all times.

In closing…..the US involvement in this conflict is not guilt free…..

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/08/yemen-us-blood-on-hands.html