Free Republic

What was once planned as a quick visit to Israel-and-the-Palestinians by President Biden has become a three-way affair, with Saudi Arabia not only added to the itinerary, but has become the main event, the meeting in Riyadh with the Saudi Crown Prince will overshadow his lightning visits to Jerusalem and Bethlehem. In Israel, Biden will attend the Maccabiah Games and no doubt discuss with Prime Minister Bennett ways for Israel to tamp down “tension” in the area – even though all such tension is provoked by the Palestinians – and he will repeat, in his conversations with both Israel...

WASHINGTON (AP) — One month ahead of President Joe Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia, the District of Columbia is renaming the street in front of the Saudi embassy Jamal Khashoggi Way, trolling Riyadh for its role in the killing of the dissident Saudi activist and journalist in 2018. With members of the D.C. Council in attendance, a Jamal Khashoggi Way sign was unveiled directly in front of the embassy’s main entrance. “We intend to remind the people who are hiding behind these doors ... that we hold them responsible and we will hold them accountable for the murder of our...

The Federal Reserve is making up for Bernanke and Yellen’s “too slow to remove” Fed stimulus policies (QE1 – QE3) and Powell’s Covid-related QE4. Now The Fed is trying to remove the stimulus in a (misguided) attempt to cool inflation. Remember, the dramatic rise in prices was caused by more that Fed stimulypto, it was also caused by Biden’s executive orders driving up oil, gasoline and natural gas prices and the massive Federal spending bills signed by Biden. The result of The Fed’s jawboning about undoing Fed stimulypto is take away the punch bowl. But the results are troubling. Both...

Nearly three years after promising to make Saudi Arabia a "pariah," President Joe Biden is set to extend an olive branch to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman following months of reproach. The White House confirmed Monday that Biden will visit the oil-rich nation this summer, the culmination of an 18-month rollercoaster that started with Biden ostracizing Crown Prince Mohammed, commonly known as MBS, and ends with his administration trying to win back MBS' affections as gas prices soar due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Attempts by US officials to convince the Saudis to pump more oil have been unsuccessful so...

Alarm! Particularly if you are a pension fund and hold US Treasuries and Agency Mortgage Backed Securities. The bad news is that the 10-year US Treasury Note declined in price, sending the yield up over 10 bps today. As The Fed is projected to raise its target rate over 10 times by February 2023, 10-year Treasury Note prices and agency MBS 3.5% prices continue to decline. Here is a video of The Biden Administration and The Federal Reserve attacking pension funds and Social Security.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman shouted at President Joe Biden's national security adviser when he was pressed on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi and said he would not help the U.S. out by pumping more oil. The staggering decline of U.S.-Saudi relations under the Biden administration was outlined in a Wall Street Journal report Last September, Biden National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with the Saudi Crown prince, who goes by his initials MBS, at a seaside palace. Sullivan brought up Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist who was murdered in 2018 in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. MSB shouted...

Two decades after Saudi Arabian militants masterminded and carried out the September 11 attacks, the desert kingdom is striving for change in a reform drive aimed at updating its ultra-conservative image. Women can drive and cinemas have reopened in the "new" Saudi Arabia under crown prince and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman, among many modernising reforms that some believe can be linked to the trauma of 9/11. The initiatives are "one of the long-term consequences" of the worst terrorist attack on US soil, Yasmine Farouk of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told AFP. Fifteen Saudis were among the...

In a rare, fascinating and far-reaching interview broadcast on the Al-Arabiya, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sent a not-too-subtle signal to Pres. Biden that if the White House turns away from Riyadh, the Saudis are cultivating other options. MBS seemed to send a not-so-subtle warning to Biden and his team that the U.S. is not the only game in town, that the Saudis were working hard to diversify their portfolio of global allies. “We’re also working on strengthening our alliances with our partners throughout the world,” not just with the U.S. but with “the UK, France, Europe, other countries…such...

The Biden administration is set to make public a report that blames Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman for the 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi. The Washington Post journalist was a fierce critic of the kingdom and killed at the Saudi consulate in Turkey. CBS News senior White House correspondent Weijia Jiang joins CBSN to discuss the report and how it could affect the U.S. relationship with the kingdom.

The fund is chaired by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, a self-confessed games fan The Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) has reportedly purchased over $3billion (£2.1billion) worth of stocks in an array of major video game publishers. In a report by Al Jazeera, the SEC filings of the PIF detail an investment in Activision Blizzard, Take-Two Interactive, and Electronic Arts over the course of the fourth financial quarter of last year. The fund is chaired by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, who has been seen to take an interest in video game companies in the past. His charity,...

Washington (CNN) A former top Saudi intelligence official who fell out with the Saudi Crown Prince is alleging that an assassination squad traveled from Saudi Arabia to Canada to try to kill him just days after journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered by members of the same group, according to a new legal complaint filed Thursday by the alleged target, Dr. Saad Aljabri, in DC District Court. Aljabri accuses the Kingdom's powerful crown prince and defacto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, of dispatching the hit team to murder him just over a year after Aljabri fled from Saudi Arabia...

A prominent Saudi princess has appealed to the kingdom's king and crown prince to release her from prison as the holy month of Ramadan began, according to a letter published on her official website and Facebook account. Princess Basmah Bint Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, 56, a businesswoman, writer and rights activist, went missing in March 2019. Only recently did she publicly communicate that she has been held at Ha'ir prison in the capital Riyadh for over a year and is sick. The youngest child of the late King Saud, Princess Basmah has been particularly critical of the kingdom's treatment...

In a post oil era, Mohammed bin Salman would lose his power of patronage but the collapse of Saudi economy is bad news for the regionSaudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) can no longer plead youth or inexperience. That time has passed. What you see is what you get. The misrule, blunders and war associated with him as crown prince will only continue with him as king. The full repertoire of the crown prince's statecraft was on display in a stormy telephone call he made to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the eve of an Opec meeting last...

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has rolled the dice with a US$ 374 million bid to acquire storied British soccer club Newcastle United. If approved by Britain’s Premier League that nominally maintains a high bar for the qualification of aspiring club owners, Prince Mohammed would have demonstrated that he has put behind him an image tarnished by Saudi conduct of a five-year long war in Yemen, the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, systematic abuse of human rights and, more recently, the kingdom’s badly-timed oil price war with Russia. A successful acquisition would send a message that the kingdom...

Exclusive: Whistleblower’s data suggests millions of tracking requests sent over four-month periodSaudi Arabia appears to be exploiting weaknesses in the global mobile telecoms network to track its citizens as they travel around the US, according to a whistleblower who has shown the Guardian millions of alleged secret tracking requests. Data revealed by the whistleblower, who is seeking to expose vulnerabilities in a global messaging system called SS7, appears to suggest a systematic spying campaign by the kingdom, according to experts. The data suggests that millions of secret tracking requests emanated from Saudi Arabia over a four-month period beginning in November...

Over five years, the Saudi crown prince has steadily accumulated power by ruthlessly targeting perceived rivals and critics. Here's an overview of the hundreds of Saudis impacted When Saudi Arabia's King Salman ascended to the throne in 2015 and named his 29-year-old son, Mohammed, as defence minister and then as deputy crown prince, there was talk of the rising star who would reshape the kingdom. Five years later, Mohammed bin Salman, now apparently poised to become king, has consolidated his control and shaken the foundations of the House of Saud by ruthlessly eliminating or neutralising his perceived rivals and vocal...

Mohammed bin Salman, (MBS) then newly appointed as crown prince, left, kisses the hand of Prince Mohammed bin Nayef at a royal palace in Mecca, Saudi Arabia in 2017. Mohammed bin Nayef has been accused of treason. File photo: AFPMohammed bin Salman, (MBS) then newly appointed as crown prince, left, kisses the hand of Prince Mohammed bin Nayef at a royal palace in Mecca, Saudi Arabia in 2017. Mohammed bin Nayef has been accused of treason. File photo: AFP Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s swoop against potential royal challengers shows his concerns about his grip on power outweigh the...

SALT LAKE CITY — Sen. Mitt Romney took issue with President Donald Trump defending his relationship with the Saudi Arabian leader who allegedly ordered the hit on a Washington Post columnist. Trump said he was "extremely angry and very unhappy" about the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi but claimed "nobody has directly pointed a finger" at Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, despite U.S. intelligence and a United Nations report saying otherwise. Trump had breakfast with the crown prince in Osaka, Japan, over the weekend, but did not press him on his involvement in Khashoggi's murder. "The President’s praise for MBS,...

When you apologize for using a term that you yourself call "vulgar, crass and offensive," wouldn't you include in your apology the person against whom you used it? Apparently not, if you're Mika Brzezinski, and the person you insulted is a prominent conservative. Returning to Morning Joe today after a day off for "a family matter," Mika Brzezinski apologized for having on Wednesday's show called Secretary of State Mike Pompeo a "butt boy." NewsBusters editor Scott Whitlock reported the slur here. But whereas Brzezinski apologized "especially to the LGBT community" and to her colleagues, she didn't apologize . . ....

CAIRO - Egypt’s Christians are optimistic following the first Coptic mass in Saudi Arabia. Dozens of Coptic Christians attended the mass at a tourist facility in Riyadh. The mass, Egypt’s Christians said, reflects the tremendous changes happening in Saudi Arabia. “It even portends more change in that great country in the future,” said Father Polis Halim, spokesman of the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church. “Saudi Arabia is showing an admirable degree of tolerance that gives us a lot of hope.” The story began in May when Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz visited Saint Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in...