Arms, Oil and Militant Wahhabism Is the Basis of US-Saudi Relationship

The timing of the US deliberate attack was geared to Trump’s Saudi visit. It has the additional great advantage, from the point of view of the White House, of distracting attention from the US-backed, Saudi-led war on Yemen and Trump’s own domestic woes. Trump even rewarded his hosts with a $110 billion arms package aimed at bolstering Saudi occupation of Yemen that is effective immediately and could expand up to $350 billion over 10 years. The deal includes tanks, combat ships, missile defense systems, radar and communications, and cybersecurity technology.

This clearly shows that Saudi Arabia has greatly expanded its spending on influence peddling during the past two months. Perhaps not coincidentally, President Trump, who less than a year ago vilified Saudi Arabia’s influence over the American political establishment, is now marching to the Saudi lobbyists’ tune, a regime responsible for widespread human rights violations, a growing humanitarian crisis in Yemen, Syria, and Iraq, and the export of Wahhabism across the globe.

The Saudi lobbying expenditures, totaling billions of dollars, eclipse other established interest groups in Washington. Like others seeking to influence the US government, Saudi Arabia invests in lobbyists with close connections to both major political parties. They include a wide array of Democratic and Republican elected officials, retired government officials, and even pundits and journalists. The expansive Saudi lobbying team has attempted to shape the debate on issues as varied as whether the victims of the September 11 attack may file a lawsuit against Saudi Arabia, arms deals used for the Saudi-led war on Yemen, and Trump’s Iran bashing. These are only the tip of the iceberg of the repressive regime’s campaign to influence US politics through funds, think tanks, universities, and political foundations.

This is supposed to provoke outcry from the United Nations, human rights organizations, international aid groups, pundit class, and suchlike. But no. The "fakestream” media in the West never condemns Trump’s massive arms deal with Saudi Arabia, much less his support for the Saudis to continue to slaughter residents of a neighboring country and suppress domestic dissent. There is no condemnation, no moral preening, and no sense that any line has been crossed.

Some press outlets and rights groups might say instead of using his presidency to be a salesman for the arms industry, Trump should be a statesman for the suffering Yemenis. But that’s all really. They will never be able to force Trump to use his visit to press for a ceasefire and negotiations to end the twin wars on Yemen and Syria. Trump has used this trip to support Saudi Arabia’s aggressive agenda, aggravate sectarian tensions, bash Iran, and further enrich US weapons makers. He never bothered to put a halt to weapons sales and press the despotic Middle Eastern ally to sit down with Iran and other regional players to find a political solution to the devastating regional conflicts, starting with Yemen and Syria.

All this was expected. The United States needs Saudi Arabia more than ever. When all other sources of economic growth appear tapped out, there is always the Military-Industrial Complex coming to the rescue with the sale of arms and equipment to the world's biggest purchaser of weapons: Saudi Arabia. The main purpose behind Trump’s May 20 visit was precisely that: selling weapons.

According to the White House press pool report, Saudi Arabia is also going to hire US companies as a result of this new arms deal. The goal of the deal is to invest a lot of money in the US and have a lot of US companies invest and build things in the US. The vast funds which will boost the US arms sector will be spent to "address Saudi Arabia's defense needs while scaling back US military involvement in specific operations.” The ultimate goal is to encourage the Persian Gulf Arab states to form their own alliance like the North Atlantic Treaty Organization military alliance, dubbed "Arab NATO.”

To be sure, it's not just weapons. It’s also oil. Saudi Aramco is set to sign initial accords and joint-venture agreements valued at about $50 billion with companies including General Electric Co., Schlumberger Ltd. and Halliburton Co. Saudi Arabia is the largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the bloc that controls around 40 percent of the world's oil. Because the US was until recently the world's top oil importer, an alliance with Saudi Arabia makes geopolitical sense.

Which brings us to the conclusion that arms, oil, and militant Wahhabism is the basis of US-Saudi relationship, particularly when it comes to their control of the Middle East. To this end, they have struck a secret deal which logistically enables the death cult of ISIL to go to fight the Syrian government.