oils up on royal purge in Saudi Arabia

[fishtank]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...=.05798779d071

is happening very fast,... earlier this year the us sign a 100+billion$ arms deal with them in may.

First, Saudi officials reported they had intercepted and destroyed a "ballistic missile" northeast of Riyadh fired by Houthi rebels in Yemen, where a Saudi-led intervention has turned into a protracted, ruinous war — and now a full blockade of Yemen, announced late Sunday. Second, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced his resignation while on a visit to Saudi Arabia, a move that surprised many analysts and plunged his country into yet another political crisis. Then, in the late hours of Saturday, Saudi authorities conducted what appears to be a far-reaching purge, detaining more than two dozen royal family members, cabinet ministers and prominent businessmen in a sweep that further consolidates the position of the young crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.


Among those caught up in the crackdown is Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, head of the elite Saudi National Guard and a favored son of the late King Abdullah. Also rounded up was Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a flamboyant billionaire with a record of investments in high-profile Western companies and a conspicuous Twitter feud with President Trump. Reports indicate that those detained are being quartered in Riyadh's posh Ritz-Carlton hotel.

[urban rednek]

It is looking like the Saudi version of "draining the swamp". It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
I wonder how this will affect America's stance on negotiating with terrorists?

[mgvande]

Saudi Arabia is getting threatened by Iran. A missile just came from Yemen the other day. There is going to be some big changes in the Middle East soon. I wonder if the angle of becoming less fundamentalist and letting woman drive and the like is a publicity stunt so the American govt can sell another war to the public backing the Saudis against Iran?

[Drewski Canuck]

So just how did these Houthi rebels manage to create a ballistic missile? Let alone develop a guidance system targeting Rhiyad?


Or did someone just "lend" them a few to take for a test ride?


From the little I know about Saudi Arabia, and its rising middle class, it seems that they are ripe for a reaction to the excess spending by the Royal Family, to the exclusion of the citizens.

Drewski

[mgvande]

I think Iran tends let terrorists do a trial run on such things.

[Newview01]

So we should ask ourselves, what is really going on here? I’ll be there is a lot more than meets the eye.

[79ford]

I think that is just positioning, most totalitarian regimes purge out the non allegient as some one new moves into power. Look at China and the government that moved in there. North Korea, Russia etc. These guys still run a medeival kingdom to this day,

Oil seems to be finally turning around, us inventories are dropping, european inventories are down, people are burning more. If opec co tinues to be greedy and doesnt unplug the 1.8 million barrels they have been holding back they can probably pull prices up alittle ways.

People have gotten pretty complacent in the oil market, it wouldnt take much to rattle off some complacency and get some panic going for awhile anyways

[EZM]

I think I agree with most of you here - there's more to it than we see. How the west can "tolerate" and "accept" what's really going on there is just asinine. This "kingdom" has bribed and stroked the ego of the West in exchange for a blind eye to their own backwards medieval policies.

This will get far uglier before it gets better IMO. Just another scam playing out here.

[The Elkster]

This is definitely a "targeted" cleanup to consolidate power. The excuse of cleaning up corruption is pretty funny given everyone over there is crooked in one way or another but whatever. Every western country will stand idly by while it happens because the alternative is even less desirable. We've already seen what happens repeatedly when you remove a strong regime from power in some of these tribal/religious area's. Dictatorships may not be the best but a power struggle between religious radicals is hardly a better alternative.

[mgvande]

If this Iran/Saudi thing esculates to a war. Everyone will be affected. This isn't looking good. Just watch oil prices sky rocket when Iran sends some missiles at Saudi oil ports or production infrastructure.

[ReconWilly]

Got to get that central bank into Iran come hell or high water!

North Korea too!

Don't forget about Cuba...