Bloomberg: Saudis Have a Red Carpet Ready for Trump, and a Steep Wish-List
* Kingdom’s leaders have hailed new era after frost with Obama
* But from Syria to Yemen, U.S. policy may not meet Saudi hopes
Saudi Arabia is putting on a show for Donald Trump on his first overseas trip as U.S. president. Muslim leaders will assemble in Riyadh, and there’ll be an exhibition of classic American cars as well as sports matches and concerts. An online clock counts down the seconds until the big day.
Behind the pageantry are high expectations that won’t be easy to meet.
Among Gulf leaders, enthusiasm for Trump -- who looks increasingly embattled at home -- is driven by the desire for a like-minded partner in the oil-rich kingdom’s struggle against Iran, its main Middle Eastern rival. That, to Saudi eyes, overrides his record of anti-Islamic rhetoric on the campaign trail, and his attempt to bar some Muslims from entering the U.S. once he took office.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: The leaders from primarily 50 Sunni nations are going to be at this summit .... President Trump will definitely be having an opportunity to address a Muslim audience that U.S. Presidents rarely get the chance to do. On a side note .... while researching for this post I found that about 90% of the U.S. news articles that are out there are overwhelmingly negative about President Trump and this trip .... the foreign press .... especially from the Middle East (with the exception of Iran) are overwhelmingly positive.
More News On President Trump's Foreign Trip To The Middle East
Trump, dogged by questions at home, makes first trip abroad -- AP
Seeking a new narrative, Trump embarks on trip to Middle East and Europe -- Reuters
Saudis eye Iran and ignore Trump's temperament as red carpet rolled out -- The Guardian
Royal welcome expected for Trump in Saudi Arabia -- Washington Post
Saudi Arabia says Trump visit to bolster cooperation -- Al Jazeera
Donald Trump to deliver speech on Islam to Muslim leaders in Saudi Arabia -- The Independent
Trump will speak to Muslim leaders in Saudi Arabia about radical Islam -- The Hill
A Trump Doctrine for the Middle East? -- Michael Doran, NYT
Trump Saudi visit aims to build new relationship -- BBC
President Trump's First Foreign Trip Has High Stakes at Each Stop -- Jonathan Lemire, TIME/AP
A guide to all you need to know about Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia -- Arab News
President Trump's Travel Schedule Includes Stops in Saudi Arabia, Israel, Italy and Belgium -- Newsweek
It's the foreign audience we are most concerned with at this point. Much of the US press has now rendered itself irrelevant with the steady stream of ridiculous and baseless accusations against POTUS and his team. Increasingly Americans are going to need to be relying on foreign media for them to have any understanding at all of what is happening in the world.
ReplyDeleteTo get this audience together obviously was quite an undertaking. This presents an amazing opportunity for diplomacy. I suspect DJT used many of the same types of skills used to cultivate constructive working relations with top Russian officials. Since the media was focusing on that rather than this, they have now all but destroyed a careful diplomatic process that perhaps could have ended Cold War 2 or at the very least defused tensions.
Will their hatred of DJT lead them to do the same thing here as well and work to destroy this diplomatic process as well? As in the Russian case, if this is the case here, apparently such people care more about destroying their political opponents than working constructively advancing the security and economic interests of Americans. To say that such people should be held in utter contempt is an understatement.
I find the comment above baseless. The NY Times and Wall St Journal are doing a proper job of journalism. There is a story out there that upsets you, clearly, but it is important enough that there are ongoing investigations to clarify the issues involved...those issues, still under investigation, seem to be what you deem a baseless assault upon Trump. If you had some access to translated Arabic mainline newspapers you would see that what they want for a solution to the Middle East problems jars very much with what Israel wants...it, a return to pre-war 1967 boundaries with Jerusalem as Palestinian capital. Perhaps the overseas papers are not useful. Useful in telling us the reality of this visit.
ReplyDeleteFred,
ReplyDeleteThe AP is the world's largest news wire service. And what they post is reposted by thousands of news sites. This is a typical story that discusses President Trump's trip abroad.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/Worldwide-effort-to-keep-Trump-happy-on-1st-trip-11158088.php
The dripping condescension, insults, insinuations, etc. .... this is one of worst "hit pieces" that I have seen in a long time. If the AP wrote a post like this on President Obama or his wife .... the outcry would be overwhelming.
When I was doing this post .... I had to throw out 9 out of 10 articles before finding something that at least does a decent analysis on what is expected from this trip. If I want to know if people President Trump puts ketchup on his steak .... which this AP story thinks is a big deal (while hinting how gauche it is) .... I would go to the Food section. Oh by the way .... this AP story also uses anonymous sources. Good grief.
A lot of the "foreign media" in the ME, isn't really "independent",
DeleteAnd are doing "their part" for Trumps visit
http://nomoremister.blogspot.ca/2017/05/today-in-donald-trump-is-slave-to-his.html?m=1
Fred,
ReplyDeleteThe accusations look baseless to me at this time. More energy, time, and resources has been spent investigating this than pretty much anything in the last 50 years in the US and still nothing to show for it except anonymous sources. This looks more like a "witch hunt" to me. In the witch hunt trials of the past, people were convicted and hung without a semblance of a fair trial. Will this happen here? I hope not but if some had there way about it this appears to be what would happen.
As to what I don't like about this, a careful diplomatic process with Russia that might have ended Cold War 2 and saved millions of American lives and been a huge benefit to the world, a diplomatic process that took months if not years to painstakingly put together has now been upended. This is a diplomatic process the Russians did not really need to engage in but have been willing to engage in and STILL in spite of all of this.
This has been undertaken all because SOMEONE could not accept that they lost nor did they have intellectual honesty to carefully study the matter to try and determine why they lost, reach out to the American people, and make the necessary adjustments. Now in a spasm of petty rage with the media egging the whole thing on these people seem perfectly willing to jeopardize the lives of the American people to stoke a new war with Russia, a war we didn't need, cannot afford, and lack the resources to properly prosecute.
Perhaps you are bitter and feel a certain need to do such things. I can't pretend to understand.
You may well get your scalps. Keep something in mind, when you unjustly attack someone and harm them even when they are someone that no one likes, there is a concept you would do well to understand. It's called "blowback." Get familiar with it, study it, and understand it. After all everyone knows America has experienced and will continue to experience it. The blowback doesn't always come from the party who was the direct target, in this case team Trump.
The Russians are not going to appreciate being vilified unjustly any more than you would. Retribution may come from them.
Do me a favor. Next time you need a foreign devil to blame for your shortcomings please don't pick one who has a vast nuclear arsenal pointed at us, has a long history of not being able to trust us, and has one of the best militaries and intelligence services in the world. For what its worth, they are good but even they would not have been good enough to fix an election against the vast resources HRC had, sort of like a child's water pistol against a vast army. They couldn't have even come close.
Jay,
Thanks for the link. I will check this out. For clarification when I was referring to the foreign press, I was mainly thinking about the Russian, Chinese, and some Western European sources. Unfortunately much of the western European press seems to have been overtaken by the malevolent forces that have overtaken much of the US democratic party and the US media. With that said it will not be western Europeans who will bear the blow back from this foolish behavior. It will be Americans who will bear the fruit of this. The Russian Foreign minister had this right. The US press has become little different from Pravada back during the days of the Soviet Union. Mr. Putin unfortunately has this right. At present certain powerful people in America have become schitzoid. Again, thanks for the link. I will check it out.
Jay,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link. I'm familiar with this and I think this is why those who have sought to bring DJT have thus far failed to do so. They don't understand him. In winning a war, the fist steps as Sun Tzu taught us many centuries ago is to know yourself and to know your enemy. Since his adversaries don't understand him as has been the case when he first announced his candidacy until today, they are having trouble beating him.
Now there are many legitimate reasons to oppose him and perhaps even impeach him. If one proceeded on these tracks, they might even succeed and even advance their own interests and those of the American people. While he may yet be brought down over Russia, this is based upon falsehoods. As such, this type of thing never ends well. If it happens, blowback should be expected. As I've pointed out elsewhere, this blowback may not come from the aggrieved party but rest assured it will and does come from somewhere. Canadians and Western Europeans will not bear the brunt of this. This will be bourn by Americans. Most of us fortunately seem to be thinking sanely and rationally. It is going to be very important for us to ensure that our leaders get back on a course of sanity and sobriety.
Now if DJT really is the idiot that some think he, which is certainly possible, he may be just the person to negotiate with Russia. This should be laughably easy to solve. 1.)Lift the sanctions that never should have been imposed in the first place. 2.) Crimea is Russian, recognize this, and act accordingly. 3.)Make it clear to former Soviet Bloc and Eastern European countries who we foolishly expanded NATO to include when Russia thought we had an agreement not to expand NARO to its borders that US support for them will be withdrawn. They contribute nothing to us and are an enormous drain on us. 4.)Adopt a position n Syria more consistent with the Russian one. At the least, stop supporting the "rebels" who are little different than Al Qaeda or ISIS. (DJT's actions here to date have been reckless and unhelpful to say the least. Perhaps we can impeach him over this.) 5.)Return the property stolen from the Russian diplomats when BHO threw a temper tantrum after HRC lost he election or compensate them accordingly in some other way that is of equal or greater value.
Perhaps we might even get some help with them in regards to Iran if we undertook these steps. At the very least, these actions carry no cost to America and have huge potential benefits. In some cases idiots do quite well because they tend not to overthink things and they typically do not harbor malevolence thus making it easier for them to make the right decision when the right decision is obvious.
In any event, this is quite an audience for a simple POTUS. It must have taken enormous efforts to get this together. This has an amazing diplomatic opportunity. We may even get the opportunity to address certain issues such as the Arab/Israeli peace process that Fred mentioned earlier. Actually I've been told by the "experts" that Israel is just fine with it the way things are of which I'm skeptical.
“I don’t know – it’s hard for me to see any U.S. ties to Russia…
Deleteexcept for:
the Flynn thing,
and the Manafort thing …
and the Tillerson thing
and the Sessions thing
and the Kushner thing
and the Carter Page thing
and the Roger Stone thing
and the Felix Sater thing
and the Boris Ephsteyn thing
and the Rosneft thing
and the Gazprom thing
and the Sergey Gorkov banker thing
and the Azerbajain thing
and the “I love Putin” thing
and the Donald Trump, Jr. thing
and the Sergey Kislyak thing
and the Russian Affiliated Interests thing
and the Russian Business Interests thing
and the Emoluments Clause thing
and the Alex Schnaider thing
and the hack of the DNC thing
and the Guccifer 2.0 thing
and the Mike Pence “I don’t know anything” thing
and the Russians mysteriously dying thing
and Trump’s public request to Russia to hack Hillary’s email thing
and the Trump house sale for $100 million at the bottom of the housing bust to the Russian fertilizer king thing
and the Russian fertilizer king’s plane showing up in Concord, NC during Trump rally campaign thing
and the Nunes sudden flight to the White House in the night thing
and the Nunes personal investments in the Russian winery thing
and the Cyprus bank thing
and Trump not releasing his tax returns thing
and the Republican Party’s rejection of an amendment to require Trump to show his taxes thing
and the election hacking thing
and the GOP platform change on the Ukraine thing
and the Steele Dossier thing
and the Leninist Bannon thing
and Sally Yates prevented from testifying thing
and the intelligence community’s investigative reports thing
and Trump’s reassurance that the Russian connection is all “fake news” thing …
and Spicer’s Russian Dressing “nothing’s wrong” thing …
and the Chaffetz thing,....
and Session's non-recusal from the Russian thing after promising to recuse himself after lying to Congress about the Russian's thing,
and the Yate's firing,
and the Comey firing,
and the Bharara firing,
and the Larov/Kislyak/Trump meeting,
and the Russian Photographer thing,
and the Indicted Stone for the Russian Thing talking to Trump about firing Comey thing,
and Trump's Spokeswoman, Saunder's saying the Comey Firing was about shutting down the Russia/Trump Investigations thing,
and Lying Spice in the bushes with the candlestick,
and the Trump Lawyer's "No Russians" letter by the Russian Law Firm of the Year,
and the Comey/Trump/Tapes threat,
and the Larov/Russia trolling the US thing,
and Trump's Dirty Fucking Hippie "Peace in the Ukraine" Flower Power tweet after meeting Larov thing,
and the Guelen kidnapping and rendition thing,
and the Cohen/Artimenko/Sater Ukraine deal thing,
and the Eric Trump/Golf Courses/Russian Backers thing,
and the "Comey told me three times" thing,
and the 180 current and former Attorney General's letter calling for a special prosecutor,
and the Dutch TV ( Zembla) Investigative documentary, "The Dubious Friends of Donald Trump: Part 1, The Russians",
and Deutsche Bank executive William S. Broeksmit's "suicide",
and the sudden settlement of the Prevezon LLC money laundering case, in the wake of Attorney General Preet Bharara's firing by Trump,
and the "thinking" then publicly saying that "Loyalty Oaths" to Hair Furour by Government Bureaucrats in violation of the Constitution is "normal" thing,
and Trump sharing classified intel with the Russian's during their meeting that was not cleared to be shared with the Russians,
and the War Zone Blood Diamonds thing,
and the Putin asked and Trump "couldn't say no" Kislyak thing,
and the Manifort tax free, $3.5 million dollar open term "loan" from the Russian Mob connected Bank of Cyprus Numbered Account,
and the Comey Meeting Memo noting that Trump tried to shut down the Flynn Investigation the day after Flynn was fired.
Deleteand the last minute Trump Toronto VEB/Schnaider bankruptcy bail out, while Putin was Chairman of the VEB Board.
and "the Family"/McCarthy tape
and the SGM/Williams/IRI/Pence Political Consulting thing,
and the Flynn/Turkey cancellation of the US Militaries' anti-ISIS plan
and Flynn's lawyer rejecting the Senate subpena,
Lord Smallgloves is exactly as he appears to be, an angry, insecure, ignorant, egotistical and weak, vain man. He's gonna get played like a fiddle by Foreign Powers, as China has shown.
Jay,
ReplyDeleteIf all of these "things" as you've mentioned will help us end Cold War 2, this would be good for everyone. American leaders recklessly and foolishly got us into it. He who can get us out of it should be thanked and appreciated evdn if such a person is an idiot.
From your posts, it appears Mr. Trump may have even added value to Mr. Putin. Forbes had this pegged exavtly right. Vladimir Putin is the most powerful man on earth.
Note to those wishing to advance in the organizations they are in: at a bare minimun DO NOT piss off tne CEO and DO NOT make him/her your enemy. Such actions would be guatanteed to end badly to anyone who choses to undertake them. Frankly an American version of "Silvio Verlisconio" would be quite good for America.
Since I don't want to exceed the editors limit I will put my z"China" response in a separate post.
Jay,
ReplyDeleteDid China play DJT "like a fiddle" as
LOUD suggest?
D During tne campaign, the rhetoric became quite heated against China. During Cold War 1 the rhetoric against the Soviet Union became quite heated. During the negotiations to end Cold War 1 the American
position was quite respectful to Russia.
I have a different "take" than you regarding China. DJT and his team are being resepctful to China in hopes of ending the conflict. In otherwords they recognize America's relative weak position to them and are wanting this to be over. They and the Russiams seem wiling to allow America the opportunity to negotiate a reasonable compromise but it seems doubtful that their patience with America will be open ended.
Not sure what's so funny. Matters of national security need to undertaken with great prudence and care. Years of great decision makkng can be undone with one bad one. Laughter at such matters does not seem appropriate.
ReplyDeleteLMFAO,
DeleteDuring his Campaign, Trump held China up as a trade cheat, American job stealer and currency manipulator.
One hand job from Xi and Trump signed a trade deal that gives China billions of dollars and almost a million American jobs.
Trump did get his Chinese trademarks through and Kushner get's to keep running his visa's for cash scheme for another two years,
LMFAO