Exploiting Khashoggi's assassination: the neoliberal predators hang over Saudi Arabia

globinfo freexchange

A month ago we gathered some information to explain the sudden 180 degrees hostile turn by the Western neoliberal status quo against the current Saudi regime.

We discovered that the US corporate dictatorship and the Wall Street mafia heavily invested on the rapid neoliberalization of the Saudi Arabian economy, with the privatization of the state-owned oil company Aramco at the heart of this plan. Suddenly, Mohammed bin Salman decided to step back from the deal.

It would be worth to note that Aramco was standing at the top of the global list of the largest oil and gas companies for 2017 with a revenue of 465.49 billion US dollars.

It seems that the neoliberal regime didn't abort its plans concerning Saudi Arabia and silently seeks to "replace" bin Salman with a more faithful puppet, exploiting, of course, the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi.

Digging a little bit more, we found plenty of evidence in the Western mainstream media, in recent years, showing that this theory is quite plausible. Here are a few examples:

The neoliberal apparatus couldn't hide its enthusiasm for the big news as in July, 2016, Bloomberg reported:

           When news broke in January that Saudi Arabia was considering an initial public offering of its state-owned oil company, the first reaction on Wall Street was shock. Then calls began pouring into Dubai — the Middle East’s financial hub — from senior bankers in London and New York. Investment banks around the world are clamoring to join what promises to be a bonanza, and not just the IPO of Saudi Arabian Oil Co., or Aramco, which could be valued at upward of $2 trillion. The kingdom is planning to sell hundreds of state assets to bolster its finances and reduce its dependence on oil. That includes as much as $15 billion of bonds. Saudi Arabia looks even more promising with investment banking in a global slump and Britain’s vote to exit the European Union set to deter deal-making for months to come.

More than a year later, in September, 2017, the Guardian wrote:

           Saudi Arabia is lining up a privatisation of state assets that dwarfs the Thatcher “revolution” of the 1980s, and rivals the 1990s dissolution of Soviet assets in scale and significance. It has hung a “for sale” sign on virtually every sector of Saudi economic life: oil, electricity, water, transport, retail, schools and healthcare. Even the kingdom’s football clubs are due to be auctioned off. The sell-off programme is the central part of the economic transformation plan envisaged under the Vision 2030 strategy. With oil stuck around the $50 mark, Saudi budgets are creaking and deficits are widening. Around $75 is regarded as the break-even point for the national finances. But in 13 years, if all goes to plan, the kingdom will be financially stable, with a more dynamic economy and society, less reliance on oil and government spending, and with a thriving private sector that releases the pent-up entrepreneurial spirit of Saudi men and (whisper it in the kingdom) Saudi women.

Less than a year later, in August, 2018, the Saudi wet dream of the neoliberal predators was about to be spoiled by King Salman. The big agony of the neoliberal regime was expressed through Reuters:

           The king spoke, and a $2 trillion dream went up in smoke. For the past two years, Saudi Arabia has prepared to place up to 5 percent of its national oil company on the stock market. Officials talked up the Saudi Aramco initial public offering (IPO) with international exchanges, global banks and U.S. President Donald Trump. The planned listing was to be the cornerstone of the kingdom’s promised economic overhaul and, at a targeted $100 billion, the biggest IPO ever. It was the brainchild of 32-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, heir apparent of the world’s largest oil exporter. But after months of setbacks, the international and domestic legs of the IPO were pulled. The reason: the prince’s father King Salman stepped in to shelve it, three sources with ties to government insiders told Reuters. The decision came after the king met with family members, bankers, and senior oil executives, including a former Aramco CEO, said one of the sources, who requested anonymity. Those consultations took place during Ramadan, which ended in the middle of June. The king’s interlocutors told him that the IPO, far from helping the kingdom, would undermine it. Their main concern was that an IPO would bring full public disclosure of Aramco’s financial details, the sources said.

It is possible that the more experienced King Salman understood that such a brutal regime could not have a chance to survive without giving benefits and public jobs to the population. The fall of the biggest asset of the Saudi economy to the hands of the Western predators, as well as the subsequent neoliberalization of the economy, would deprive from the regime the advantage of giving benefits and keeping the population quiet.

On the other hand, we could not ignore the enormous hypocrisy of the Western media concerning Saudi Arabia and the war in Yemen. They almost buried the entire war and the war crimes by the Saudi coalition (in which the US participates) as long as the big plan for the big banks and corporations seemed to be going well.

At the beginning of the summer, the ruthless hypocrites in the Western media were even praising Mohammed bin Salman. In the midst of the war crimes in Yemen they presented him as a 'big reformer' who could bring some unprecedented liberties for the Saudi Arabian society, like, for example, the right for the women to drive. The news were circulated with the speed of light in all the major media outlets. Yet, not a single word about the war crimes in Yemen and the unprecedented humanitarian disaster.

But when Mohammed bin Salman decided to step back from the deal, following his father's decision, the war has started.

'Miraculously' the well-paid corporate media pundits suddenly discovered the atrocities in Yemen. However, it was a rather uncomfortable situation because it was impossible not to mention that the US supports the Saudi coalition in various ways.

So, the Western mainstream media grabbed the opportunity and focused on the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi. In the midst of continuing war crimes in Yemen - with thousands still dying from famine and cholera - the media turned all the lights to Khashoggi case for days, in order to use it as a more convenient 'tool' against Mohammed bin Salman. And they did it again. The story went viral.

Under these circumstances it would not surprise us if one day learn that Khashoggi's assassination was a CIA-type false flag operation.

In a latest move towards regime change in Saudi Arabia, some corporate puppets approved the advancement of a resolution to end the US support to the Saudi coalition.

But it seems that they exploited the sincere willing of some members, like Bernie Sanders, to end the disaster in Yemen. They left a loophole in the bill in order to permit any further US intervention under a more faithful puppet in the Saudi leadership. A successor of bin Salman who will revive the wet dream of the neoliberal predators.

The ringer tightens around Mohammed bin Salman. Lindsey Graham even lambasted him as “crazy” and said he would find it difficult to vote for future Saudi arms purchases. Graham had been an early critic of Trump, but then seemed to fall into line behind the president, but he is now bucking him on Saudi Arabia.

In the end, do you get the whole picture? Do you understand how ruthless these neoliberal predators are? It doesn't matter if you are their worst enemy, or, their most faithful ally. It doesn't matter if you are the most democratic government, or, the most brutal regime. Once you stop following their plans, once you demonstrate the slightest resistance, they will stab you in the back, they will turn the whole world against you, and, sooner or later, they will loot your country.