"Saudi - Russia collusion is driving up gas prices and worsening Ukraine crisis." - The Intercept
"As Russia ordered troops into Ukraine on Monday, gas prices soared to their highest levels in over seven years. While the media focuses on the conflict in Ukraine, a major cause of the gas price spike has gone overlooked: Moscow’s partnership with Saudi Arabia has grown dramatically in recent years, granting the two largest oil producers in the world the unprecedented ability to collude in oil export decisions. The desert kingdom’s relationship with the U.S. has chilled in the meantime, as demonstrated earlier this month, when President Joe Biden pleaded with the Saudis to increase oil production — a move that would not only have helped to alleviate rising inflation and gas prices, but also reduced Russia’s extravagant profits amid its aggression against Ukraine. The Saudi king declined." - The Intercept
Saudi - Russia collusion. Trump bypassed Congress to arm Saudis despite their human rights violations. Jared Kushner and Steve Mnuchin get multi-billion dollar investments from Saudis. Follow the money with this relationship map to understand how they are connected.
Follow the Saudi - Russia connection
Trump bragged that he protected Saudi Crown Prince
"I saved his ass," Trump had said amid the US outcry over Khashoggi's killing, according to Bob Woodward's new book. "I was able to get Congress to leave him alone. I was able to get them to stop." Trump bragged that he protected Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman after the assassination and dismembering of the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018.
The president told Woodward he didn't believe that MBS ordered Khashoggi's murder, though the US and other foreign intelligence services concluded that he did order the attack. After Khashoggi's murder, Trump bypassed Congress to sell roughly $8 billion in arms to the Saudis and the United Arab Emirates. He vetoed a trio of resolutions blocking the sale, as well as a resolution to end US support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen." - Business Insider
"The administration is required to allow lawmakers 30 days to review proposed weapons sales. As a matter of courtesy, there is typically a pre-notification period. The congressional review process is one of the only instances that allows the public to scrutinize major arms sales to foreign countries. The emergency declaration, however, derails that process. “What the Trump administration has done is basically work around the will of the American people, which is expressed through Congress,” said Bergmann. “It’s finding a loophole in the law and using it in a way that wasn’t intended. I think that’s really quite worrying.” - PBS
Saudis raise gas prices
SAUDI CROWN PRINCE Mohammed bin Salman is enacting revenge on Democrats in general and President Joe Biden specifically for the party’s increasingly standoffish attitude toward the kingdom — by driving up energy prices and fueling global inflation. Biden himself seemed to allude to this at a town hall event with CNN last month, during which he attributed high gas prices to a certain “foreign policy initiative” of his, adding, “There’s a lot of Middle Eastern folks who want to talk to me. I’m not sure I’m going to talk to them.”
“Gas prices were high because oil-rich nations in the Middle East were not increasing the supply of oil. That was happening, Biden suggested, in retaliation for his personal decision to not speak with – nor acknowledge – Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as his counterpart. Gas prices relate to a foreign policy initiative that is about something that goes beyond the cost of gas,” Biden said at a town hall meeting on CNN. “There’s a lot of Middle Eastern folks who want to talk to me. I’m not sure I’m going to talk to them." - Guardian
Big payback
Mr. Kushner played a leading role inside the Trump administration defending Crown Prince Mohammed after U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that he had approved the 2018 killing and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi columnist for The Washington Post and resident of Virginia who had criticized the kingdom’s rulers." - NY Times
"There are no laws that stop this sort of corrupt self-dealing by former White House officials, and connections established while in office are regularly exploited by those seeking to enrich themselves. However, the Kushner investment is eyebrow-raising due to Bin Salman’s awful record on human rights, his ordering the murder of Khashoggi, and Kushner’s sycophantic defense of it all, including brokering a $110 million weapons deal with Saudi Arabia and defending their brutal military intervention of Yemen, one that has resulted in one of the worst man-made famine’s in recent history." - Occupy Democrats
"Steven Mnuchin has raised $2.5 billion at his new private equity fund, according to people familiar with the matter, attracting investments from sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, where he traveled extensively as Treasury secretary. The scale of Mr. Mnuchin’s fund and its investments from countries where he traveled as Treasury secretary have raised questions about whether he used his government role to enrich himself." - NY Times
Saudi - Russia collusion
"As Russia ordered troops into Ukraine on Monday, gas prices soared to their highest levels in over seven years. While the media focuses on the conflict in Ukraine, a major cause of the gas price spike has gone overlooked: Moscow’s partnership with Saudi Arabia has grown dramatically in recent years, granting the two largest oil producers in the world the unprecedented ability to collude in oil export decisions. The desert kingdom’s relationship with the U.S. has chilled in the meantime, as demonstrated earlier this month, when President Joe Biden pleaded with the Saudis to increase oil production — a move that would not only have helped to alleviate rising inflation and gas prices, but also reduced Russia’s extravagant profits amid its aggression against Ukraine. The Saudi king declined." - The Intercept
TakeAway: Follow the money to see how the Saudi - Russia collusion is driving up gas prices while Kushner and Mnuchin get billions in Saudi investments.
Deepak
DemLabs
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