Almost immediately after his election, President Trump picked his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to head up numerous international initiatives. One of these was to broker an Arab-Israeli peace accord. But very quickly and with Trump’s blessing, Kushner has effectively become America’s “Mr. Middle East.” It is difficult to know what understanding of the Middle East—Islam, history, culture, civilization, economics and politics—and/or first hand experience Kushner has with the peoples of the region to qualify him for such a difficult and perilous assignment. We are rapidly learning that he is a dangerous neophyte whose actions could lead the region and a reluctant America by the nose into a war that could eclipse any war since WWII.
Before we outline the Kushner brew, we must first set the stage with facts that we have learned firsthand and can defend:
- The paramount objective for the Al-Sauds is to stay in power
- The Al-Sauds will not entertain reforms that would erode their absolute power
- The Al-Sauds see the U.S. as an important pillar of their rule and use money to re-enforce it
- The Al-Sauds are convinced that the mullahs in Iran are determined to overthrow them
- Mohammad bin Salman (MBS) is acting to spark a war with Iran, to be joined by the U.S. and Israel, to destroy the Iranian military, to eliminate Iranian nuclear program and ultimately to achieve regime change in Tehran
- MBS wants Hezbollah annihilated in Lebanon, Bashar Al-Asad overthrown in Syria, Iranian militias driven out of Iraq and Iranian influence extinguished in the region
To achieve his head-spinning ambitions, MBS has developed what appears to be a Machiavellian relationship with Jared Kushner. MBS has engineered a de facto palace coup to become the Crown Prince at the age of 32 and will soon become King when his father abdicates the thrown or dies of unknown causes. The two “best friends” have spent much time together in the United States and in Saudi Arabia. We have no information on their hours of discussions but we can list initiatives that can be connected to MBS and, we would venture to say, have Kushner’s concurrence:
- Saudi Arabia’s brutal war in Yemen is threatening more and more civilians, which the United Nations and the Red Cross have condemned as potentially the greatest humanitarian disaster since WWII
- The Saudis use U.S. weaponry (to lesser extent those from the U.K. ) to kill Yemenis, a sale of weaponry that the leader of the U.K. Labor Party has condemned
- The U.S. is supplying the Saudis with intelligence for their war
- Saudi Arabia, with U.S. and U.K. arms, has been oppressing the majority Shia citizens of Bahrain in what has been called crimes against humanity by numerous NGOs
- MBS has embargoed Qatar, an act of war, in order to change their policies
- President Trump has told King Salman and MBS that the U.S. is with them all the way and will not bring up the issue of human rights in anything that they do, and in doing so and by continuing to vilify Iran, he has placed the United States smack in the middle of a sectarian divide that has endured for nearly 1400 years
- MBS summoned the Prime Minister of Lebanon, gave him his resignation letter and told him to read it on Saudi television and to blame Hezbollah and Iran for his resignation
- Saudi Arabia shot down one missile from Yemen, allegedly of Iranian make and MBS declared that this was an act of war from Iran, but if this is an act of war then the U.S. had better watch out as its arms are widely used to kill and suppress human rights in the thousands all over the Middle East
- MBS rhetoric against Iran, which has been echoed by President Trump and one assumes on the advice of his expert son-in-law, resembles the drumbeat of war
- MBS is holding more than 300 of his wealthy relatives and businessmen hostage under the guise of reforms and his campaign against corruption, while he has them tortured and demands a major share of their ill-gotten wealth (potentially $500 billion) to bail out a country that is running vast deficits and to garner support among young Saudis (while his father and he take from the treasury to finance their own corrupt lifestyles)
MBS’ palace coup along with the above list of breathtaking activities could not have occurred without the approval and backing of Kushner and his father-in-law. The hands of Kushner of Arabia, and in turn the United States, are all over developments in Saudi Arabia and in the wider region, with Israel on the sidelines for now but willing to enter into the fray by attacking Lebanon and cementing an alliance with MBS.
What are the dangers for the region and for the United States?
- A Saudi civil war as the U.S. has alienated thousands of other Al-Sauds by backing MBS
- Calamity in Yemen with the world holding the U.S. as an unwilling supporter
- Growing sectarian violence in Lebanon and indeed in the entire region
- Attacks on U.S. troops stationed around the region
- And if Iran is attacked, all hell will break loose, with a war that could result in casualties in the millions and conflicts that will continue for generations
- Endless recruits for terrorists for generations to come
Why are Kushner and Trump supporting MBS in something that could lead to a calamitous regional war? Money and Ignorance. Knowing how Saudi Arabia operates, we believe that Kushner, and in turn Trump, believe that they will be rewarded handsomely once they leave office and that more contracts will be channeled to U.S. companies to win support in the United States for their adventures.
It is high time for the U.S. Senate to hold urgent hearings to ask Kushner of Arabia questions about his Middle East activities. Shouldn’t the U.S. Senate find out what is going on before all hell breaks loose and the world is thrown into more and more turmoil?