Biden's Saudi 'reset' is about China & Russia, and CIA fallout with MBS

US President Joe Biden visited Saudi Arabia not only to discuss oil but also to pressure Riyadh to cut ties with China and Russia. This comes after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) killed key CIA ally Jamal Khashoggi and purged rivals in the royal family who were most loyal to Washington.

Sources

Below are links to all the sources cited in this report, in chronological order:

• "Joe Biden lands in Saudi Arabia seeking to halt shift towards Russia and China," The Guardian

• "Joe Biden: Why I’m going to Saudi Arabia," Washington Post

• "Watch Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s exuberant handshake at G-20," CBNC

• "Saudis Sign Military Cooperation Agreement With Russia," RFE/RL

• "Saudi Arabia’s ties to the U.S. and China are not mutually exclusive, minister says," CNBC

• "Why did CIA turn against Saudi Crown Prince MBS? It's more than Khashoggi," The Real News

• "To the Saudi regime, Jamal Khashoggi’s real crime was to be an insider," The Times

• "Jamal Khashoggi’s long road to the doors of the Saudi Consulate," Washington Post

• Jamal Khashoggi: "It’s time to divide Syria," Washington Post

• Jamal Khashoggi: "The U.S. is wrong about the Muslim Brotherhood — and the Arab world is suffering for it," Washington Post

• "Adnan Khashoggi, Saudi arms merchant and friend of the CIA, dies at 81," Australian Financial Review

Benjamin Norton @BenjaminNorton

The loyal "spooner" in the Saudi court is the perfect metaphor for Jamal Khashoggi. He was not so much a "dissident" as he was a propagandist for another faction of the royal family — a faction that lost power with MBS' rise.

Joshua Landis @joshua_landis

Kashoggi = "Khashoq" (خاشق) in Ottoman means spoon. The "gi" means the person who spoons up the food. The "spooner" in Ottoman times was an important figure at the court. In Syria, "Khashoq" still means spoon. See the خاشقجي leading the caldrons to feed Janissaries. https://t.co/o9ie13w2NR

Benjamin Norton @BenjaminNorton

Khashoggi joined the US/Saudi-backed Mujahideen fascists in Afghanistan, and published an article with a photo of him holding a rocket launcher with them. Khashoggi was also a longtime close friend of Osama bin Laden. The CIA loves reactionaries like him therealnews.com/stories/duplic…

Benjamin Norton @BenjaminNorton

While Saudi monarchy-supporting non-dissident Khashoggi—who barely spoke English—was publishing English-language columns in Bezos' Washington Post, the Qatar Foundation's director was overseeing his pieces WashPost editors didn't know about this or his request for Saudi funding

𝙂𝙐𝙈𝘽𝙔 @gumby4christ

Interesting detail in this interview with Robert Fisk, who wrote the infamous 1993 whitewash of Osama bin Laden: Fisk was originally hooked up with OBL by none other than Jamal Khashoggi. youtu.be/8dJ0B_OUUx0

𝙂𝙐𝙈𝘽𝙔 @gumby4christ

In 1995, Jamal Khashoggi was tasked by Saudi prince Abdullah with a PR op: to whitewash the image of Khashoggi's friend Osama bin Laden and thereby secure safe harbor for OBL in Saudi Arabia. (Lawrence Wright, "The Looming Tower")