Don’t leave out Israel. If the saudis and Iran are having a proxy, you can be almost guaranteed Israel wants to turn it into a theee way.
Biggest winner out of ME disruption is Israel.
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Is that true? The raw numbers I see say that Obama used three times as many Special Forces as GWB and twice the bombings.
Doesn’t read like a Prez that wanted to get out.
Close…
Genie Energy Ltd. is an American energy company headquartered in Newark, New Jersey. It is a holding company comprising Genie Retail Energy, a retail energy provider in the United States, and Genie Oil and Gas, which is pursuing a conventional oil project in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Genie was part of IDT Corporation but was spun off on October 31, 2011, at which point Class B common stock of Genie Energy Ltd. began trading on the NYSE under the ticker symbol “GNE”. [1]
Genie’s founder, chairman, controlling shareholder and CEO is Howard Jonas. Avi Goldin serves as the company’s CFO, Michael Stein is the company’s COO and Geoffrey Rochwarger serves as Vice Chairman. The president of its Israeli subsidiary is Effie Eitam. Genie Energy’s Strategic advisory board is composed of: D!ck Cheney (former vice president of the United States), Rupert Murdoch (media mogul and chairman of News Corp), James Woolsey (former CIA director), Larry Summers (former head of the US Treasury), Bill Richardson, former Governor of New Mexico, an ex-ambassador to the United Nations and United States Energy Secretary[2], Michael Steinhardt, Jacob Rothschild,[3][2], and Mary Landrieu, former United States Senator from Louisiana.
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bingo
Interesting Board of Directors.
Might go public in USA and see if they are available for me, obviously talented with multi-skills.
Whilst he did increase drone strikes and no doubt special operations in the area, he also pulled rank and file troops out of Iraq
Trump has increased drone strikes on Obamas numbers and has a much worse record when it comes to collateral damage
For all the bluster, he ain’t no non-interventionist or isolationist. He says what people want to hear, like any conman will do, but he has no guiding principals or any moral beliefs and when he gets put in a situation room full of genuine alpha males he quickly becomes little donny that hasn’t done his homework.
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I laughed and I also cried…
Trump ‘stands with’ Saudi Arabia and defends crown prince over Khashoggi
President issues extraordinary statement of support and repeats Saudi claim that murdered journalist was ‘enemy of the state’
Donald Trump has expressed his unstinting support for Saudi Arabia and claimed there was “nothing definitive” linking Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the murder of the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
In the extraordinary statement issued on Tuesday – which begins with the words “The world is a very dangerous place!” – Trump quotes Saudi officials as describing Khashoggi as an “enemy of the state”.
The 649-word statement appears to be a presidential act of defiance against the CIA, which has reportedly concluded that the Saudi prince ordered the killing, and the Senate, which is considering bipartisan legislation that would suspend weapons sales to Saudi Arabia among other punitive measures.
He told reporters at the White House that the CIA “didn’t make a determination” on the murder, and that they had “nothing definitive” on its perpetrator. The claim is contradicted by multiple reports that the intelligence agency has concluded that Prince Mohammed ordered the hit on the former Saudi insider who had become a persistent critic.
“It is what it is,” Trump said.
In his written statement earlier, Trump wrote: “Our intelligence agencies continue to assess all information, but it could very well be that the crown prince had knowledge of this tragic event – maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!
“That being said, we may never know all of the facts surrounding the murder of Mr Jamal Khashoggi. In any case, our relationship is with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
As he has in the past with Vladimir Putin, Trump put official denials of wrongdoing from Riyadh on a par with US intelligence assessments.
He said: “King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman vigorously deny any knowledge of the planning or execution of the murder of Mr Khashoggi.”
Responding to Trump’s remarks, Fred Ryan, the publisher and CEO of the Washington Post, said: “The CIA has thoroughly investigated the murder of this innocent journalist and concluded with high confidence that it was directed by the crown prince. If there is reason to doubt the findings of the CIA, President Trump should immediately make that evidence public.”
Trump’s statement, titled “standing with Saudi Arabia” seeks to portray the kingdom as an essential US ally in a struggle against Iran, and an irreplaceable customer for US arms sales.
He claimed a breach in the relationship between Washington and Riyadh would call an oil price spike.
“If you want to go see oil prices go to $150 a barrel, all you have to do is break up our relationship with Saudi Arabia,” Trump said in his remarks to reporters.
His statement made a series of false or unsubstantiated claims, suggesting that Riyadh is buying $110bn in US weapons. The actual total of offers since Trump took office is less than $15bn, and the value of actual signed contracts is significantly lower than that.
He said: “If we foolishly cancel these contracts, Russia and China would be the enormous beneficiaries – and very happy to acquire all of this newfound business. It would be a wonderful gift to them directly from the United States!”
Weapons experts have said it would take Saudi Arabia decades to reconfigure its armed forces to use Russian and Chinese equipment.
A new independent report found that US arms sales to Saudi Arabia account for fewer than 20,000 US jobs a year – less than a 20th of the employment boost Donald Trump has claimed.
Trump said in his statement: “The crime against Jamal Khashoggi was a terrible one, and one that our country does not condone.” He pointed out that the US has imposed individual sanctions on 17 Saudis identified by Riyadh for their alleged involvement in the 2 October murder.
The president said that “representatives of Saudi Arabia say that Jamal Khashoggi was an ‘enemy of the state’ and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood”.
Trump added: “My decision is in no way based on that.” But he did not explain why he mentioned the smear against Khashoggi at all.
If you want to go see oil prices go to $150 a barrel, all you have to do is break up our relationship with Saudi Arabia
Donald Trump
The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, when asked about the Saudi monarchy’s complicity in Khashoggi’s death, said: “It’s a mean, nasty world out there.”
Pompeo declined to comment on intelligence assessments of the murder, but said: “Facts will obviously still continue to come to light. I’m confident of that. It’s the way the world works.”
He added: “When America has the information it needs, it will, of course, do the right thing to protect American interests. And we have done so every time.”
Nicholas Burns, the under-secretary of state for political affairs in the George W Bush administration, said: “This Trump statement on the Khashoggi murder is beyond embarrassing. It is shameful.He is silent on our most important interest – justice.”
Trump’s enthusiastic support for Riyadh coincides with a drive by the crown prince to rehabilitate himself on the world stage. The Argentinian government confirmed to the Guardian on Tuesday that he is on the list of attendees at the G20 summit at the end of the month in Buenos Aires.
Also on the guest list is Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has condemned Riyadh for the murder and whose government has put out a steady stream of leaks from the investigation, pointing towards Saudi government culpability at the highest levels.
In the latest of those leaks, the influential pro-government outlet Habertürk published excerpts of a purported transcript of an audio recording of the murder.
According to its account, the Saudi hitman chosen as a lookalike among Jamal Khashoggi’s assassins was apparently recorded saying: “It’s creepy to wear the clothes of a man we killed 20 minutes ago.” He then he stepped from the Kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul in a failed bid to prove the murdered dissident had left the building.
The chilling detail was among the latest excerpts released by Turkish officials seven weeks after Khashoggi was murdered. Other details include Khashoggi demanding, “Release my arm, what do you think you’re doing?” moments after entering the diplomatic mission.
A listening device inside the consulate apparently captured Maher Mutreb, a trusted aide of Prince Mohammed, replying: “Traitor, you will be brought to account.”
The existence of recordings that captured the final minutes of Khashoggi’s life has been central to the Turkish case against Riyadh, adding a visceral dimension to a shocking killing that has pitted both regional powerhouses against each other, and reverberated through the region.
Good thing someone jotted down his written statement before they scrubbed the crayon off the walls.
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Trump is amoral. He says and does whatever gets him what he wants. He does ANYTHING for “the win”.
Sooner or later the U.S will find itself on the outer with a number of it allies as the leaders of those countries decide that Trump is a lying rabid dog. Actually I am surprised that a number of western allies haven’t altered their relationships to try and exclude Trump. You get the feeling they are waiting to see if he will be elected for another term.
To be fair, he’s not even trying to pretend he has any morals at this point.
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And that is the reason, they know that at most it is 8 years, so they play the long game and wait. They hope it is less of course, and they are not the only ones.
I was willing to give the guy a go, maybe after he got in he would temper down a little and work a little smarter. Problem is, he got in and it has gotten worse. Although you keep wondering how much worse it can get and he ramps it up to a new level. It is actually rather scary watching it happen.
Trouble is IT, what Trump has done is show the world that the US cannot be counted on anymore. If they can elect someone like this once, they can do it again. If one administration can so easily tear up/disregard, friendships, alliances, international agreements etc, then so can another. Doubt America’s international standing, or power, will ever be the same again. He is the first step in America’s journey down the ladder. It was always going to come, just ask the British, no empire lasts forever. But he has made it happen sooner, at greater cost, both reputationally and economically, than it needed to be.
And as for the boost he has given violent facists the world over …
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Completely insane but this is the new normal…
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Speaking of stuff that should not be normal:
The most dangerous export America ha sent overseas is its version of democracy. Every single country that has replicated the US model of government has devolved into a dictatorship.
All America has holding it together is unwritten codes of behaviour. If these are ignored, like is happening currently, a dark and troubling outcome can happen.
I expect at some point in be next 100 years that the inherent weakness in this system will result in someone worse than Trump causing severe damage.
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Might be more like 10yrs 
I know people will get their knickers in a knot with what I am about to say however…
Obama was part of that imo. The US allies at first loved the guy, so did the whole world, but that dissipated and he ended up adding to the harm on what the world actually believed about the US.
However ultimately I believe it started under Dubya. His lies and carry on really pulled the US down in the world’s eyes.
Trump has blown it to smithereens, and in an amazingly quick time frame.
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Yeah, nah. The decline started with GW Bush, and symbolically with the Supreme Court manipulation of the Florida “hanging shards” votes to give him power. The Bush administration’s squandering of trillions in illegal wars, together with lack of oversight of the banks (causing GFC) set up the US for the decline in its domestic economy which Trump exploited to get elected.
Bad for the US.
But much worse for the rest of us. We get to deal with the effects of that illegal war; massive instability in the middle east; refugee crises; worsening problems with terrorism, including ISIS and others; the GFC; etc etc etc; and now Trump’s US-China trade war.
How different the world could have been if Gore had been President as he should have.
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As an aside, a question on what people think?
Under Obama the left really started pushing to the fore in a stronger way and the right kept losing a lot of ground. I am talking society here, not politics in particular. With Trump the right have blasted back against what they see as incursions in how society should be.
The fight between the two groups has been ramping up and at times spilled over into violence.
Do people think that at some stage a violent civil war will kick in? Can the Government maintain enough control that they stop an open civil war happening or will America one implode?