War

Early this morning, Israeli Channel 10 news published a leaked diplomatic cable which had been sent to all Israeli ambassadors throughout the world concerning the chaotic events that unfolded over the weekend in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, which began with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri's unexpected resignation after he was summoned to Riyadh by his Saudi-backers, and led to the Saudis announcing that Lebanon had "declared war" against the kingdom. 

Pre-war tensions in the middle-east are surging almost as fast as the price of crude... and that is just fine with the Saudi Royal Family, which is willing to risk world war if it means pushing the price of oil back to triple digits.

As expected, Saudi Arabia has cast itself as the victim of external Shia plotting after its internal weekend of chaos which included a missile attack from Yemen, the deaths of two princes and other high officials within a mere 24 hours, and an aggressive crackdown against dissent in the royal family which saw close to a dozen princes placed under house arrest. And as Al Jazeera noted, in this Saudi version of 'Game of Thrones', the 32-year-old Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) shows that he is willing to throw the entire region into jeopardy to wear the royal gown.

Authored by Jamal Elshayyal via Al-Jazeera,

Was Saturday a "Red Wedding" moment for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia? As the plot thickens in Riyadh, here's a roundup of the chatter on the streets...

It started off with the resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, a clearly orchestrated move produced and executed by his paymasters in Riyadh.

President Trump is up bright and early in Asia this morning and just unleashed two rather pointed tweets in the direction of Saudi Arabia.

Having commented during the day on the success of America's missile-defense system in the attack on Riyadh that was intercepted, President Trump had been quiet on the 'civil war' going on among the elites... until now:

I have great confidence in King Salman and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, they know exactly what they are doing....