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.
The shocking latest twist in what has been a chaotic weekend in Saudi Arabia is news that a helicopter transporting 8 high-ranking Saudi officials (including prince Mansour bin-Muqrin) has crashed in the south of the Kingdom, near the border with Yemen.
Sky News Arabia confirms an earlier report from Al-Watan news..."Newsletter: loss of a helicopter carrying a number of officials in the southern Asir, Saudi Arabia"
Just hours after the previously reported unexpected, and shocking resignation of Lebanon's pro-Saudi prime minister Saad al-Hariri, Saudi defense forces said they had intercepted a ballistic missile over the capital Riyadh, which was fired from Yemen. According to Yemen's Houthi-controlled Defense Ministry, the Yemeni Air Force targeted King Khalid International Airport in the Saudi capital of Riyadh on Saturday with a ballistic missile.
Authored by Pepe Escobar via The Asia Times,
Saudi women being allowed to drive is a smokescreen – Salafi-jihadism is alive and well inside the Kingdom. What's more, another coup may be along shortly...
Suddenly, the ideological matrix of all strands of Salafi-jihadism is being hailed by the West as a model of progress – because Saudi women will finally be allowed to drive. Only next year. Only some women. And still subject to many restrictions.
On Sunday evening, President Trump announced he would replace his controversial travel ban with a targeted list of restrictions that will enhance vetting for nationals from eight countries, and restrict or prohibit entry of citizens from North Korea and Venezuela among others, to the United States as part of a sweeping new travel ban that also slaps restrictions on Iran, Chad, Libya, Syria, Yemen and Somalia - countries that hardly have a "thriving" tourism industry with the US.