Saudis give Trump a medal and order for $110 billion in arns

(May 20)Trump's first meeting with a foreign leader outside the United States is with King Salman of Saudi Arabia. In spite of the fact that Trump in the past has had harsh words for Saudi Arabia he was presented with a medal by King Salman.

King Salman presented Trump with the King Adbulaziz Medal in a ceremony at Al-Yamamah Palace in the capital Ryadh. The ceremony was held prior to a Saudi-American summit that will discuss bilateral ties and also fighting terrorism. At the ceremony were the First Lady Melanie Trump, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and other US officials plus the Saudi crown prince and deputy crown prince. After arriving Trump had a brief meeting with King Salman over coffee.

Over a two day visit Trump will be busy with three summits. The first is the US Saudi summit, the second followed by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). In it the group will discuss relationships on the basis of partnership and tolerance according to the Saudi press. The third is an Arab-Islamic-US summit called together by King Salman. The three summits together have the slogan "Together We Prevail". The summits aim to reaffirm shared commitment to global security, deep economic partnerships as well as constructive political and cultural cooperation between Saudi Arabia and the US. There is of course no talk of human rights or the Saudi-led coalition's possible war crimes in Yemen.

A White House statement on Saturday says that the US and Saudi Arabia have agreed to an arms deal worth almost $110 billion to satisfy Saudi Arabia's defense needs. The statement said that the deal represented a significant expansion of the decades long security arrangement with the Saudis. The deal was announced during an official visit of Trump to Saudi Arabia. The statement also noted that the weapons were needed in the face of the long term threat of Iranian influence and threats in the region. It also said that the weapons will help reduce the burden on US military forces in the region by contributing to counter-terrorism operations, It will no doubt help the Saudis in their war on Yemen and to repress Shia groups in Saudi Arabi itself. Of course the agreement will also help strengthen the military-industrial at home and provide more opportunities in the region for US companies. Raytheon wil be one. It has announced a partnership with Saudi military industries to create an Arabia business unit. Altogether Trump signed agreements worth more than $380 billion with the Saudis. Among the military equipment the Saudis will receive is the Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) that will protect the Saudis from missile or other airborne attacks. Saudi Arabia may be encouraged by the US support for its military actions in the Middle East. Perhaps a medal for Trump is just what is needed to keep the arms supplies flowing.

Egyptian president`s visit to Saudi Arabia seeks to mend relations

The Egyptian President Abdel el-Sisi received a royal welcome when he touched down and stepped off his plane in the Saudi capital of Riyadh. He was met by King Salman, surrounded by royal officials according to the official Saudi Press Agency.

El-Sisi's trip comes at the invitation of Saudi King Salman and is said to be aimed at "bolstering strategic relations between the two countries" and that the two would discuss regional and international issues that were of common interest. This included the struggle against terrorism.

The two had met on the sidelines of a recent Arab league summit in Jordan in March, a meeting that helped renew friendlier relations after several months of tensions. The meeting on March 29th came just after the Saudis resumed petroleum shipments to Egypt after they had suddenly stopped them last October. The Saudi oil giant Aramco had halted monthly shipments of 700,000 tonnes of petroleum products without providing any explanation. However, the move came after Egypt voted in favor of a Russian-drafted security council resolution on Syria that Saudi Arabia strongly opposed. The Saudis strongly support the rebels and regime change in Syria.

Rhami Khouri, of the Issam Fares Institute of the American University of Beirut said:"These are two former giants in the region who are trying to regain their roles, and they understand that by working together they can help each other."

Ties between the two countries were also strained when a court ruling blocked an agreement to transfer sovereignty of two Red Sea Islands to Saudi Arabia from Egypt. In January, the High Administrative Court in Cairo ruled that the two uninhabited islands Tiran and Sanafir belonged to Egypt and that no evidence had been provided that they belonged to Saudi Arabia. The islands occupy narrow shipping lanes at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba running north to the ports of Eliat and Aqaba in Jordan and Israel. The ruling was overturned by the Court of Urgent Matters in April which claimed that the judiciary doesn't have the authority to intervene with matters of sovereignty". The two countries plan to build a bridge over the Red Sea joining the two countries. The decision is subject to appeal and must be approved by the Egyptian parliament as well. There have been considerable opposition to the move and even demonstrations. Al Jazeera's Middle East analyst Yehia Ghanem said the location of islands has great strategic and maritime value. Israel is in favor of Saudi sovereignty over the island of Tiran as the strait would then become international and Egypt would not be able to block maritime passage through it.

Both Saudi Arabia and Egypt regard the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization and ban it. Saudi Arabia gave billions of dollars in aid to Egypt after el-Sisi toppled the elected government of Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013. US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis also visited Saudi Arabia just recently to re-invigorate the alliance.

Egypt cedes two islands to Saudi Arabia as being in Saud territorial waters

The Egyptian cabinet announced that technical work on the maritime boundary between Egypt and Saudi Arabia showed that the islands of Tiran and Sanafir were both within Saudi territorial waters.

Some opposition figures in Egypt reacted angrily to the move. The announcement came as King Salman of Saudi Arabia was on a five-day visit to Cairo. King Salman addressed parliament on Sunday to thunderous applause and a standing ovation. The Saudis have given significant financial and diplomatic backing to President Abdel el-Sisi since the overthrow of president Mohamed Morsi back in 2013.

Tiran and Sanafir are at the southern entry to the Gulf of Aqaba. Both Jordan and Israel have important ports at the north end of the Gulf. The islands are uninhabited except for a few Egyptian military personnel and Multianational Force Observers on Tiran that is closest to Egypt.

Egyptian president Sisi's opponent in the 2014 presidential election, Hamdeen Sabahi, said the handover of the islands was against the Egyptian constitution which prohibits ceding any territory. He said that Sisi and Salman should withdraw an agreement they signed on steps to define the maritime boundaries between the two countries. Five people were arrested when they attempted to stage a protest against the handover. Khaled Ali, a prominent lawyer said he would file a court case against the handover.

The Egyptian government explained the move by saying that Egyptian forces had just temporarily protected the islands after a request by the Saudi Arabian king in 1950. Opponents of the move say a 1906 treaty between the UK and the Ottoman Empire had put the islands in Egyptian territory. Saudi Arabia is planning to build a bridge over the narrow straight separating the Sinai in Egypt from Saudi Arabia. The bridge would use one of the islands, Tiran as a stepping stone to Egypt. Tiran is only about 6 kilometers or four miles from the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Egypt may be giving the Saudis the islands as a way of ensuring that they will build the bridge to the Sinai. As it is now, to get from Egypt to Saudi Arabia by land one must go through Israel and Jordan at the north end of the Gulf of Aqaba.

Israel was kept informed of the transfer of the islands to Saudi Arabia. It expressed no concern as Saudi Arabia agreed to honor the treaty that Israel had with Egypt to allow Israel freedom of navigation through the straits into the Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba.

Russia talking with Saudis over Syria

A visit to Russia by Saudi king Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud is being worked on through diplomatic sources, according to the Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov.

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The Saudis may attempt to work out a solution on Syria agreeable to the Russians. Saudi involvement in both Yemen and Syria are a strain on its resources and budget in a period of declining income due to low oil prices. The Saudis may feel there is no victory in sight for the Islamist groups it supports in Syria and that it makes sense to find a political solution if possible. The Saudi deficit this year alone is set to be 21.6 percent of GDP. While this will be easily covered by savings, those savings are dwindling quickly.The economic situation in Saudi Arabia is now such that the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency was forced to withdraw $70 billion from foreign investment fund assets to pay for items in the Saudi budget.

The Saudis aim to create better relationships with Russia in the hope that Russia in turn can put pressure on Iran, Assad, and indirectly the Houthis in Yemen as well, to come to a political solution to conflicts the Saudis would like to see ended. These conflicts are simply too great a cost to the kingdom, with little benefit in return. The Saudis' attitude to Russia has changed rapidly.

When Russia first launched its air-strikes in Syria, the Saudis were among the first to denounce them, along with the U.S. They were called "counter-productive' and "reactionary." However, the very fact that the Saudi King is to visit Moscow shows a change in attitude. Prince Turki al-Faisal, former Saudi ambassador to the U.S. and intelligence chief, said that he was confident that Russia's strategy in Syria was more effective than that of the U.S. and that the Russian point of view demanded both attention and respect. Russia regards Assad as the legitimate ruler of Syria and has maintained that position since the start of the conflict back in 2011. The Saudis have taken the position of the Islamist rebels they support, that Assad and his regime must go. However, the Saudis may be in the process of beginning to abandon those very groups.

An article by Salman Sheikh claims: Recently, Riyadh issued a ‘secret document’ to its embassies in the Middle East instructing them to stop ‘funding’ the so-called Syrian ‘rebels’. This indicates that the House of Saud is ‘no longer’ in a position to achieve its basic objective of overthrowing Assad’s regime.

Cutting off funds to rebels will certainly put pressure on them to come to a political solution or else face the prospect of defeat by Assad forces bolstered by Russian intervention. The U.S. seems to be concentrating on defeating the Islamic State rather than the overthrow of Assad. They are now supporting the Kurds who are more interested in autonomy for areas they control than in ousting Assad, who has not been attempting to take territory back from them.

Earlier, Saudi money was instrumental in funding many rebel groups but since King Salman took power there has been some change. Prince Bandar, the intelligence chief who was in charge of attempts to topple Assad, was fired by the new King Salman. The Saudi Arabia defence minister visited Russia this summer. Sheik believes that Saudis hope to diversify their economic linkages towards Russia and Asia: This ‘constructive engagement’ seems to have strong economic underpinnings as the Saudis seem to be very interested in participating and opening for themselves, as also for their regional allies, doors to the greatest global infrastructure in history — China’s One Belt, One Road port and rail Eurasian infrastructure development where Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union states are being fully integrated in an ‘economic union.’The One Belt, One Road initiative is a grand economic plan outlined by China in 2013. This would no doubt be a better investment than funding Islamic jihadists in Syria.

The Saudis are also interesting in discussing oil policy with Russia. Russian Energy Minister, Alexander Novak, announced after Sochi that talks were planned with his Saudi and Iranian counterparts this month. The Saudis are hit not just by the decline in oil prices but subsidized oil prices to its own consumers. The cost of these subsidies runs at about $86 billion a year.

Apparently, Putin and Salman have already exchanged views by phone according to Russian authorities. The call was said to be a Saudi initiative. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the two exchanged views about "all questions associated with resolving the Syria crisis..". Oman has been playing a useful mediating role in developments as it has been in relation to the Yemen conflict as well. The Omani foreign minister even met with Bashar al-Assad last month. The head of Syria's National Security Bureau met with Egyptian president el-Sisi.

Free Syrian Army delegates have apparently visited Moscow several times. With the onrush of refugees from Syria into Europe and now the Paris attacks by the Islamic State, many parties are anxious to end the war in Syria. However, it is not at all certain that the political actors representing the rebels will have much influence on those fighting on the ground. Cutting off funding to the rebels could force them to the bargaining table. Russia would need to agree to limit support for Assad in order that he not come to believe that he could gain a military victory. As shown in the appended video the Saudis have already signed a military agreement with Russia a move that can hardly please the U.S.

UPDATE: This recent article appears to conflict with the material in my article. The Saudi FM says that the Saudis will continue to support rebels unless Assad goes. Perhaps it is a bargaining position.

Saudis and their Gulf State allies create many refugees but allow almost none into their countries

The lion's share of refugees from Syria are in Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan. The Gulf States such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE have taken in few if any refugees while at the same time their citizens help finance groups fighting the Syrian civil war.

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Jordan has about 828,000 refugees within its borders. Turkey has a whopping 1.8 million. Lebanon has 1.2 million, almost a quarter of its population, an overwhelming burden on a country that already faces a difficult time trying to control the divisions between Sunni and Shia groups. The Gulf Arab states are not the only countries in the area not taking a share of the refugees.Israel is constructing a fence to keep them out. Some opposition members have criticized the move and say Israel should allow refugees into Israel.

Some reports claim that many of the Gulf States have accepted zero refugees: As Amnesty International recently pointed out, the “six Gulf countries — Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain — have offered zero resettlement places to Syrian refugees.” This claim was echoed by Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, on Twitter:

While there may be few refugees in these countries, none of these countries are signatories to the UN Convention on Refugees, and so Syrians in those countries will not be classified as such. They must be able to enter the country through a visa. Syrians who meet the qualifications for a visa could very well be fleeing Syria to some of these states. An estimated 500,000 Syriansare in Saudi Arabia. These Syrians did not need to seek refugee status.

The Saudis and their Gulf States coalition are creating refugees not only in Syria but also Yemen through their bombing campaign and military drive to reinstate the government-in-exile of Manour Hadi. This is all done with the support and encouragement of the United States. Obama reaffirmed his support for this operation even though it is creating a continuing humanitarian disaster. With recent successes in southern Yemen, the Saudis appear determined to carry on the war rather than seek peace with the Houthis. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees(UNHCR) estimates that almost 100,000 people have fled the Yemen fighting since it started in late March. UNCHR says that it has received only one fifth of its funding needs. Refugees are pouring into countries such Djibouti and Somalia which are desperately poor already. In Somalia 28,000 people have arrived but the UNCHR has received just 5 percent of the $64 million it needs.

Meanwhile, King Salman arrives for his meeting with Obama and books an entire Four Seasons hotel for his huge entourage. Ordinary rooms at the hotel run at $400 per night and suites up to $2,000. When King Salman visited France he took along an entourage of a thousand and had a public beach closed off. Locals were so enraged, Salman decided to leave early. The Gulf States might claim that they are spending considerable sums to help refugees. Yet, their collective donations add up to less than a billion dollars. The US alone spends about four times as much. However, the US has taken in very few Syrians , 1,519 since 2011. At the same time the Saudis and their allies are spending more and more money on their military campaign in Yemen. U.S. companies profit from this as much of the weaponry and equipment is bought from the United States.

Saudis to execute leading Shia cleric for leading protests

- Said to be the most respected Shia cleric in Saudi Arabia, Sheik Al-Nimr's crime was to take part in and lead a protest by the Shia minority back in 2011 during the Arab Spring. Protests are forbidden in Saudi Arabia.

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The ruling royal family are followers of a strict form of Sunni Islam. The Shia minority have long complained that the government discriminates against them. Along with other human rights organizations the Islamic Human Rights Commission(HRC), asked the UN to intervene and prevent him from being executed. All-Nimr is said to be the most respected Shia cleric in Saudi Arabia. Many fear his execution could set off violent demonstrations across the middle east and in particular in the areas of eastern Saudi Arabia where the Shia form a majority. The HRC, an NGO based in London, said: "It is a severe blight on the reputation of this office if it is not able to work to protect the rights of individuals to free speech, to protest, to practise their religion, to a fair trial, to not be subjected to torture, and the right to life."

The representative of Bahraini Shia leader, Shaykh Ali Salman said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was told of the execution at a meeting in Ryadh, the Saudi capital, on May 6: “John Kerry expressed his surprise to President Barack Obama over the decision made by the House of Saud, and by their silence they gave the green light to Saudi Arabia to go ahead with the execution.” Former Bahraini Shiite MP Jawad Fayruz claimed since Saudi Arabia is backed by the U.S. and the UK, just one word from officials from either country might very well save Nimr's life. He also said the case is politically oriented and related to the recent overthrow of President Hadi of Yemen who was supported by the Saudis, the Gulf Cooperation Council, and the United States. He was overthrown by Houthi Shiite rebels.

Al-Nimr was sentenced to death in October 2014 for "disobeying the ruler, inciting sectarian strife, and encouraging, leading, and participating in demonstrations." Said Boumedouha, who is deputy director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North African programme said “the death sentence against Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr is part of a campaign by the authorities in Saudi Arabia to crush all dissent, including those defending the rights of the Kingdom’s Shiite Muslim community.”

There have been protests against the execution in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, India, and Iraq. Iran saw large demonstrations in several cities. Al Nimr was to be executed on May 14 according to reports but it appears to have been postponed. An informed source told Iranian Fars news agency: "Saudi officials informed Sheikh Nimr's family that they have delayed the execution of Sheikh Nimr."