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Tuesday, May 30, 2017

‘US-Riyadh arms deal will ensure Saudis will continue slaughtering Yemenis’

‘US-Riyadh arms deal will ensure Saudis will continue slaughtering Yemenis’Brandon Turbeville
May 27, 2017

In an interview with Muslim Press, Brandon Turbeville said that U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent arms deal with Saudi Arabia will ensure that “the Saudis will continue to engage in wholesale slaughter in Yemen and perhaps even engage in military operations in other places.”
Here’s the full transcript of the interview:

Muslim Press: What’s the significance of Trump’s Middle East tour? What was he looking for during his trip?

Brandon Turbeville: Trump’s Middle East tour was bound to happen sooner or later. All American Presidents have to go and grovel to Israel and Saudi Arabia at some point during their career. Obviously, the Israeli element was simply more American groveling, ensuring that the Israelis and the Zionist lobby are comfortable with a Trump administration. But the question is also “why now?” It’s been known for decades that, when a President is having trouble at home, a foreign trip tends to ease some of the pressure as Americans will be focused on the outcome of the trip. That seems to have helped a little but probably not as much as Trump had hoped. The Deep State and the leftists are still screaming about “Russian ties” and whatever else they can come up with here at home. Ultimately, Trump has reassured Saudi Arabia that all his rhetoric on the campaign trail was just that – rhetoric. The U.S. and KSA can now resume business as usual.

MP: What could you say about his anti-Iran rhetoric? How likely is a conflict with Iran?

Brandon Turbeville: His anti-Iran rhetoric was even present on the campaign trail. It was one of the few things he was actually consistent about. Now that he’s president, the rhetoric is taking on an even more dangerous configuration because now he (or more truthfully the Deep State apparatus) has the ability to act on that rhetoric. I think a conflict with Iran is very likely in the future. Iran was always next on the chopping block after Syria and, even though Syria has not fallen like it was intended, the state has been significantly weakened by six years of war. It seems like the West is working toward partition and, once that has been accomplished, Iran will start to see the sights of the West set upon it. I would also suggest that, this time, I don’t think Iran will be looking at color revolutions and proxy terrorists but at direct Western and Israeli military assaults. I would suggest taking a look at the Brookings Institution document entitled “Which Path To Persia,” which highlights some of the options the United States is looking at in terms of how a war with Iran could be initiated. Some involved color revolutions. Some involve proxy terrorists like in Syria and Libya. Some involve direct invasion. Others involve the use of Israeli strikes and provocations that force Iran to respond, and thus the United States can intervene as if it is protecting its Israeli ally. Christian Zionism is incredibly popular here in the U.S. and that rationale is likely to sell easily to a large part of the population. I highly recommend reading that Brookings document. It can easily be found on the internet.


MP: How would his visit to Saudi Arabia and Israel affect relations between Riyadh and Tel Aviv?

Brandon Turbeville: It’s going to help solidify cooperation that was already happening. Informed observers already knew that the Israelis and the Saudi leadership were cooperating despite their public statements. Toward the end of the Obama administration, we saw the Saudis and Israelis publicly admitting that they were warming up to one another. Trump’s visit is only going to help solidify that relationship. I would also hasten to point out that this is merely the continuation of the Obama administration strategy.

MP: Trump signed a $110 billion deal with Saudi Arabia. Is he “milking” the kingdom, as Iran’s FM Zarif described it?

Brandon Turbeville: No. Zarif’s statement was an insult. It was designed to insult Trump and the Saudis and, at its most effective, sow discord between them. But that’s all it was. In reality, Trump’s deal will ensure that the Saudis will continue to engage in wholesale slaughter in Yemen and perhaps even engage in military operations in other places. Of course, if the Yemen disaster has proven nothing it has shown Saudi Arabia to be a paper tiger. Even with all the American military equipment it has, it has been humiliated by the Houthis. It can’t even protect its own territory. But the deal does more than shore up the Saudis’ military systems, it also provides a massive source of income for the American Military Industrial Complex.

MP: What’s your take on the current situation in Syria? How much has it changed since Trump became president?

Brandon Turbeville: By and large, the Trump administration has continued the same policy as the Obama administration. The major difference is the apparent focus it has placed on federalization or fractionalization of the country. It seems where the Obama administration started losing steam in the last several months, the Trump administration has a renewed vigor for establishing regions based on phony designations of religion, ethnicity, etc. The more Trump solidifies ties with the KSA and Israel, the more likely we are to see this type of adventure continue. Likewise, the more power the Deep State asserts domestically, we are likely to see the war on Syria intensify.

Brandon Turbeville is an author and writer based out of Florence, South Carolina. He has written over 550 articles on topics dealing with the Middle East, Geopolitics, Syria, Economics, and Civil Liberties. He hosts a weekly radio show, Truth on the Tracks, which can be heard on UCY.TV. Turbeville has been interviewed by a number of media outlets in the alternative media as well as the independent and mainstream. He has been interviewed by PRESSTV, al-Etejah, FOX, ITAR-TASS, LPR, and Sputnik International.

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