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Anyone surprised?
27/10/18 08:59![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kiaaTrump won't scrap the multi-billion arms deal with the Saudis no matter what, and he won't outright condemn, let alone punish them for the Khashoggi murder. That has become patently clear by now. And that's been the case with US policy towards the Saudis for quite a while, ironically, very similar to the US policy towards Israel. No surprise there, given the fact that those guys have invested tons of cash in US politics to cement their position.
The Saudi government has hired lobbyists in profusion and they, in turn, have effectively helped convince members of Congress and the president to ignore blatant human rights violations and civilian casualties in Yemen. According to a forthcoming report by the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative program, which I direct, at the Center for International Policy, registered foreign agents working on behalf of interests in Saudi Arabia contacted Congressional representatives, the White House, the media, and figures at influential think tanks more than 2,500 times in 2017 alone. In the process, they also managed to contribute nearly $400,000 to the political coffers of senators and House members as they urged them to support the Saudis.
US support for the Saudi cut-throats comes at a cost, of course. The main thing that's being given up in the process is America's credibility as the paragon and standard-bearer of freedom and democracy in the world...
The Saudi government has hired lobbyists in profusion and they, in turn, have effectively helped convince members of Congress and the president to ignore blatant human rights violations and civilian casualties in Yemen. According to a forthcoming report by the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative program, which I direct, at the Center for International Policy, registered foreign agents working on behalf of interests in Saudi Arabia contacted Congressional representatives, the White House, the media, and figures at influential think tanks more than 2,500 times in 2017 alone. In the process, they also managed to contribute nearly $400,000 to the political coffers of senators and House members as they urged them to support the Saudis.
US support for the Saudi cut-throats comes at a cost, of course. The main thing that's being given up in the process is America's credibility as the paragon and standard-bearer of freedom and democracy in the world...
