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Inside Saudi Arabia’s Campaign to Charm American Policymakers and Journalists

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TheDemSocialist

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Soon after launching a brutal air and ground assault in Yemen, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia began devoting significant resources to a sophisticated public relations blitz in Washington, D.C.
The PR campaign is designed to maintain close ties with the U.S. even as the Saudi-led military incursion into the poorest Arab nation in the Middle East has killed nearly 6,000 people, almost half of them civilians.
Elements of the charm offensive include the launch of a pro-Saudi Arabia media portal operated by high-profile Republican campaign consultants; a special English-language website devoted to putting a positive spin on the latest developments in the Yemen war; glitzy dinners with American political and business elites; and a non-stop push to sway reporters and policymakers.

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That has been accompanied by a spending spree on American lobbyists with ties to the Washington establishment. The Saudi Arabian Embassy, as we’vereported, now retains the brother of Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, the leader of one of the largest Republican Super PACs in the country, and a law firm with deep ties to the Obama administration. One of Jeb Bush’s top fundraisers, Ignacio Sanchez, is also lobbying for the Saudi Kingdom.
Saudi Arabia’s relationship with the U.S. has come under particular strain in recent years as the government has not only launched the brutal war in Yemen, but has embarked on a wave of repression. Following the appointment of Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud to the Saudi throne in January, the Kingdom sharply increased the number of people executed — often by beheading and crucifixion — for daring to protest or criticize the government or for crimes as minor as adultery or “witchcraft.” On November 17, a Saudi court sentenced Ashraf Fayadh, a famed poet
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Read more @: Inside Saudi Arabia’s Campaign to Charm American Policymakers and Journalists

Saudi Arabia's bombing campaign in Yemen has been brutal and many human rights abuses and war crimes have been clearly documented during the campaign. With the new monarch taking the throne last year, he opened up a reign of terror and executions often done in the style of beheading or crucifixion. What do the Sauds then do? Work with American consulting firms, and host fancy dinners for political elites, businessmen, etc. The openly friendly US-Saudi relationship needs to end.
 
TheDemSocialist said:
Read more @: Inside Saudi Arabia’s Campaign to Charm American Policymakers and Journalists

Saudi Arabia's bombing campaign in Yemen has been brutal and many human rights abuses and war crimes have been clearly documented during the campaign. With the new monarch taking the throne last year, he opened up a reign of terror and executions often done in the style of beheading or crucifixion. What do the Sauds then do? Work with American consulting firms, and host fancy dinners for political elites, businessmen, etc. The openly friendly US-Saudi relationship needs to end. [/FONT][/COLOR]
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Nobody cares. Saudi Arabia is our ally. From their brutal suppression of an Arab Spring protest on their border to quell attempts at democratic reforms to their support of the Sunni Islamic group ISIS to their interference in the internal affairs of Syria. Patronizing Americans don't care. Eyes seem to follow Washington's eyes. :shrug:
 
Saudi Arabia does as it does. It is us that are so foolish as to continue to overlook the actions of Saudi Arabia, all while we march all over the expanded region from nation to nation calling other ideological military dictatorships as "bad guys."
 
Our relationship with the Saudis is the biggest foreign policy hypocrisy of this political era, but don't let that stop anyone from thinking we're fighting a just war, or anything.
 
TheDemSocialist said:
Saudi Arabia's bombing campaign in Yemen has been brutal and many human rights abuses and war crimes have been clearly documented during the campaign
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Aren't you glad that we are letting regional powers solve their own problems? :)

What do the Sauds then do? Work with American consulting firms, and host fancy dinners for political elites, businessmen, etc.
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1. Most foreign powers of note that wish to influence US policy towards them do this. You've basically discovered that there is such a thing as lobbying.
2. Saudi actions in Yemen are the inevitable result of the US pull-back and "lead from behind" approach. Ditto for elsewhere, where other regional powers without our ability to conduct pinpoint strikes are having to step up and solve problems.
 
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