Bin Salman is Now One of Us, Part Five
We’ve brought our narrative of Saudi’s Bin Salman to the point where Trump announced his candidacy in America. We narrated how the highest-ranking national security officials in Russia’s National Security Council, under Vladimir Putin’s program, were determined to support Trump, finding him the best option for disrupting the structure of the United States and overturning American democracy.
Meanwhile, in the Middle East, various forces and leaders gathered to unite behind a strange, unappealing, and rare figure to support Trump. We’ve reached the point where we must discuss federal investigations into foreign countries and agents’ interference in the 2016 elections to clarify the dimensions of the Arab story and the American elections.
America, the Defenseless Country
Robert Mueller, the former FBI Director, became one of the most pivotal political and security figures in America for several years following the 2016 elections. His successor at the helm of the FBI appointed him to investigate the case of foreign countries’ interference in the American elections. As a special investigator, he spent a long time preparing a detailed report, which ultimately, due to Mueller’s considerations and existing obstacles, could not bring Trump to trial.
Nevertheless, the names of several countries emerged. Russia’s role in electing Trump was almost a given, and to this day, uncovering the extent of Putin’s support for Trump troubles him. However, the role of certain other countries needs to be examined more closely and with a specific lens. It should be noted that all the news about Putin’s support for Trump actually diverted attention from the role of other countries.
A serious reality that emerged from Mueller’s extensive investigations on one hand, and a wide range of other organizations’ investigations on the other, was America’s defenselessness in the past decade against interventions and influences from other countries. Part of this serious weakness should be sought in the role of internal political forces in America, who welcomed any assistance, whether from within or outside the US, for financial and political gains.
Specifically, this defenselessness of America should be seen frankly and without reservation in a wide network of American political lobbyists who are on foreign payrolls. Official institutions and political figures registered and recognized as lobbyists legally conduct the flow of money, information, and cooperation with countries, organizations, companies, and foreign personalities.
What was revealed during the investigations, media coverage of activities, and everything Robert Mueller did in America, specifically, is one of the darkest chapters in America’s judicial and political history. What was clarified and disclosed was a multitude of cases and documents of Russian and other countries’ electoral interference in the 2016 American elections, and significant figures from Trump’s circle, both during Mueller’s investigations and in the broader federal prosecution and FBI pursuits, were identified as agents of foreign countries. Among them, one person gained importance.
Nader, One of a Kind
George Nader, or as pronounced in Arabic, George Nader, the well-known Lebanese-American, was recognized before the 2016 elections and its developments in America as a lobbyist, businessman, mediator, and a reliable figure for American conservatives in the Middle East. George Nader should be considered one of the significant figures linked to the infamous Iran-Contra story, playing a special role in the release of American hostages in Lebanon during the tumultuous interactions of a specific circle in Iran with rebellious and law-breaking figures of the Reagan administration.
Nader had special relations with Shia figures in Iran and Iraq, and alongside all these interactions, during George W. Bush’s era, he seriously linked with his government and accompanying conservatives. From this point in Nader’s story, it should be noted that this style of cunning lobbyists artistically builds connections and relationships with all political factions to maintain a balance in their future interests.
During Robert Mueller’s investigations, it became clear that what was previously known about George Nader’s relationship with Erik Prince, the notorious conservative figure and owner of the infamous and deadly Blackwater company, was very minimal. The depth of cooperation between these two was very unusual, and it was George Nader who was hired by Erik Prince to secure security contracts for Blackwater and the military-security group under the official title of Blackwater advisor.
By the time we reach the 2016 elections, George Nader had orchestrated numerous colorful stories of lobbying and deceit, effectively becoming one of the influential Middle Eastern figures in Washington. Without being a citizen of any specific Arab or Persian Middle Eastern country, he could comfortably advance the political businesses of Middle Eastern leaders from all over the region in America.
Electoral Gathering on a Pleasure Yacht
In 2015, George Nader prepared for a special period. The developments in the Middle East and America were heading in a direction that paved the way for new endeavors and a comprehensive and special plan. The nuclear agreement between Iran and America and its allies was reached in two stages with extensive news coverage, and its consequences were beginning to unfold. Netanyahu in Israel was creating widespread turmoil against the Obama administration, officially clashing with John Kerry in front of cameras and delivering speeches against Obama and the nuclear deal in Congress.
In the Persian Gulf, Arab leaders were stabilizing after the Arab Spring and clarifying the boundaries between friends and foes. Saudi Arabia and the UAE, with elderly leaders and young, adventurous crown princes, were seeking to make history. The behind-the-scenes interactions of these Arab leaders with Israelis, the enmity and resentment of Saudi, UAE, and Bahraini crown princes towards Qataris, and the confrontation of these leaders with Erdogan due to the Arab Spring stories were becoming serious.
All these developments, along with the arrival of ISIS and the setting ablaze of Iraq and Syria, added to the reasons for Arab leaders to reach the peak of dissatisfaction with Barack Obama and the Democrats. Their hidden ties with Israelis also provided the groundwork for a new alliance. George Nader saw this situation as the best opportunity.
In late 2015, as Trump had become recognized as the main figure in the Republican Party’s presidential campaigns, George Nader, along with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the crown princes of the UAE and Bahrain, and also King Abdullah of Jordan, gathered Mohammed bin Salman for a pleasant gathering on a yacht in the Red Sea. During this attractive gathering, he presented his special proposals and insisted on uniting these figures behind his plans.
It should be noted that the plans presented by George Nader to the Arab leaders were plans that were entirely dependent on the will and inclination of these leaders. Implementing these plans, in conditions where Mohammed bin Salman had one hand in domestic affairs and laying the groundwork for maximizing his power and another hand in the Yemen story, was time-consuming and beyond the patience of the young and pleasure-seeking prince. Bin Salman had not yet become crown prince at that time.
He had just begun his efforts to sideline the crown prince and establish himself as his father’s successor. The UAE’s crown prince was in a similar situation. George Nader’s plans, however, were attractive enough. Nader’s plan to create a united Arab front against Iran and Turkey and align Arab-Israeli programs did not expand the Israeli dimensions significantly, and there was no need for elaboration.
Both the behind-the-scenes relationships of Arab leaders with Israelis in commercial interactions on one hand and security and espionage collaborations on the other were well-established. What was needed to create a united front against Iran and Turkey and begin a new era in the Middle East was a sympathetic government in Washington. George Nader introduced cooperation with Trump and helping his election as the main solution and told those present at the yacht gathering that he could connect their circle to the Trumpians.
Bin Salman, Bin Zayed, and Trump All Got Played
As we mentioned, George Nader is one of those professional lobbyists and political and commercial game-makers who knows his job well. He, who paid attention to all aspects of the political game in the New World and Middle Eastern political games, could not accept even the slightest risk. Alongside the programs we mentioned and will mention later, he not only did not sever his relationships with the opposing forces of the structures he was connected to but also strengthened them.
This Mr. George Nader, who is now in prison and we will explain why in the next section, connected the money of the UAE crown prince to Hillary Clinton’s campaign, simultaneously with deposits into Trump accounts. This process of depositing money also brought another Middle Eastern-connected figure into the mix and created many troubles.
He apparently met with Hillary Clinton and her husband Bill Clinton and proposed the UAE’s request for favor to the 2016 election candidate. Bin Salman was naturally unaware of this specific development and Nader and the Emiratis’ cooperation, just as he was apparently unaware that Mohammed bin Zayed, as the crown prince, was a more important figure for Nader and his American friends than he, who was still only the deputy crown prince.
George Nader also arranged other actions to strengthen his relations with the Revolutionary Guards. The pre-existing connections with Shia leaders in Iraq and the so-called links with Iranians needed to be solidified to maintain a balance of interests for Nader in the future. He took this matter seriously in the latter half of the previous decade and established newer and stronger relationships with specific forces in Iran through Ammar al-Hakim.
The Arabs on the yacht didn’t know about this one either. At this point in the story, it should be said that the ties of those Arab leaders did not have an organized, solid structure and powerful function. The weaknesses and failures of politics and execution were so serious that, for example, King Abdullah of Jordan did not remain a serious force in this group and front.
Continue following the narrative of Bin Salman’s electoral game and the role of Arab, Israeli leaders, and Nader, who is one of a kind, in the upcoming sections of Bin Salman’s story.