Saudi Arabia will host a meeting this Friday of Arab foreign ministers to discuss bringing Syria back into the Arab League, which suspended Damascus in 2011, Reuters reported Tuesday.
Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said the meeting will be attended by the foreign ministers of Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.
“The main aim is to discuss the situation in Syria. There are many developments regarding the situation in Syria and points of view of Arab states about the return of Syria to the Arab League,” al-Ansari said.
Saudi Arabia is expected to invite Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to attend a May 19 Arab League summit that will be held in Riyadh. The move would be significant as Saudi Arabia and other Arab League members supported the failed regime change effort against Assad.
The US is opposed to regional countries normalizing with Syria as it wants to keep the country isolated and under crippling sanctions. CIA Director William Burns recently visited Riyadh and said the US was blindsided by the Saudi normalization with Iran and steps toward opening up with Damascus.
The Wall Street Journal reported in March that Arab countries were looking to work out a normalization deal with Assad that would involve Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and other US allies lobbying for an end to Western sanctions on Syria.
Good, great even! Way to go Saudi Arabia with regard to Syria, have at it. Don’t come to the US for any kind of anything and we wish you all the best. US: your job is to keep OUR country safe and strong, with reasonably good relations between other countries.
Amen. No joking here.
As you are kind of alluding to, countries are either with us or against us. Looks like Saudi Arabia will be on the other side.
Over time, they will stop selling oil to the US, and start selling to Asian and African nations that are against us. We will ramp up our own production in the meantime. Hopefully the transition to a decoupled world will be peaceful and not TOO rocky.
i think that Saudis probably sell their oil to anyone and everyone and when confronted with “you are either with us or against us” they probably reply with a middle finger and the words “suck it!” edit) = in fact here is the arabic translation for suck it! = تمتصه! = tamtasih!
lol
“Saudi Arabia is expected to invite Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to attend a May 19 Arab League summit that will be held in Riyadh.”
If I were Assad, I’d have a clenched sphincter come May 19th if he accepts the invitation. This coziness will not be tolerated.
assassination nation
hey while there are still only a few comments here i will say =
RFKjr seems to have officially thrown his hat into the 2024 POTUS ring.
he will apparently run as a democrat in the DNC primary vs whoever the actual DNC candidate might be. IMO he is as close as we will ever see to the right man for the job and the only man that i would vote for so far. but he has a rare disease spasmodic dysphonia which makes it difficult for him to speak and his political enemies will surely use that to destroy him. OK let’s speculate that RFKjr survives any assassination attempts but still does not become the DNC candidate, he might then enter the POTUS race as an Independent Party candidate where he would certainly siphon off almost 50% of the democrat voters which would then ensure a Trump victory because Trump’s idiot MAGAt supporters would vote for him even if he had an upside-down cross with a 666 tattooed on his forehead – so RFKjr will be like the Ross Perot of the democrats, see what i’m saying?
In case you didn’t know, our own Thomas Knapp is world class in role playing mob bosses. I could imagine him reporting: “Burns said, ‘Nice country you have here. It’s a shame if it burns tomorrow, cooked in your own oil.'” Or something like, “Burns read the entire Mafia SOP to the Saudis, but he had to cut it short because the Khashoggi welcoming committee was present.” Or, “Burns had a warm meeting atmosphere with the Saudis.” Thomas, please jump in and fix this. I’m making a mess. (Sarcasm alert)
Sorry. While I do some writing repair work, whatever the hell that is is simply too incoherent to even begin working with.
“made you look!” LOL just kidding
Every time when the Israeli military storms the El Aksa Mosque in Jerusalem, Saudi Arabia moves further away from Biden.
If Syria is admitted to the Arab League, ending sanctions by Biden will not be the only big issue because Libya will then become a member of the Arab League which is partially occupied by Biden’s government. Will the current members tolerate that?
P.S. This is even bigger than what Nasser had in mind! A Muslim League from the Mediterranean Sea to India! Friendly with Russia and China.
I remember not too long ago another high level invitation from Saudia Arabia that involved an assassination via drone at an Airport. I don’t and will never trust Saudia Arabia. Its just one of those countries since its inception has had a dubious legacy and a recurring role in all the bad events that have ever transpired in West Asia. Its not too different from Israel in that aspect. Even if its intent on setting off on a new path of rebirth, its gonna take a loooong time before its absolved of all its extremely many sins. Saudia is just shady, suspect and shifty as shit.