2020-04-19: News Headlines

Tony Cartalucci (2020-04-19). Oil Profits for Protection: US Extorts Saudi Arabia. globalresearch.ca Legislation circulating in the US Congress threatens to withdraw military support from Saudi Arabia. | This is not because Saudi Arabia is an absolute dictatorship which still severs heads off in public. It is not because Saudi Arabia arms and funds …

yenisafak (2020-04-19). Saudi top religious authority recommends home prayers in Ramadan amid coronavirus. yenisafak.com Saudi Arabia's highest religious body, the Council of Senior Scholars, urged Muslims worldwide to pray at home during Ramadan if their countries require social distancing to curb the spread of the coronavirus, state news agency SPA reported on Sunday.The holy fasting month of Ramadan begins later this week. During the month, believers usually break their fast with families and friends and perform an evening prayer, known as Taraweeh, in large gatherings at mosques."Muslims shall avoid gatherings, because they are the main cause of the spread of infection…and shall remember that preserving the lives of people is…

Salman Rafi Sheikh (2020-04-19). How is the UAE Changing Its Geo-Political Game? iranian.com Whereas the leaders of both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, popularly known as MBS and MBZ respectively, have a number of reasons to stay united and support each other, inter-state relations are never static, with critical differences between them emerging at every turn even when state interests converge deeply. When the UAE decided in 2019 to withdraw …

Staff (2020-04-18). Attorney General Barr Refuses to Release 9/11 Documents to Victims' Families. truthout.org Months after President Donald Trump promised to open FBI files to help families of the 9/11 victims in a civil lawsuit against the Saudi government, the Justice Department has doubled down on its claim that the information is a state secret. | In a series of filings just before a midnight court deadline on Monday, the attorney general, William Barr; the acting director of national intelligence, Richard Grenell; and other senior officials insisted to a federal judge in the civil case that furth…

Elijah J. Magnier (2020-04-18). 100 Days After The Assassination Of Soleimani Did The US Achieve Its Objectives? iranian.com On the 3rd January 2020, a US drone assassinated Brigadier General Qassem Soleimani, Commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps — Quds Brigade at Baghdad airport. Soleimani had come to Iraq at the request of Prime Minister Adil Abdel Mahdi following ongoing mediation between Iran and Saudi Arabia- plus a request from President Donald Trump …

Whitney Webb (2020-04-17). As US Shale Oil Plunges, Trump Admin Takes Aim at Venezuela. mintpressnews.com WASHINGTON DC ( Despite the president's rosy tone, most analysts have called the agreement — which presumably will freeze the Saudi-Russian oil price war that broke out…

Marwan Kabalan (2020-04-17). With Oil Prices in Freefall, Coronavirus Reveals Weaknesses of Saudis, Arab Gulf States. iranian.com The coronavirus outbreak has put the Arab Gulf States under the spotlight and exposed their structural weaknesses. It has also suggested that security, which is often the focus because of geopolitical regional rivalry, especially with Iran, distracts from other equally important threats. While it is true that the Gulf States are relatively rich compared to …

news.un (2020-04-16). Yemen can't survive war on two fronts, top UN envoy tells Security Council, as coronavirus outbreak looms. news.un.org With the COVID-19 pandemic threatening to deepen suffering in Yemen, now is the time for rival parties to commit to ending their conflict, UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths told the Security Council on Thursday, during an informal meeting via videoconference.

Medea Benjamin (2020-04-04). Saudi's Brave Women Pull Back the Curtain on Crown Prince MBS. zcomm.org The bogus trial against Loujain al-Hathloul should compel governments around the world to put more pressure on the Saudis and demand al-Hathloul's immediate and unconditional release…