President Trump modestly called last month's trip to Saudi Arabia a "tremendous success" and played up a massive $110B arms deal as a way to ignite economic growth in the US.
“Hundreds of billions of dollars of investments into the US and jobs, jobs, jobs,” the deal-maker-in-chief said after signing an agreement with the Saudis. "That was a tremendous day. Tremendous investments in the US.”
|
|
Bruce RiedelMake America Great Again, indeed.
Sadly, we were snookered. Bruce Riedel, Brookings Institution senior fellow and director of the think tank's Intelligence Project, wrote a report June 5 that dismisses the Saudi arms deal as bogus. Or, "fake news." Riedel's assessment means that our president who complains endlessly about being the target of fake news, is a purveyor of fake news.
Reidel, a 30-year Central Intelligence Agency veteran, wrote that his Capitol Hill and defense business contacts all said the same thing: "There is no $110B deal." It's hot air.
"Instead, there are a bunch of letters of interest or intent, but no contracts," explained Riedel. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency, arms sales wing on DOD, called the Saudi deal "intended sales." And a kicker: "None of the deals identified so far are new, all began in the Obama Administration," noted the Brookings senior fellow.
Riedel doesn't expect many of the $110B worth of weapons to be ever sold. The Saudis are strapped. Low oil prices and a costly war in Yemen have rocked the Kingdom's economy, which has launched a privatization drive to spur growth. In fact, Saudi Arabia was hard-pressed to come up with the cash to pay for the $112B weapons deal during the Obama Administration, according to Riedel.
We should take any future Middle East arms deal claim made by our boastful President with a grain of salt. Watch the Israelis. Riedel wrote that if "Israel begins to ask for a package to keep the Israeli Defense Forces' qualitative edge preserved," we''ll know an Arab arms sale is real.
The bulk of last month's arms deal isn't going to happen. Learning to sword dance was Trump's takeaway in Saudi Arabia. He did have a certain swagger.
Donald Trump is 100 percent correct that he has lousy PR but that's only because his policies stink and are hurting Americans... Will billionaires or civil society groups shape the future of AI regulations?... "Evidence in an Age of Doubt" is the timely theme of this year's investigative film festival put on by the 100Reporters group. 
WPP CEO Cindy Rose works to manage shareholder expectations ahead of the Oct. 29 release of financials. Don't expect a miracle turnaround... Kudos to Skydance chief David Ellison for keeping CNN CEO Mark Thompson on the job. Now he has to expend Thompson's contract... Vast majority of Americans want federal government to regulate AI. They obviously don't trust the "super intelligence" president to oversee AI.
Don’t believe what your eyes see and ears hear is the mantra of Donald Trump who claims his propaganda advertising designed to boost his fragile ego are “clearly not campaign ads”... Democratic National Committee steps up outreach to Jewish Americans as antisemitism rises and traditional support for Israel tanks. 
The Trump administration's crackerjack team designed America.gov, which puts all services offered by US agencies under a single AI roof. What could possibly go wrong?... ESG pioneer Starbucks jumps off the sustainability train in favor of corporate cost-cutting... Perception of press freedom plummets to all-time low, according to Gallup survey.
China's president Xi Jinping won the PR battle over Donald Trump as the American groveled before his guest of honor on the tarmac of Joint Base Andrews. Trump’s kowtowing to Xi is a sign of both his personal weakness and of America’s decline on the global stage.
