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EXCLUSIVE: The secret summit aboard a yacht that has realigned the Middle East
#Policy
Leaders of UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Jordan conspired to counter Turkey and Iran, replace GCC and Arab League
Last year in Riyadh, US President Donald Trump alongside Arab leaders who were present on the yacht (AFP)
Middle East Eye is able to reveal that George Nader, a Lebanese-American businessman convicted of pedophilia, who is cooperating with Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller's investigation into the financing of Donald Trump's campaign, has organized a summit between Arab rulers on a yacht in the Red Sea late 2015.
Nader suggested to the leaders gathered on the yacht to set up an elite regional group of six countries, which would supplant both the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the moribund Arab League.
"If you agree with that, I'll lobby in Washington for that"
- George Nader to Arab leaders
Nader said the group of states could become a regional force "that the US government could depend on" to counter the influence of Turkey and Iran, according to two sources familiar with the meeting.
Nader assembled on this yacht Mohammed ben Salmane (MBS), who was then Deputy Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Ben Zayed (MBZ), Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Egyptian President, Prince Salman, Crown Prince of Bahrain, and King Abdullah II of Jordan.
Their respective states, as well as Libya, which was not represented at this secret summit, would form the core of a group of pro-American and pro-Israel states.
Nader reportedly told the leaders, "If you agree, I will lobby Washington," two sources told MEE . Participants appreciated this idea.
Middle East Eye is able to reveal that Nader has had frequent contacts over the last two years with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which is the subject of a US Congressional bill promising new sanctions and blocking Tehran's entry into the WTO.
Nader established this link with the help of Iraqi Shiite leader Ammar al-Hakim and his group. The IRGC would have used Nader to convey messages to the states of the Middle East, according to our sources.
Trump was essential to this project
The secret summit on the Red Sea took place towards the end of the first year in power of King Salman, when his son MBS was only viceroy crown.
His main obstacle to the Saudi throne was his older cousin, Mohammed ben Nayef, crown prince and favorite of the Washington security establishment . MBS became Crown Prince in June 2017, following the dismissal of Ben Nayef by his father.
In 2016, Saudi King Salman Ben Abdelaziz with Crown Prince of the day, Mohammed ben Nayef, and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (AFP)
Trump had only announced his candidacy a few months earlier, in June 2015, when Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton was leading all polls. The Saudis and Emiratis thought it was more likely to honor Barack Obama's nuclear deal with Iran and to be generally more skeptical about their plans to push Iran back into the region.
Significantly, these Arab leaders decided at the end of 2015 that an unpredictable presidential candidate like Trump could be the key to their plans to become the new regional hegemonic powers.
A few months later, in January 2016, King Abdullah of Jordan informed the leaders of the US Congress that Turkey is the main threat to regional security.
As MEE had reported, the king told US Congressmen at a closed meeting that Turkey was exporting terrorists to Europe , noting that he later publicly denied it.
READ: It's personal: Trump betrayed Mahmoud Abbas and King Abdullah of Jordan
However, Jordan then went on a drama with the group that had assembled on the yacht: Saudi Arabia decreed that Amman did not go far enough in enforcing the June blockade against Qatar latest.
The gap between Saudi Arabia and Jordan widened further when Jordan voted against Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, threatening Jordan's role as guardian of the holy places from the city .
Nader the intermediary
George Nader has recently emerged as an essential informal communication channel between Ben Zayed and Trump. The New York Times reported that Mueller is actively seeking financial links to establish whether the Emirati have illegally contributed financially to Trump's presidential campaign.
He reported that in recent weeks, Mueller investigators questioned Nader and listened to witnesses about all possible Emiratis attempts to buy political influence by paying money to Trump's presidential campaign.
On Friday, reports surfaced of a flurry of convictions against Nader for sexual abuse of minors and possession of child pornography. Newsweek reported that Nader was sentenced to six months in prison for child pornography charges in Virginia. According to Newsweek's Federal Court records , Nader was found guilty of introducing child pornography into the United States from Germany.
This was in addition to a conviction for ten counts of sexual abuse of minors in the Czech Republic, for which he served one year in prison in 2003.
Despite this criminal record, Nader was actively used by Trump. He attended a meeting with Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, and Steve Bannon, his main political strategists in the Trump Tower in New York in December 2016.
Erik Prince testifies before Congress in Washington DC in 2007 (AFP)
A month later, Nader, Erik Prince, the former head of Blackwater, and a Russian banker all attended a meeting in Seychelles with Ben Zayed.
Nader has long-standing ties with Israel. In the presidential elections, Ben Zayed sent Nader to meet Israeli officials to discuss cooperation between the two countries, a source told MEE . Nader has established links with Israel through a Jewish American fundraiser, Elliott Broidy, who is close to Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu.
According to the NYT , Broidy owns a private security company that has signed contracts for hundreds of millions of dollars with the UAE.
Broidy was dismissed as chairman of Tel Aviv-based Markstone Capital Partners after acknowledging nearly $ 1 million in bribes to pension fund managers in the state of New York. Broidy became vice-president of Trump's fundraising campaign.
Citing a memo written by Broidy, and sent to the paper by "a critic of UAE's influence in Washington," the NYT reported that Broidy had lobbied Trump so that he would meet Ben Zayed "in an informal setting," that he supports UAE policies and pushes him to fire his secretary of state, Rex Tillerson.
In response to the leak of his memo, Broidy accused "registered and unregistered agents of Qatar" of this piracy. Broidy brought the accusation through his spokesman and in a letter to the Qatari ambassador in Washington .
#Policy
Leaders of UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Jordan conspired to counter Turkey and Iran, replace GCC and Arab League
Last year in Riyadh, US President Donald Trump alongside Arab leaders who were present on the yacht (AFP)
Middle East Eye is able to reveal that George Nader, a Lebanese-American businessman convicted of pedophilia, who is cooperating with Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller's investigation into the financing of Donald Trump's campaign, has organized a summit between Arab rulers on a yacht in the Red Sea late 2015.
Nader suggested to the leaders gathered on the yacht to set up an elite regional group of six countries, which would supplant both the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the moribund Arab League.
"If you agree with that, I'll lobby in Washington for that"
- George Nader to Arab leaders
Nader said the group of states could become a regional force "that the US government could depend on" to counter the influence of Turkey and Iran, according to two sources familiar with the meeting.
Nader assembled on this yacht Mohammed ben Salmane (MBS), who was then Deputy Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Ben Zayed (MBZ), Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Egyptian President, Prince Salman, Crown Prince of Bahrain, and King Abdullah II of Jordan.
Their respective states, as well as Libya, which was not represented at this secret summit, would form the core of a group of pro-American and pro-Israel states.
Nader reportedly told the leaders, "If you agree, I will lobby Washington," two sources told MEE . Participants appreciated this idea.
Middle East Eye is able to reveal that Nader has had frequent contacts over the last two years with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which is the subject of a US Congressional bill promising new sanctions and blocking Tehran's entry into the WTO.
Nader established this link with the help of Iraqi Shiite leader Ammar al-Hakim and his group. The IRGC would have used Nader to convey messages to the states of the Middle East, according to our sources.
Trump was essential to this project
The secret summit on the Red Sea took place towards the end of the first year in power of King Salman, when his son MBS was only viceroy crown.
His main obstacle to the Saudi throne was his older cousin, Mohammed ben Nayef, crown prince and favorite of the Washington security establishment . MBS became Crown Prince in June 2017, following the dismissal of Ben Nayef by his father.
Trump had only announced his candidacy a few months earlier, in June 2015, when Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton was leading all polls. The Saudis and Emiratis thought it was more likely to honor Barack Obama's nuclear deal with Iran and to be generally more skeptical about their plans to push Iran back into the region.
Significantly, these Arab leaders decided at the end of 2015 that an unpredictable presidential candidate like Trump could be the key to their plans to become the new regional hegemonic powers.
A few months later, in January 2016, King Abdullah of Jordan informed the leaders of the US Congress that Turkey is the main threat to regional security.
As MEE had reported, the king told US Congressmen at a closed meeting that Turkey was exporting terrorists to Europe , noting that he later publicly denied it.
READ: It's personal: Trump betrayed Mahmoud Abbas and King Abdullah of Jordan
However, Jordan then went on a drama with the group that had assembled on the yacht: Saudi Arabia decreed that Amman did not go far enough in enforcing the June blockade against Qatar latest.
The gap between Saudi Arabia and Jordan widened further when Jordan voted against Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, threatening Jordan's role as guardian of the holy places from the city .
Nader the intermediary
George Nader has recently emerged as an essential informal communication channel between Ben Zayed and Trump. The New York Times reported that Mueller is actively seeking financial links to establish whether the Emirati have illegally contributed financially to Trump's presidential campaign.
He reported that in recent weeks, Mueller investigators questioned Nader and listened to witnesses about all possible Emiratis attempts to buy political influence by paying money to Trump's presidential campaign.
On Friday, reports surfaced of a flurry of convictions against Nader for sexual abuse of minors and possession of child pornography. Newsweek reported that Nader was sentenced to six months in prison for child pornography charges in Virginia. According to Newsweek's Federal Court records , Nader was found guilty of introducing child pornography into the United States from Germany.
This was in addition to a conviction for ten counts of sexual abuse of minors in the Czech Republic, for which he served one year in prison in 2003.
Despite this criminal record, Nader was actively used by Trump. He attended a meeting with Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, and Steve Bannon, his main political strategists in the Trump Tower in New York in December 2016.
A month later, Nader, Erik Prince, the former head of Blackwater, and a Russian banker all attended a meeting in Seychelles with Ben Zayed.
Nader has long-standing ties with Israel. In the presidential elections, Ben Zayed sent Nader to meet Israeli officials to discuss cooperation between the two countries, a source told MEE . Nader has established links with Israel through a Jewish American fundraiser, Elliott Broidy, who is close to Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu.
According to the NYT , Broidy owns a private security company that has signed contracts for hundreds of millions of dollars with the UAE.
Broidy was dismissed as chairman of Tel Aviv-based Markstone Capital Partners after acknowledging nearly $ 1 million in bribes to pension fund managers in the state of New York. Broidy became vice-president of Trump's fundraising campaign.
Citing a memo written by Broidy, and sent to the paper by "a critic of UAE's influence in Washington," the NYT reported that Broidy had lobbied Trump so that he would meet Ben Zayed "in an informal setting," that he supports UAE policies and pushes him to fire his secretary of state, Rex Tillerson.
In response to the leak of his memo, Broidy accused "registered and unregistered agents of Qatar" of this piracy. Broidy brought the accusation through his spokesman and in a letter to the Qatari ambassador in Washington .
