Hasbara Buster
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Saudi extremism has full US support: Commentator
Interview with Mark Dankof
Press TV has conducted an interview with Mark Dankof, a political commentator from San Antonio, about the Saudi Arabian king having replaced Bandar bin Sultan as intelligence chief with his deputy, Yousef al-Idrissi.
The following is an approximate transcript of the interview.
Press TV: Tell us the reasons behind this replacement. Is it domestic policy or something else behind this replacement?
Dankof: I suspect that regardless of the real reason for the replacement that it will not fundamentally change Saudi policy.
The fact of the matter is whether you’re looking at Saudi Arabia as a domestic police state - which it clearly is, it is now the fifth largest military spender in the world. In fact they’ve increased their military spending by 14 percent up – they are up to 67 billion dollars per year.
Looking at their provocative policies and what it is they’re supporting with Wahhabi extremism in Syria, just one example, we can fully anticipate that all of that sort of thing will continue.
Press TV: What do we know about this new intelligence chief Yousef al-Idrissi? What background does he come from?
Dankof: I frankly know very little about this gentleman. It seems to me of course in the speculation of some of the Western press that Bandar wanted out of his present position merely because of unspecified health issues. That may very well be the case, I don’t know.
And as far as this new gentleman... again I would anticipate just on the face of it from what I see and the continuity of Saudi policies historically that we’re not going to see any radical differences as far as what they’re doing with military spending and what it is that they’re doing at home with the creation of a domestic police state.
The clearly dangerous and extremist policies that they’re pursuing in Syria just as one example... Again I think that all of that will continue under this new gentleman.
Press TV: So, no change in Saudi Arabia’s policy whatsoever?
Dankof: That’s certainly my reading of the situation, which is another way of saying that there’ll be no change in American policy towards Saudi Arabia.
Interview with Mark Dankof
Press TV has conducted an interview with Mark Dankof, a political commentator from San Antonio, about the Saudi Arabian king having replaced Bandar bin Sultan as intelligence chief with his deputy, Yousef al-Idrissi.
The following is an approximate transcript of the interview.
Press TV: Tell us the reasons behind this replacement. Is it domestic policy or something else behind this replacement?
Dankof: I suspect that regardless of the real reason for the replacement that it will not fundamentally change Saudi policy.
The fact of the matter is whether you’re looking at Saudi Arabia as a domestic police state - which it clearly is, it is now the fifth largest military spender in the world. In fact they’ve increased their military spending by 14 percent up – they are up to 67 billion dollars per year.
Looking at their provocative policies and what it is they’re supporting with Wahhabi extremism in Syria, just one example, we can fully anticipate that all of that sort of thing will continue.
Press TV: What do we know about this new intelligence chief Yousef al-Idrissi? What background does he come from?
Dankof: I frankly know very little about this gentleman. It seems to me of course in the speculation of some of the Western press that Bandar wanted out of his present position merely because of unspecified health issues. That may very well be the case, I don’t know.
And as far as this new gentleman... again I would anticipate just on the face of it from what I see and the continuity of Saudi policies historically that we’re not going to see any radical differences as far as what they’re doing with military spending and what it is that they’re doing at home with the creation of a domestic police state.
The clearly dangerous and extremist policies that they’re pursuing in Syria just as one example... Again I think that all of that will continue under this new gentleman.
Press TV: So, no change in Saudi Arabia’s policy whatsoever?
Dankof: That’s certainly my reading of the situation, which is another way of saying that there’ll be no change in American policy towards Saudi Arabia.
The fact of the matter is that the United States has supported the Zionist state of Israel since 1948 and its increasing support for Saudi and the other [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council states, which goes back to 1971 when Richard Nixon vetted the gold standard and with Saudi connivance linked the American dollar – perceived as the reserve currency for the world - to Saudi oil and to oil in the Middle East generally coming from these oil producing states.
That guarantees that the United States will continue to support whoever is in power in Saudi Arabia as long as the policies remain the same.
PressTV - Saudi extremism has full US support: Commentator
That guarantees that the United States will continue to support whoever is in power in Saudi Arabia as long as the policies remain the same.
PressTV - Saudi extremism has full US support: Commentator
