Saudi Carrot, Saudi Stick: Bringing Russia Onside with Syria Attack

Saudi Prince Bandar's Second Attempt at Bribing Russia to Drop Support of Syria

by Patrick Henningsen - 21st Century Wire

As the US-led coalition of the willing inches closer towards their initial cruise missile and bombing attack on Syria this week, it seems that their ‘best friend’ Saudi Arabia has been busy throwing about a series of financial incentives – and threats, at the Russians, all in a bid to persuade them to drop their support of Syria.

On August 10th, 21st Century Wire expanded on a Reuters news release which reported how Saudi intelligence head, Prince Bandar bin Sultan offered a $15 billion weapons contract to Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting on July 31st. Apparently, Russia rebuffed this rather generous offer, because the deal was dependent upon Moscow letting go of its existing arms contracts with the Syrian government in Damascus.

Today, we learned about another possible carrot – and a potentially nasty stick, also offered by the Prince Bandar. According to a report in today’s London Telegraph, Saudi Arabia also secretly offered Russia a chance to ‘control the world’s oil market’ in some type of strategic alliance between OPEC and Russia, and to ‘safeguard’ Russia’s present and pending gas contracts in the Mediterranean – but again, only if Russia washes its hands of the Assad regime in Syria.
Talk of war usually rings bells for the oil markets and this past week is no exception, with Brent crude prices reaching a five-month high of $US112 a barrel this week.

It’s pretty clear at this point that Bandar is operating on behalf of major transnational energy corporations and interests in Washington DC. The alleged leak reveals a bold hand being placed on the table by the Prince:

‘‘We understand Russia’s great interest in the oil and gas in the Mediterranean from Israel to Cyprus. And we understand the importance of the Russian gas pipeline to Europe. We are not interested in competing with that. We can cooperate in this area,’’ he said, purporting to speak with the full backing of the US.

The leak then goes on to describe actual threats being made, with Prince Bandar saying that there can be ‘‘no escape from the military option’’ should Russia turns down this Saudi offer. Is he threatening military option against the Syrians, or is this a veiled threat for a future confrontation between the West/NATO and Russia?

If this explosive leak is genuine, then it more or less crystalises the western allied and Saudi agendas in the region, because events are currently unfolding exactly as Prince Bandar has foretold.
Here’s where this leak gets really dodgy…

According to the Telegraph report, bundled within this toxic offer from the elite Arab emissary, is perhaps the most insidious mafia-style threat heard to date regarding the Syria crisis. It’s said that Bandar threatened to - unleash his Chechen terrorists in order to shutdown, and possibly kill civilians at the upcoming 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. He goes on:

‘‘I can give you a guarantee to protect the Winter Olympics next year. The Chechen groups that threaten the security of the Games are controlled by us,’’ he allegedly said.

Prince Bandar went on to say that Chechens operating in Syria were a pressure tool that could be switched on and off.

‘‘We use them in the face of the Syrian regime but they will have no role in Syria’s political future.’’

The Saudi end game in Syria was laid bare in our previous report, as the Prince let slip to the effect, “Whatever regime comes after Assad will be completely in Riyadh’s hands”.

But here the main point. The Prince reportedly stated that if his offer is accepted, then Saudi Arabia would not sign any contracts damaging Russian interests… by ‘allowing Gulf countries to transport its gas across Syria to Europe’. Yes, that pipeline – the one which will transport Qatari gas through Syria, to the Mediterranean. Paid for with Saudi Arabian cash.

This would explain exactly why both the Saudis and Qataris – both staunch allies of Britain and the US, have been financing this confab of rebels and terrorist brigades in Syria for the last two years.

According to previous reports, Bandar himself has been assigned to personally oversee this operation:

“Saudi intelligence, led by Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz, is bringing the militants fighting the Syrian forces under the umbrella of the al-Nusra Front. The report said Prince Bandar is organizing these terrorists through Jordan and Lebanon.

“Thanks to funding from the General Intelligence Department (of Jordan) and support from the Saudi Intelligence in Lebanon, al-Nusra was able to swiftly arm its forces, and make the Syrian regime suffer painful blows through its expertise in Iraqi bombings,” the Intelligence Online report noted. 

Bandar bin Sultan, who is Tony Blair’s partner in crime, was made the Saudi intelligence chief on July 19 at the height of the Syrian crisis, not only to strengthen the arming of the terrorists against Syria’s Bashar al-Assad regime, but also to bring to the fore an anti-Assad, Saudi-run administration in Lebanon, bordering Syria. The objective is to push more arms and terrorists inside Syria.”

Bandar is not only ‘good friends’ with Tony Blair, he is considered the closest of family friends with the Bush family, as well as involved in their global defense and construction powerhouse the Carlyle Group. His involvement in the destruction of Syria came as quite a revelation to some back in January, but with the evidence coming through about NATO’s own ‘Fast and Furious’ style illegal weapons transfer into Syria via Europe.

And there is your war in a nutshell. Just as with Iraq before it, this one has been engineered and financed at the highest levels, and it certainly has nothing to do with the ‘horror of chemical weapons’, or a humanitarian intervention. It has everything to do with threats, bribes and backhanders used to nail down the future gas supplies to Europe and the global oil markets – and of course, it’s also about the dollar.

Will it be propped up, or will it be allowed to drop to its true value?

We can’t answer that question yet (who can?), but we are pretty well sure that arms sales reps Barack Obama and David Cameron, along with their trusty sidekicks, John Kerry, John McCain and William Hague – are blowing pure smoke to a mostly naive public regarding Assad and Syria.