Tuesday, October 23, 2018

WHAT?!! Mnuchin Meets with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman


U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin met with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday, according to the Saudi government, reports The Washington Post.

The crony military-industrial-complex deals must go on!

Mnuchin last week announced he was withdrawing from a conference in Saudi Arabia this week, amid the international backlash following the killing of Washington Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

But, Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry posted a photo (above) of a meeting between Muchin and MbS on Twitter. In a caption, the Saudi government wrote that bin Salman in the meeting “stresses the importance of the Saudi-US strategic partnership, where it holds an important role in the future in line with the Kingdom’s #Vision2030.”

According to the Post, the U.S. Treasury was reluctant to comment on the meeting, which had not be previewed in advance.

During his trip to the Middle East, Mnuchin has posted multiple photographs of his meetings with leaders from Israel and Jordan. But he did not post any photograph or statement about meeting with the Crown Prince.

It should be noted that any talks between Mnuchin and MbS are not about free trade but government stick-handled deals that largely benefit Trump corporate supporters, especially in the military weapons sector.

-RW 

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