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A Look Inside Saudi Arabia's Elaborate U.S. Propaganda Machine

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Submitted by Mike Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,

Elements of the charm offensive include the launch of a pro-Saudi Arabia media portal operated by high-profile Republican campaign consultants; a special English-language website devoted to putting a positive spin on the latest developments in the Yemen war; glitzy dinners with American political and business elites; and a non-stop push to sway reporters and policymakers.

 

That has been accompanied by a spending spree on American lobbyists with ties to the Washington establishment. The Saudi Arabian Embassy, as we’ve reported, now retains the brother of Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, the leader of one of the largest Republican Super PACs in the country, and a law firm with deep ties to the Obama administration. One of Jeb Bush’s top fundraisers, Ignacio Sanchez, is also lobbying for the Saudi Kingdom.

 

In September, the Kingdom helped sponsor opulent galas for Washington’s business elite at the Ritz Carlton and the Andrew Mellon Auditorium. The events were attended by King Salman, along with the chief executives of General Electric and Lockheed Martin, the chairman of Marriott International, and prominent think tank officials.

 

– From the Intercept article: Inside Saudi Arabia’s Campaign to Charm American Policymakers and Journalists

So what do you do when you’re a barbaric monarchy with a justice system remarkably similar to ISIS, but at the same time want to remain very close ally of the U.S. government? You create a sophisticated propaganda network, naturally.

This is precisely what the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has done, and the Intercept’s Lee Fang shined some light into this very dark and slimy corner.

From the Intercept:

Soon after launching a brutal air and ground assault in Yemen, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia began devoting significant resources to a sophisticated public relations blitz in Washington, D.C.

 

The PR campaign is designed to maintain close ties with the U.S. even as the Saudi-led military incursion into the poorest Arab nation in the Middle East has killed nearly 6,000 people, almost half of them civilians.

 

Elements of the charm offensive include the launch of a pro-Saudi Arabia media portal operated by high-profile Republican campaign consultants; a special English-language website devoted to putting a positive spin on the latest developments in the Yemen war; glitzy dinners with American political and business elites; and a non-stop push to sway reporters and policymakers.

 

That has been accompanied by a spending spree on American lobbyists with ties to the Washington establishment. The Saudi Arabian Embassy, as we’ve reported, now retains the brother of Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, the leader of one of the largest Republican Super PACs in the country, and a law firm with deep ties to the Obama administration. One of Jeb Bush’s top fundraisers, Ignacio Sanchez, is also lobbying for the Saudi Kingdom.

 

In September, the Kingdom helped sponsor opulent galas for Washington’s business elite at the Ritz Carlton and the Andrew Mellon Auditorium. The events were attended by King Salman, along with the chief executives of General Electric and Lockheed Martin, the chairman of Marriott International, and prominent think tank officials.

 

Kingdom-backed nonprofits have secured positive press through a number of channels. For instance, on September 21, Hussein Ibish, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, new think tank fully funded by the governments of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, penned an opinion column in the New York Times heralding “A Saudi-American Reset.” In the piece, Ibish minimized “two years of perceived slights and supposed snubs” and insisted that “the new contours of a revitalized but evolving partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia are beginning to take shape.”

In what seems like a shameless lack of transparency, the New York Times ended the above mentioned op-ed with the byline below, failing to mention the fact that this think tank is fully funded by the Saudis and UAE, i.e., the fact that it was pure foreign propaganda printed by the New York Times.

Screen Shot 2015-12-01 at 10.57.05 AM

It should have read: “is a contributing opinion writer working on behalf of the governments of Saudi Arabia and the UAE,” but of course, it didn’t.

The Saudi Embassy’s effort to shape media coverage is led by Qorvis, a consulting firm that has worked for the Saudi government since the months following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Qorvis’ recent disclosures under the Foreign Agents Registration Act show that it created an entire website — operationrenewalofhope.com — to promote the Saudi-led war in Yemen. It also “researched potential grassroots supporters in select states” and provided an ongoing effort to reach out to reporters concerning the Yemen war.

Well of course the Saudis needed as much propaganda as possible following the 9/11 attacks, given the obvious links back to the Kingdom. Recall:

The New York Post Reports – FBI is Covering Up Saudi Links to 9/11 Attack

Must Watch Video – Congressman Thomas Massie Calls for Release of Secret 9/11 Documents Upon Reading Them

Two Congressmen Push for Release of 28-Page Document Showing Saudi Involvement in 9/11

In July, the Saudi Embassy announced the launch of Arabia Now, an “online hub for news related to the Kingdom,” according to a press release. Since then, the site has work to promote Saudi Arabia as a bastion for human rights and progress, with posts claiming that the Kingdom is the “most generous country in the world.” While Saudi Arabian war ships blocked humanitarian assistance to Yemen, the Arabia Now news hub claimed that “Saudi Arabia was the only country that responded to the humanitarian assistance appeal launched by the U.N. to help Yemen by extending a donation of $274 million.”

 

Qorvis has contracted other firms to gauge public opinion, including Tuluna USA, an online survey company, and American Directions Group, a phone survey company founded by a pollster who previously worked for Bill Clinton.

 

Perhaps not coincidentally, Saudi officials have regularly appeared on cable news programs and at Washington, D.C., think tank events to reassure American audiences that the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen is in U.S. interests.

Here’s a user friendly graphic showing how some of this works.

Screen Shot 2015-12-01 at 10.44.05 AM

*  *  *

For related articles, see:

Saudi Arabia and ISIS – A Side by Side Comparison

Another New Low – Saudi Arabia Threatens to Sue Twitter Users Who Compare it to ISIS

Saudi Arabia Sentences Poet to Death for “Renouncing Islam”

So Who’s Really Sponsoring ISIS? Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Other U.S. “Allies”

Saudi Arabia Bombs Second Yemeni Wedding in a Week – At Least 23 Dead

Saudi Arabia Bombs Second Yemeni Wedding in a Week – At Least 23 Dead

Saudi Arabia Forces the UN to Drop Humanitarian Inquiry Into Yemen Atrocities

Not a Joke – Saudi Arabia Chosen to Head UN Human Rights Panel

Saudi Arabia Prepares to Execute Teenager via “Crucifixion” for Political Dissent

 

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Tue, 12/01/2015 - 21:06 | 6863536 Kirk2NCC1701
Kirk2NCC1701's picture

I hope/suspect that they've hired some well-qualified and well-connected Jewish lawyers/lobbyists.

They're the best, you know.

Note to Vlad:  You may want to do the same.

Tue, 12/01/2015 - 21:27 | 6863595 Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris's picture

Yes but can they take over hollywood? Saudiwood? It just doesn't have that ring. Tits or gtfo.

Tue, 12/01/2015 - 23:16 | 6864003 BlueViolet
BlueViolet's picture

Yeah right. Focus on Saudi Arabia and Forget the fact that it is AIPAC that wags the US Govt. Then USG gives birth to terrorists to please Israel. Only Israel benefits from "Islamic Terrorism". They're desperate >> http://bit.ly/1MsOwe2

 

Wed, 12/02/2015 - 07:24 | 6864757 Johnny Horscaulk
Johnny Horscaulk's picture

There are several reasons for us warmongering hyper-interventionism but a major one is The Oded Yinon / PNAC LINE OF PLANS which amounts to using us blood and treasure to murder tens of thousands of people for the convenience of Israel's regional hegemony and later expansion.

And let us recall that it was Israeli Jews, not Muslims, caught photographing the collapse of the towers and celebrating

http://youtu.be/QphxGBXiA-M
(this is an excellent 20 minute summary)

https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Document:The_Five_Dancing_Israelis_Arrested_...

https://wikispooks.com/w/images/c/cc/Solving_9-11.pdf

https://archive.org/details/MastersOfDeception

Such false flag terrorism comports with Zionist Israel's behavior from before it declared itself on land that did not belong to anyone but the native Arabized population, from the king david hotel bombing to the lavon affair to the attempted sinking of the uss liberty to 9/11.

Not 'the jews' - the **government**of the Zionist state working with US traitors and sayanim like cheney, wolfowitz, perle, wurmser, feith and others.

And many like the kagans and sunsteins remain in the government or influential zio think tanks.

They are a fucking cancer upon this earth- racial supremacist warmongers primarily loyal to a foreign expansionist ethnostate.

Tue, 12/01/2015 - 22:00 | 6863715 Escrava Isaura
Escrava Isaura's picture

 

 

Article: In July, the Saudi Embassy announced the launch of Arabia Now, an online hub

 

Ohh Gosh! There goes the internet credibility down the toilet.

 

Tue, 12/01/2015 - 22:14 | 6863764 johngaltfla
johngaltfla's picture

Funny thing is that graphic fails to mention NewsCorp aka, Fox News. That's a huge part of their propaganda machine...

Tue, 12/01/2015 - 23:10 | 6863991 Escrava Isaura
Escrava Isaura's picture

 

 

Darn.

It didn’t cross my mind it could get any worse.

Now there’s really no hope.

 

Forget enlightenment. Skip the propaganda and let’s go back to the age of religion dogmas and monarchy.

 

Tue, 12/01/2015 - 23:48 | 6864125 V for ...
V for ...'s picture

Take a look at the story of Tisquantum if you want hope, courage, peace and reconciliation. This is our land. Believe it.

He saved my people, and he can save your heart now.

Wed, 12/02/2015 - 00:09 | 6864202 Escrava Isaura
Escrava Isaura's picture

 

 

Saved my people? How so?

And, which people would that be?


Wed, 12/02/2015 - 00:15 | 6864213 V for ...
V for ...'s picture

1620 and all that. I regret trying to help you as you are clearly cynical, and deserve your own company.

You deserve what you will get.

Tue, 12/01/2015 - 23:37 | 6864086 opport.knocks
opport.knocks's picture

Putin was using an American company but ditched them earlier this year...

http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/12/media/russia-putin-pr-ketchum/
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/01/business/media/pr-firm-for-putins-russ...

They seem to be doing fine without them. 

Tue, 12/01/2015 - 21:22 | 6863586 JustObserving
JustObserving's picture

Saudi Arabia has gotten off lightly for all the wars and mayhem it has caused in this world.  100 attacks on hospitals in Yemen by Saudi Arabia and the free and fair American press has been bought off:

Yemen hospitals ‘deliberately’ targeted in 100 attacks since March – ICRC

Medical facilities in war-torn Yemen are being ‘deliberately’ attacked, with some 100 incidents reported since the Saudi-led coalition began airstrikes in March, the International Committee of the Red Cross said, calling on all sides to cease hostilities.

Here is a partial list of Saudi Arabia's other crimes in Yemen:

At least 3,500 have been killed as a result of the Saudi-led war, launched on March 26 of this year. Some 1,700 of these have been confirmed as civilians, according to the UN, with some 3,800 more civilians confirmed wounded.

Nearly 80 percent of the Yemeni population faces conditions of starvation, near starvation, and/or lack of reliable access to drinking water.

More than 1.2 million Yemenis have been forced to flee their homes by the war. At least 50,000 of the displaced have fled the country entirely, seeking refuge in neighboring countries of Oman, Djibouti, Somalia and Sudan.

Responsibility for the bloodshed and humanitarian disaster in Yemen lies squarely with Saudi Arabia, the other Gulf monarchies and their backers in Washington. 

 

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/07/20/yeme-j20.html

Tue, 12/01/2015 - 23:37 | 6864079 V for ...
V for ...'s picture

Beware.  The House of Saud was founded and funded with its extreme version of Islam by the British Crown and its Rothschild bankers, for central control.

See how head chopping and whipping women is okay if it is done by the House of Saud, and Zionists say nothing about that, but Zionists claim to be affronted by ISIS which they pay, while ISIS never attacks Israel, the Rothschild fiefdom.

The world is being scammed, bamboozled, cheated. Left, right,, left, right...off to war you go. International financiers of no loyalty to any land or people fund all sides, for their own profit.

Divide and rule is the oldest game in the book of crooks.

Wed, 12/02/2015 - 07:16 | 6864751 newdoobie
newdoobie's picture

When ISIS first popped up on the radar I kept asking - Who is supplying them with arms, food, transport and MEDICAL CARE? News outlets were silent on the subject. I knew then that it was rigged,

I declare Shenanigans

Tue, 12/01/2015 - 21:22 | 6863587 Son of Captain Nemo
Son of Captain Nemo's picture

Hill & Knowlton... Different day!

Tue, 12/01/2015 - 21:29 | 6863596 Ignatius
Ignatius's picture

Good article.  Hey Mike, how about tomorrow you write about the propaganda talents and power of the Israel Lobby?  We already know SA stinks to high heaven, but, hey, they do have the oil, now don't they.

Tue, 12/01/2015 - 21:55 | 6863698 Demdere
Demdere's picture

The Israeli-neocon false flag operation that was 9/11 is now driving everything.  They have to keep the world very very distracted, or 9/11 becomes a political event and they all hang.

https://thinkpatriot.wordpress.com/2015/11/30/the-next-false-flag/

All they need is chaos. ISIS attacking Europe is great for our 9/11 plotters.  Hate is good, they love it when people hate.  One thing rulers no how to harvest is the hate they sow.

https://thinkpatriot.wordpress.com/2015/09/21/germanys-jewish-problem/

Tue, 12/01/2015 - 22:04 | 6863728 Max Steel
Max Steel's picture

Towelheads and their arab money

Tue, 12/01/2015 - 22:55 | 6863919 V for ...
V for ...'s picture

Yes, say  our people in the northeast, and yours too.

These endless wars must stop. Name a thing as it really is instead of bow down to warmongers who would kill us all for their own skins.

The spirit of Tisquantum lives.

Wed, 12/02/2015 - 05:10 | 6864646 conscious being
conscious being's picture

But what about Sterling Archer?

Tue, 12/01/2015 - 23:23 | 6863825 V for ...
V for ...'s picture

Bluntly, the medievalists have pissed off the whole world which dislikes their zionist vs islamist freakery.

Unfortunately, the pet career politicians are in hock to the international financiers who like zionists and islamists, and merely try to cajole or coerce the world into more war.

Bullshit, isn't it.

My advice: stay close to home wherever that is, and denounce the warmongers, and their chosen blackmailed, bribed career politicians always.

"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it." (Mark Twain) My families are dying, 1620 and all that. You will miss us when we are gone. You don't know the name Tisquantum. You don't understand what it takes to make peace and reconciliation; honest trade. No to domination. No to endless war.
Wed, 12/02/2015 - 05:12 | 6864647 conscious being
conscious being's picture

I know about Squantum. I used to play football, away at Plymouth.

Tue, 12/01/2015 - 22:41 | 6863858 deimos178
deimos178's picture

James Baker, the former Chief of Staff for Reagan is the paid schill and long time butt boy for the insane inbreds running that extra large litter box. he is the chief apologist for those fig plucking camel jockeys.

Wed, 12/02/2015 - 00:19 | 6863931 V for ...
V for ...'s picture

Daesh is a force of mercenaries paid by snivelling money grubbers, and their cowardly chosen political class. Plus the cowardly ones who vote for that or whine about it while doing nothing to defy it.

Daesh is filth, as are those who conspire to use it, excuse it...yet vote for those who support it, and excuse their vote as 'the least of two evils.'

Evil is evil, and voting for a milder version is still evil.

Daesh is its name. It is not a state. It is not a people. It is a mercenary force, for hire to the highest bidder.

Who gave it the name of Islamic State in order to promote it as a sovereign? Do you ever ask yourself why this mercenary force was promoted? Do you ever ask why it never attacks Israel, the pet fiefdom of the City of London international financiers who fund every side of every war?

Start naming the hateful thing for what it is: Daesh,, a rich man's mercenary force, with pet politicians in tow. Divide and rule is their aim. Get off your knees, world.

You can try to ban guns, used for killing by criminals, usually on psychotropic drugs.

Most guns are owned by law abiding people in the USA.

You cannot ban the bow and arrow. Straight to the heart of the truth.

Tue, 12/01/2015 - 23:05 | 6863967 Billy Shears
Billy Shears's picture

All this to persuade the elites, politicos and media? What a waste, they should be spending their money trying to convince the American people but then again we know how much their opinion counts. I thought the Saudis had already purchased all the elites, media and politicos money could buy?

Tue, 12/01/2015 - 23:12 | 6863990 V for ...
V for ...'s picture

Try to understand the mind of the Northern people, and the American tribes.

We don't bow down to the warmongers again. We are ready, steady and aim...hold before fire.

Aliens who put money before people will kill themselves and ask us to do the same.

NO.

Tue, 12/01/2015 - 23:17 | 6864015 flysofree
flysofree's picture

The best Saudi propaganda is its racing stable of Juddmonte Farms. It's such a priviledge just to watch their horses race at Belmont or Santa Anita.

 

Tue, 12/01/2015 - 23:30 | 6864044 V for ...
V for ...'s picture

That is your problem, spectator, not maker. Be grateful if you live in the USA or go to Israel, Britain, the City of London fakery.

You cannot afford to live in honest lands, obviously. Cowards like you use or excuse Daesh or ask others to waste blood and treasure that your sort don't have or won't give.

This is my land, and you tourists should be grateful.

Tue, 12/01/2015 - 23:36 | 6864081 flyonmywall
flyonmywall's picture

Not sure where these people dig up the mercenaries willing to get bombed by the Russian air force, but they must be getting paid a fuckton of money.

You could not pay me enough money to go out there in a Toyota truck, wave an AK47 around, and fire a 12.5 mm machine gun at an SU-24 about to make a bombing run, and then put it on YouTube.

NO FUCKING WAY !

 

Tue, 12/01/2015 - 23:43 | 6864103 V for ...
V for ...'s picture

There are a lot of poor people, deranged people; people who are easily lured by money.

Some pay expensive psychiatrists, take drugs: the cocaine and champagne set.

Some march for their idea of other pleasures: sadism or narcissism. Money will do too. Drugs fuel the Daesh as well.

Zionists and international financiers know how to herd the dispossessed. See Israhell as an exemplar of that sort.

Tue, 12/01/2015 - 23:46 | 6864121 opport.knocks
opport.knocks's picture

One word >> Captagon

There have been several articles on ZH about it.

ISIS merc salaries are not that great by US standards, I read $350 a month somewhere for a foot soldier.

Wed, 12/02/2015 - 00:07 | 6864172 V for ...
V for ...'s picture

Isn't it pitiful. Drugs and the money it generates unites the foolish and filthy rich.

Opium output from Afghanistan is at record high since the Western banksters and their pet politicians took over, using our troops.

Lone shooters accused of mass killing in the USA are always on psychotropic drugs. But politicians want to disarm the law abiding gun holders.

Prescription drugs cause more disablement and death than illegal drugs in the Western world.

Our troops are used like guinea pigs for 'new drugs'.

Daesh the mercenaries are high on drugs.

My father ran a multinational pharmaceutical business, and he said that the world was going to hell in a handbasket because there was less and less personal accountablity in the board rooms, and the unwary employees and others would suffer terribly because of that.

God rest his soul; a good man who believed that progress was only as good as it served humankind, not mere filthy lucre.

I still grieve for the loss of him, but I am glad that he is not alive to see all this ruin by drug and war profiteers.

He was an engineer and inventor, by the way; not a toxicologist, pharmacist.  But his principles still stand.

Respect for the land and all living things. He was a man from Maine.

Wed, 12/02/2015 - 00:13 | 6864212 onmail1
onmail1's picture

Saudi Wahabbi government == Terrorists who rule this country

Its time for them to go

They must be treated like Gaddafi

Run them down the streets and ....

I dont like to tell gory details

but the time is coming

sooooooooooon

Wed, 12/02/2015 - 00:30 | 6864227 opport.knocks
opport.knocks's picture

Sadly, when that day comes, they will have enough money to be airlifted out to London or the USA as a reward for their loyalty to the AZ Empire.

Wed, 12/02/2015 - 00:31 | 6864235 V for ...
V for ...'s picture

Fool, onmail1.

The House of Saud serves the City of London, zionists and Israel. That is what it was founded to do.

The House of Saud and communist China are the very epitome of the old world order and the new world order plotted by international financiers. They said so. They will so. Their plots have been stated clearly in their own words.

Comply or defy.

You are a nasty little HasbaRat, wanting to burn down the whole world just to promote your insane idea of a Greater Israel: outright theft, under cover by blaming everyone; pitting all against all, just so your nasty little group can carry on your criminal conspiracy.

The gory details will come to your sort. Keep out of my way, insolent boy.

Thu, 12/03/2015 - 02:15 | 6869509 onmail1
onmail1's picture

Hah ha cheers

Wed, 12/02/2015 - 01:28 | 6864400 Amused2Death
Amused2Death's picture

And while the average Joe is busy with sex, drugs, and TV, these inbreds from the house of Saud are pumping billions into the Wahabi religious industrical complex, building mosques around every corner, and indoctorinating an army future home-grown terrorist that jihad against the western way of life is the only way to get to heaven...

Wake the fuck up!!!

Wed, 12/02/2015 - 03:19 | 6864555 Junerberno
Junerberno's picture

Remarkably profitable investments.

One check to CSIS, and suddenly zero analyses of any significance come out of them.

All of those "elites" being bought with Saudi money are Jewish, by the way.

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!