“A genius is the man who can do the average thing when everyone else around him is losing his mind.”

— Napoleon

Lindsey Graham CNN he’s doing everything he can to ensure a deal to secure diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel is sealed under Biden, in part because he thinks Biden would have a better shot at drumming up Democratic support in Congress

cnn.com/2024/04/24/pol…

🚨لا يفوتكم المؤتمر التاريخي للمعارضة السعودية وحقوق الإنسان في العاصمة الأمريكية واشنطن دي سي.. باسماء مهمة ومفاجآت ..
الخميس القادم 🔥
التسجيل على هذا الرابط:

docs.google.com/forms/d/1RSlwA…

What oil price does Saudi need to balance its budget?

Our estimates for 2023:
• $91 if we just focus on budgetary spending
• $108 if we also include domestic investments by the sovereign wealth fund

Now the IMF is raising its estimate for 2024 to $96

bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

طريق تطبيع محمد بن سلمان في واشنطن يمر عبر تل أبيب.

وول ستريت جورنال: مسؤولون أميركيون يقولون ان التفاوض بشأن التطبيع السعودي الإسرائيلي مقابل ضمانات أمنية أميركية للرياض في مراحله الأخيرة.

NEW: The US has accepted Israel’s plan for an operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, in return for not carrying out a large strike in Iran in response to Tehran’s unprecedented missile and drone attack, Egyptian officials tell Al Araby

My piece on travel bans :

It is high time for 🇸🇦 to open itself up not only to tourists but also to the voices of its own people. Until then, the facade of glittering progress will remain just that, masking a harsh reality of repression and injustice. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

ديفيد اغناشيوس المحلل الأمني في صحيفة واشنطن بوست نقلا عن مصادر: السعودية والأردن ودول عربية أخرى انضمت بهدوء إلى الدفاع الجوي المتكامل عن اسرائيل الليلة الماضية.

قدمت #السعودية شكوى لدى الأمم المتحدة ضد #الامارات بشأن اعلان #ابوظبي لمنطقة #الياسات منطقة بحرية محمية.

وقالت السعودية في المذكرة ان الإعلان الإماراتي لا يعتد به ولا يعترف به ولا يعترف باى اثر قانوني له.

واكدت #الرياض تمسكها بكافة حقوقها و مصالحها وفقا للاتفاقية المبرمة بين…

assessment at this point:

iranian attack was designed to be easily intercepted and reset the bar on deterrence.

next steps will depend on biden administration (and allies’) ability to keep israel from a direct military response on iranian soil.

even so, plenty dangerous…

NEW: I extensively interviewed two senior leaders of Hamas.

HuffPost pressed them on civilians on Oct. 7, Israel-Palestine’s future & more.

We sought news & relevant, rarely heard perspectives. We brought back analysis unlike any US outlet. Please read:
huffpost.com/entry/hamas-ga…

🚨 WORLD CORRUPT SEASON TWO FINALE 🚨

The final episode of our four-part series with Tommy Vietor and Crooked Media is NOW LIVE. The series is a deep dive into the money Saudi Arabia is plunging into football. 🌎

LISTEN TO THE WHOLE SERIES HERE 🎧 mibcourage.co/4cOdoRg

JUST IN: US Secretary of State Blinken says that Ukraine will become a member of NATO

بلومبيرغ:
السعودية طلبت من الكويت تمويلا يزيد عن 16 مليار دولار لتمويل مشاريع من بينها نيوم، بسبب انخفاض الاسثثمار الأجنبي.

🧵NEW WITH EXCLUSIVE DETAILS: Saudi Crown Prince MBS’ $100 Billion Foreign Investment Quest Falters
#SaudiArabia #Vision2030
With ⁦Christine M Burke⁩ ⁦Zainab Fattah⁩ ⁦Abeer Abu-Omar⁩ ⁦Dinesh Nair⁩ ⁦Fiona MacDonald⁩ ⁦Matthew Martin⁩ bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

NSC's John Kirby confirms Jake Sullivan/NSC trip to KSA has been postponed. He says Sullivan is recovering from a cracked rib, and that has affected his ability to travel a bit

NEW: A planned trip by Jake Sullivan, Brett McGurk & Amos Hochstein to Saudi Arabia—which I broke news of Monday afternoon—has been postponed indefinitely, per a US official. The Biden aides wanted to push forward a US-Saudi-Israel deal; suspect this has to do with Isr tensions.

SCOOP: White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan will travel to Saudi Arabia Tuesday to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and discuss the potential mega-deal that would include Saudi normalization with Israel. My story on Axios
axios.com/2024/04/02/sau…

Notable: Top Biden admin officials were set to travel to Saudi Arabia this week, likely to discuss the US's continued attempt to craft a Saudi-Israel deal, per 2 US officials. One official said the group includes a powerful trio: Jake Sullivan, Brett McGurk & Amos Hochstein.