Master, Slave

Saudi-Owned USA

The United States’ “special relationship with the desert kingdom”—extending to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1945 shipboard meeting with King Ibn Saud—has grown ever stronger. “The House of Saud is … happy to sell oil (to the United States) at a consistent and reasonable price and … increase production if unseemly market forces drive the world price of a barrel too high for U.S. consumers; in exchange (U.S. government leadership) arm(s) the Saudis to the teeth and turn(s) a blind eye to (the Saudis) medieval approach to crime and punishment.”

The history of the U.S.-Saudi relationship is “long and corrupt.”

Saudi Arabia “has employed an army of American lobbyists and public relations professionals to cultivate a positive Saudi image in the United States and steer U.S. foreign policy as they see fit.” Saudi “money and influence” are deeply “entrenched in Washington politics” and “are unlikely to disappear.” 

Follow the MONEY

Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative reports, “While investigations into Russian influence in the 2016 U.S. election regularly garner front-page headlines—

“There is a half-billion-dollar foreign influence industry,” largely unknown to the American public, that is “working every single day to shape U.S. foreign policy.”

Lobbyists

“In the first decade of the 21st century the Saudis paid approximately $100 million to American firms to lobby the American government.”

S

erving Saudis

Hill & Knowlton (1982 - )

Qorvis Communications (9/11/2001 - )

Hogan Lovells-U.S. LLP (formerly Hogan & Harston, in 2009), decade from Saudis: $60.3 million

Loeffler Group LLP/The 21st century 1st decade from Saudis: $10.5 million

Sandler Innocenzi Inc: $8.9 million

Patton Boggs LLP 21st century 1st decade from Saudis: $3 million+

Middle East Policy Council’s take from Saudis in 2007 alone: $1 million

145 registered lobbyists paid by Saudi Arabia (215) “to influence U.S. government”: “$18 million”— some of the Takers:

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP: $220,770 Boland & Madigan, Inc: $420,000 Burson-Marsteller: $3,619,286.85 Cambridge Associates, Ltd.: $8,505 Cassidy & Associates, Inc: $720,000 DNX Partners, LLC: $225,000 Dutton & Dutton, PC: $3,694,350

Fleishman-Hillard: $6,400,000 Gallagher Group, LLC: $612,337.37 Iler Interests, LP: $388,231.14 Loeffler Tuggey Pauerstein Rosenthal, LLP: $2,350,457.12 Loeffler, Jonas & Tuggey, LLP: $1,260,000 MPD Consultants, LLP: $1,447,267.13 Powell Tate, Inc: $900,732.77

T

op Ten Firms in Terms of Political Activities Reported on Behalf of Saudi Clients in 2017

(Name – Contacts)

1.     MSLGROUP: Specialists in strategic communications and engagement, part of the French multinational Publicis Groupe (fifth largest PR conglomerate in the world); Contacts 555 2.     Podesta Group: Washington, D.C.-based lobbying and public affairs firm based founded by John and Tony Podesta; Contacts 491 3.     The Glover Park Group: Washington, D.C.-headquartered communications consulting firm founded by former White House and Democratic campaign officials Carter Eskew, Michael Feldman, Joe Lockhart and Chip Smith; Contacts 325 4.     Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP: U.S.-based lobbying and law firm (250 attorneys and policy consultants, 11 offices across western U.S. and Washington. D.C.: Contacts 294 5.     Hogan Lovells: London-Washington, D.C. co-headquartered international law firm (est. 2,800 lawyers in 40+ offices the United States, Europe, Latin America, and Asia including Middle East) Contacts 272 6.     Squire Patton Boggs: an international law firm, third-largest lobbying firm in the U.S. (long managed by Thomas Hale Boggs, Jr., later by former U. S. Senators John Breaux, Trent Lott), with 47 offices in 20 countries with diverse base of legal clients ranging from Fortune 100 and FTSE Index 100 corporations to newly emerging companies, private clients and local and national governmental entities; Contacts 224 7.     DLA Piper: multinational law firm (2014 total revenues $2.48 billion, average profit per equity partner $1.490 million) located in more than 40 countries throughout the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East; Contacts 202 8.     McKeon Group LLC: consulting firm providing strategic analysis, advocacy, and comprehensive government relations. Contacts 77 (Bloomberg McKeon Group Inc/The Washington, D.C.) 9.     Flywheel Government Solutions: consultants offering multidisciplinary strategic business management consulting in federal and state government affairs, public affairs, business intelligence, market research & analysis and M&A (mergers and acquisitions), support services to leading innovative companies”; Contacts 63 10.  CGCN Group (formerly known as Clark Geduldig Cranford & Nielsen): Washington, D.C.-based issue advocacy and lobbying firm whose clients include banks, finance, and oil companies, 21st Century Fox, Microsoft, MasterCard, and Boeing; Contacts 52

S

 audis in U.S. Universities

Over the past decade U.S. colleges and universities have reportedly received “more than $350 million from the government of Saudi Arabia.”

Since 2011, according to Associated Press findings these hundreds of millions have flowed from “the Saudi government or organizations it controls to 37 American schools.”

Saudi Aramco, the Saudis national oil company, “has given $20 million to U.S. colleges and universities” $9 million of which went to Texas A&M University (College Station, Texas); $4 million to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (or MIT in Boston); another $8 million went from “a national chemical company known as SABIC” to U.S. schools.

The biggest takers in contracts from Saudi research center King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology were: Northwestern University (Evanston, Illinois): $14 million; and University of California (Los Angeles): $6 million

The largest amounts in Saudi monies through a scholarship program in the years 2011-2017 reportedly went to George Washington University (Washington, D.C.): $73 million; and George Mason University (Fairfax/Northern Virginia outside Washington, D.C.): $63 million (U.S. Department of Education’s Foreign Gift and Contracts Report).

Through its scholarship program the Saudi Kingdom, after September 11, 2001, “has sent tens of thousands of Saudis to study” in U.S. colleges and universities. By 2015, their numbers had reached “more than 120,000.” Their numbers then fell after 2016 “when Saudi Arabia cut back on the program.”

S

audis in US art world 2017 -

The Saudi Kingdom’s rebranding campaign through major U.S. arts venues

King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (known as Ithra), a 400-million dollar project funded by Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, calls leaders at influential arts organizations, powerful curators and art directors from the United States to visit the Kingdom and then become “collaborators,” officially called “coalition members,” in an “Arab Art Education Initiative (AAEI) in New York.”

The fully implemented the AAEI program would include “exhibitions, openings, invitation-only events, residencies, and public programs at prestigious venues” organized across New York City including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Museum of Modern Art, and the Brooklyn Museum, all aimed at “connecting contemporary Arab culture with diverse audiences across the five boroughs of New York City.” The opening reportedly occurred in January 2018.

S

audi in U.S. Think Tanks

Saudi money reaches far and wide and its full extent is not known. Think Tank Watch reports many U.S. based think tanks are “distancing themselves from Saudi Arabia” following the alleged killing of Jamal Khashoggi. But their Saudi connection record stands. Among the takers of Saudi money are reportedly:

BGR Group (Republican-aligned, monthly contract: $80,000)

The Brookings Institution

Glover Park Group (founded by former Bill Clinton and Al Gore staffers, monthly contract with Saudi Kingdom: US$150,000/S$206,000

The Middle East Institute (MEI)

The Wilson Center

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)

Reporting non-acceptance of Saudi money: Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute, the Cato Institute; Council on Foreign Relations

C

onsequences of a nation’s selling itself to external forces or entities, essentially enslaving itself, compromising essential principles are terminal loss—

Loss of credibility all at home and abroad

Loss of moral standing among nations and leaders; and, no matter how persistently public officials promulgate a delusional sense of superiority

Ultimate loss of all worth, significance

Sources

Wikipedia Saudi Arabia Lobby in the United States citing a Harper’s Magazine article by journalist John R. MacArthur “The Vast Power of the Saudi Lobby” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_Arabia_lobby_in_the_United_States

Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative, a program of the Center for International Policy, analyzed records filed by firms registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) to represent Saudi clients in 2017.

The Saudi Lobby: How the Kingdom wins in Washington Center for International Policy: Advancing a peaceful, Just and Sustainable World https://www.ciponline.org/images/uploads/actions/Saudi_Lobby_How_the_Kingdom_Wins_in_Washington.pdf

Saudi Arabia “has employed an army of American lobbyists and public relations professionals to cultivate a positive Saudi image in the United States and steer U.S. foreign policy as they see fit.” Saudi “money and influence” are deeply “entrenched in Washington politics” and “are unlikely to disappear.”

Top Ten

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSLGROUP

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podesta_Group

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Glover_Park_Group

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownstein_Hyatt_Farber_Schreck

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogan_Lovells

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squire_Patton_Boggs

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DLA_Piper

https://www.bloomberg.com/profiles/companies/1267542D:US-mckeon-group-inc/the

https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/firmlbs.php?id=F223752

http://www.flywheelgs.com/about.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CGCN_Group

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CGCN_Group

Voice of America (VOA) Learning English: Education “US Universities Reconsider Ties with Saudi Arabia” Collin Binkley, Chad Day AP November 3, 2018, Pete Musto adapted their report for VOA Learning English; editor, George Grow https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/us-universities-reconsider-ties-with-saudi-arabia/4638856.html

Hyperallergic Media Inc. “A Coalition of The Willing: How Saudi Arabia and US Arts Institutions Partnered on a Cultural Diplomacy Offensive” Rijin Sahakian November 1, 2018

https://hyperallergic.com/468850/saudi-arabia-and-us-art-institutions/

Founded in 2009, Brooklyn, New York-headquartered Hyperallergic defines itself as “a forum for serious, playful, and radical thinking about art in the world today.”

Think Tank Watch “The World’s Top Source for Think Tank News & Information” October 15, 2018 http://www.thinktankwatch.com/2018/10/think-tanks-continuing-to-weigh-whether.html

The Straits Times (Singapore) “Saudi Arabia's influence-buying in Washington under the spotlight following Khashoggi affair” Nirmal Ghosh, US Bureau Chief October 18, 2018 https://www.straitstimes.com/world/middle-east/saudi-arabias-influence-buying-in-washington-under-the-spotlight-following

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Beyond “Me and Mine”

Vandana Shiva, Arun Gandhi Insight

A

run Manilal Gandhi is a South-African born socio-political activist living in the United States since 1987. After his studies at the University of Mississippi he moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where he established “the M. K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence.” 

In 1996, he jointly established “the Season for Nonviolence as a yearly celebration of the philosophies and lives of Mohandas Gandhi and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”

               

Gandhi

“First of all we must free ourselves from fear and only then can we begin to fight for justice. We’re afraid—of prison, of suffering, of losing what we have: our jobs, our economic stability. We worry, ‘Who will take care of my family?’ So

“… We continue to accept things as they are…

“… We allow ‘them’ to go on exploiting us.”

V

andana Shiva is a scientist, author and activist; a scholar, environmentalist, food sovereignty advocate, and alter-globalization author based in Delhi, India. She has authored more than twenty books some of which are these: Earth Democracy; Justice, Sustainability, and Peace (2005); Manifestos on the Future of Food and Seed (editor, 2007); Democratizing Biology: Reinventing Biology from a Feminist, Ecological and Third World Perspective (2007); Cargill and the Corporate Hijack of India’s Food and Agriculture (2007); Soil Not Oil (2008); Staying Alive (2012); Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature & Knowledge (2011); Monocultures of the Mind: Perspectives on Biodiversity (2011); Making Peace With The Earth (2013). 

Dr. Shiva’s work on agriculture “started in 1984 after the violence in Punjab and the gas leak in Bhopal from Union Carbide’s pesticide manufacturing plant. Her studies for the United Nations University led to the publication of her 1989 book The Violence of the Green Revolution: Ecological degradation and political conflict in Punjab

Shiva

“Resistance means liberating ourselves from what oppresses us. If we continue to collaborate with a destructive, oppressive system, that system will continue to dominate us.

“‘As long as you live under the illusion that you must obey unjust laws and submit to unjust power, slavery will continue to exist.’

“At the beginning of every struggle, the authorities will grant you scant attention; then they will deride (ridicule you contemptuously) and then fight you. But if you continue to struggle for the values that protect the earth, for social justice and human rights, at the end of the day, after they have derided you, attacked you, insulted you and wounded you—at the end—you will be free of them. All the movements will free themselves of them.

Gandhi

“We have to decide what is important for us and once we have decided that we want to build a better world, we have to make sacrifices to create that better world. If we don’t sacrifice ourselves, the world will never change.

One person alone cannot be a protest movement…. If one person becomes thousands, this can make a difference.

R

elated

Excerpt, minor edit of Rivera Sun’s “10 Things to Know about Nonviolent Struggle”

#1

Nonviolent action is used around the world by people of all (kinds) … and political beliefs to accomplish a wide range of goals including changing governmental regimes, ending occupations, expelling foreign invasions, overthrowing dictators, stopping destructive industries, protecting the environment, gaining civil rights, creating economic justice and much more.

#2

Nonviolent action compared with nonviolent means is: twice as successful; three times as time effective; and incurs a tiny fraction of casualties.

#4

Nonviolent action chooses from more than 200 methods: marches, demonstrations, rallies, boycotts, strikes, sit-ins, blockades, noncooperation, civil disobedience, work stoppages and slowdowns, refusal to provide services, and much more.

#5

Nonviolence has two hands: one that says ‘no’ to injustice; one that says ‘yes’ to justice—“obstructive and constructive programs” (Gandhian); “oppose and propose” or “noncooperation with the destructive/cooperation with the beneficial” (e.g., “a movement might work to ban factory farming while simultaneously encouraging the support of local, small farms.”)

#5 links with #6: Nonviolence uses “acts of protest and persuasion such as speeches, fliers, and marches to spread knowledge of (an) issue or cause.” Nonviolence uses “constructive actions such as alternative institutions and parallel governments to build new systems rooted in justice.” Nonviolence uses “acts of noncooperation and intervention such as boycotts, strikes, shut-downs, etc. to disrupt the injustice and remove (or withdraw) cooperation and consent.”

#9

Nonviolent movements—unlike violent conflicts which dehumanize people in order to hurt or kill them—benefit from humanizing everyone involved, including the movement, the opposition, and the bystanders.

“E

arth Democracy,” Dr. Shiva wrote, “connects people in circles of care, cooperation, and compassion instead of dividing them through competition and conflict, fear and hatred.”

Sources

Wikipedia

Arun Gandhi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arun_Manilal_Gandhi

Vandana Shiva https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandana_Shiva

The People’s Assembly “Bhopal – Extract from the Documentary ‘I Vajont’” December 3, 2016 Dow-DuPont News “People’s Assembly Dr Vandana Shiva and Arun Gandhi talk about the relentless struggle for justice of the people of Bhopal after the Gas Disaster occurred in 1984.” The Documentary “I Vajont” is directed by Maura Crudeli and Lucia Vastano, produced by ESC.

http://peoplesassembly.net/category/dow-dupont

https://peoplesassembly.net/bhopal-extract-from-the-documentary-i-vajont/?fbclid=IwAR1uxV724EhnrYsWRvitZ2oxGF1UEFzQb6bPlqOL7RdRCrYsS10cnCmFpZ4

https://peoplesassembly.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/i-vajont-724x1024.jpg

“The Punjab is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region … in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of eastern Pakistan and northern India. The boundaries of the region are ill-defined and focus on historical accounts.” Conflict in The Punjab began in the late 1970s and escalated into “a secessionist movement” in the 1980s. “The Green revolution” bringing “several socio-economic changes” adding to political factionalism in The Punjab heightened tensions between cultural factions “and the union Government of India.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punjab 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punjab_insurgency 

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Exclusive Club of Self-serving 20

Summit incapable of Addressing Global problems when Global masses barred from table

Representing “Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America,” the Group of Twenty (G20) is “an international forum for governments and central bank governors”— that excludes the world’s “Third World” countries, large swaths of Asia East to West, all African countries except one, all Central American, Caribbean and small island countries, and all South American countries except two. 

T

his year’s G20 spectacle in Argentina claimed to be “people-centered, inclusive and forward-looking,” focusing on “the future of work, infrastructure for development, a sustainable food future and a gender mainstreaming” and most of its final statement was meaningless babble which means another photo op for bigwigs and not even crumbs where at least crumbs are needed.

The 31-point statement contains lots of “private-public partnership” and “stakeholder” language but nothing not a syllable about its members’ endless wars and costs of their wars, or the underlying causes — major among them foreign wars, violent aggression, conflict, invasion and destabilization — of global suffering and backwardness or inability to progress or develop in basic nor grandiose ways.

The closest they come to mentioning underlying issues is in statement No 17 (and possibly 16):

U

nderlying Causes

#17

“Large movements of refugees are a global concern with humanitarian, political, social and economic consequences. We emphasize the importance of shared actions to address the root causes of displacement and to respond to growing humanitarian needs.”

#16

…Migration and Displacement Trends and Policies (OECD et.al reports) … We will consider how to continue the dialogue on these issues under the next presidency.

I found nothing in the G20 concluding statement about human rights or international law, though there is some content about multilaterally working on issues of taxing, finance and corruption.

These are some items that seem to have a bit of reality-based substance

H

ealth, Education, Welfare

#15

Affordable Health Care mentioned in passing

“We reaffirm the need for stronger health systems providing cost effective and evidence-based intervention to achieve better access to health care and to improve its quality and affordability to move towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC), in line with their ational contexts and priorities”

Hunger

#11

“We reaffirm our commitment to tackling the challenges of food security, which is crucial to achieving a world free of hunger and all forms of malnutrition.”

#15

“We will tackle malnutrition, with a special focus on childhood overweight and obesity, through national, community-based and collaborative multi-stakeholder approaches.

We reaffirm the need for stronger health systems providing cost effective and evidence-based intervention to achieve better access to health care and to improve its quality and affordability to move towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC), in line with their national contexts and priorities. This may encompass, where appropriate, scientifically proven traditional and complementary medicine, assuring the safety, quality and effectiveness of health services. We will continue to strengthen core capacities required by International Health Regulations (IHR, 2005) for prevention, detection and response to public health emergencies, while recognizing the critical role played by (the World Health Organization) in this regard.”

#8

Education

“To equip our citizens to reap the benefits of societal and technological innovations we will promote coordination between employment and equitable quality education policies, so we can develop comprehensive strategies that promote key competences such as learning to learn, foundation and digital skills, in a lifelong learning perspective from early childhood. We acknowledge the need to foster evidence-based innovative pedagogies and methods for all levels of education.”

#14

Early learning

“We launch the G20 Initiative for Early Childhood Development and stand ready to join all stakeholders in enhancing quality and sustainably financed early childhood programs that consider the multidimensional approach of ECD, as means of building human capital to break the cycle of intergenerational and structural poverty, and of reducing inequalities, especially where young children are most vulnerable.”

M

ulti-nationalism

#5 (rule of law?)

“We renew our commitment to work together to improve a rules-based international order that is capable of effectively responding to a rapidly changing world.”

#3

Dialogue

“We have addressed our agenda promoting dialogue and the search for common ground. Building consensus requires the commitment of the society as a whole.”

#6

Technology

“Transformative technologies … the transition … will create challenges for individuals, businesses and governments. Policy responses and international cooperation will help ensure that the benefits of the technological transformation are widely shared.”

L

abor, Work

#7

“We remain committed to building an inclusive, fair and sustainable Future of Work by promoting decent work, vocational training and skills development, including re-skilling workers and improving labor conditions in all forms of employment, recognizing the importance of social dialogue in this area,  including  work  delivered  through  digital  platforms,  with  a  focus  on  promoting  labor formalization and making social protection systems strong and portable, subject to national law and circumstances.”

G

roups like this insult the intelligence.

They are always lacking in substance, practical matters whose implementation is measurable, to be reported on in the next meeting, matters of actual uplift for the world’s masses. Instead, they seem to promulgate a fiction that

• basic improvement, self determination, substantive infrastructural development

• permanent mechanisms for basics like clean water and hygiene, institutions of learning

• individual countries’ growth of native-born health professionals, educators and scientists

• cures for and prevention of disease

• implementation of conflict resolution and cessation of violent aggression and foreign interference —

all of these essentials to real advancement can realized by magic, Santa Claus, angels, or “thoughts and prayers.”

Sources

G20 Information Centre http://www.g20.utoronto.ca/

G20 Summit Argentina December 1, 2018 “G20 Leaders’ Declaration: Building Consensus for Fair and Sustainable Development: to build consensus for fair and sustainable development through an agenda that is people-centered, inclusive and forward-looking… This year’s focus: the future of work, infrastructure for development, a sustainable food future and a gender mainstreaming strategy across the G20 agenda” http://www.g20.utoronto.ca/2018/2018-leaders-declaration.html

PDF in English http://www.g20.utoronto.ca/2018/buenos_aires_leaders_declaration.pdf

Wikipedia: G20 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G20

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