COMMENTARY / OPINION
Where Are The Epstein Tapes? [5:12] JEROME R. CORSI, PH.D.
Jesse Watters Asks For a Friend
MAY 12, 2025
AG Pam Bondi has said she has more information concerning Jeffrey Epstein, his associates, clients and child sex trafficking. While we wait for the DOJ to move forward, Dr. Jerome Corsi takes a deeper look into Epstein, delving into whether he was an intelligence asset and how many Democrats who met with the alleged sex trafficker somehow wound up with promotions within the Obama administration, some given powerful positions within the later Biden administration.
This is the moment for Israel to remember what it means to be sovereign. JOSHUA HOFFMAN
While Israeli analysts debate whether there’s a rift with the United States, the real story is more complex. There’s no rupture, but there is recalibration.
MAY 12, 2025
In a Middle East flush with oil and old grudges, the real currency today is not dollars or drones.
It’s hostages.
On Monday evening, Edan Alexander (an American-Israeli IDF soldier) stepped back into sunlight after 583 days of hell, held captive by Hamas. His return was a miracle. Not a spiritual one, but a political one — courtesy of a backchannel brokered by private mediators, Hamas leadership in Qatar, and the Trump administration’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff.
The operation was slick, untelevised, and strategically timed: Trump will depart on Monday for Saudi Arabia, before making stops in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He is not slated to visit Israel on this trip.
And while many in Israel rejoiced, others — mothers, fathers, siblings of Israeli hostages without U.S. passports — watched with bitter silence.
Because here’s the quiet truth, and it’s a spicy one: In today’s war for the soul of the Jewish state, a foreign passport is worth more than a soldier’s oath. Israelis are waking up to a brutal calculus that, if your son is taken captive and doesn’t hold an American passport, expect radio silence. If he’s Israeli only, he becomes a line item in a negotiation binder, not a priority.
This has shattered something deep. On the eve of Israeli Independence Day, a Reichman University poll revealed that just 17 percent of Israelis believe the state would do everything to rescue them if they were taken hostage. The Israeli flag — once a symbol of unwavering mutual commitment — has, for many, started to look like a tattered promise. As one anguished mother put it: “My Nimrod is 100-percent Israeli. Nimrod also deserves to come home.”
Trump’s reentry into the Middle East is guided not by loyalty or long-term vision, but by a dopamine-fueled obsession with “wins.”
The release of Edan Alexander? That’s a win. A ceasefire in Gaza? Potential win. Peace with Saudi Arabia? A golden trophy, especially if it comes with Qatari jets and Saudi contracts. A Palestinian state? If he can spin it as outsmarting predecessor Joe Biden, even that’s on the table.
Let’s be honest: Trump doesn’t have a foreign policy; he has a victory policy. His advisors are a tug-of-war between isolationist dealmakers and muscular hawks. One moment it’s “maximum pressure” on Iran, the next it’s “maximum selfies” with Saudi royals. In the morning he threatens Hamas with annihilation; by dinner, he’s negotiating terms.
None of this is coherent, but all of it is aimed at crafting the aesthetic of dominance. If the prize is a smiling hostage and a press conference about jobs in Ohio, the long-term risk to Israel’s security is someone else’s problem.
And what of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu? He’s walking a political tightrope over a pit of his own making. On one side: the hostage families, disillusioned soldiers, and a nation emotionally fried after 18 months of trauma. On the other: an American president who could bless him with normalization deals or bulldoze him into a ceasefire.
To hide Israel’s exclusion from the Edan Alexander deal, Netanyahu rushed to announce the release before the Americans could. His office even tried to claim credit, suggesting the rescue was the result of Israel’s “aggressive policy” backed by Trump. But no one serious in the region believes it. This isn’t just a diplomatic snub; it’s a symbol of how little leverage Israel currently holds in Washington.
There’s frustration in the Trump administration with Netanyahu. Steve Witkoff himself reportedly criticized Israel’s prosecution of the war, calling it needlessly prolonged. In private, White House aides describe Israel as dragging its feet, resisting a ceasefire, and being uncooperative on broader plans for Gaza. Trump, ever the opportunist, is exploring his own endgame in the region — and Netanyahu might not be part of it.
The Netanyahu government has become so obsessed with political survival and coalition management that it has lost the initiative. Even when Israeli officials are invited to the Oval Office, like Ron Dermer recently, the real decisions are being made elsewhere.
There’s a growing feeling in both Washington and Jerusalem that Netanyahu is playing for time — time that runs out with every hostage who dies in captivity. In a recent call, a former U.S. official warned: “If Netanyahu continues like this, he’ll wake up to find the White House has moved on — without him.”
Translation: Follow, or be left behind.
While Israeli analysts debate whether there’s a rift with the United States, the real story is more complex. There’s no rupture, but there is recalibration.
There’s talk of a ceasefire deal. There’s talk of Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords 2.0. There’s even talk of Trump unilaterally recognizing a Palestinian state. For someone who once tore up Obama’s nuclear deal and moved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, this might seem like ideological whiplash.
Yet, Trump is not ideological. He’s not even consistent. He just wants to be seen winning. And right now, the world is pressuring him to “solve” Gaza — fast.
But let’s not pretend that legitimizing Hamas or enabling Palestinian statehood in its current form is a “solution.” That’s just resetting the clock on the next pogrom.
Since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, Hamas has turned it into a launchpad for war. Five rounds of major conflict. Tens of thousands of rockets. Thousands of Israeli dead. Hundreds of thousands terrorized. And on October 7th, the fantasy that Hamas could be “contained” finally died.
Any deal that ends this war without ending Hamas is not a peace plan. It’s a countdown to the next massacre.
At the same time, Trump’s MAGA wing includes many figures whose support for Israel is now conditional. If Israel no longer appears to “win,” if it drags America into messy wars or delays American-led deals, the MAGA base can turn with surprising speed.
Let’s be clear: Ending the Gaza war by legitimizing Hamas is not peace. It’s parole for terrorists. Since 2005, Gaza has been a laboratory for what a Jew-free Palestinian state looks like: rockets, murder tunnels, and October 7th. Every war Israel has fought with Hamas ended with Hamas still standing. Why? Because the international community, including Israel’s allies, prized “stability” over victory.
But “stability” is what allowed October 7th to happen.
If Trump ends this war prematurely, under the illusion that Hamas can be placated into peace, he’s not buying time; he’s selling out the future. The next pogrom is not a question of if, but when.
Israelis have learned a hard lesson: No one loves a Jew like another Jew. Not even our closest allies. Edan Alexander came home because of his American passport. The others remain underground in Gaza because of their Israeli ones.
Foreign support is fickle. Today, it’s a backchannel. Tomorrow, it’s a bargaining chip. The day after, it’s a headline about “both sides” and “moral equivalence.”
This is the moment for Israel to remember what it means to be sovereign — not just militarily, but morally. To remember that Jewish safety was never meant to be contingent on the kindness of empires or the whims of politicians.
Edan Alexander is home. But until every hostage is home — because they’re Jewish, not because they’re American — this war is not over. Not for Israel. And not for the Jewish People.
The hard truth is that the international community, America included, will never love the Jews more than it loves convenience. Even our closest friends will eventually choose “stability” over justice, “peace processes” over actual peace, and symbolic wins over moral clarity.
That’s why Jewish sovereignty matters. It’s why the Israeli flag matters. And it’s why every Israeli child, soldier, and hostage must know — without a doubt — that their life is not contingent on a second passport, but on the commitment of their nation.
Omer Shem Tov, an Israeli hostage released from Hamas captivity in March as part of the Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal, recently said that his captors cursed, starved, and spat on him, and once threatened to shoot him if he would not agree to help collapse a booby-trapped building on IDF troops.
“If you don’t do it, we’ll shoot you in the head,” Shem Tov recalled his captors saying. “I told them: Then shoot me in the head. I have no intention of doing it.”
This is the moral spine of the Jewish People: tortured, cornered, but unbroken. We owe it to heroes like Shem Tov, and to every hostage still buried in Gaza’s tunnels, to act with the same clarity and courage they’ve shown in the face of evil.
Because, in the end, no one is coming to save us. We have to save ourselves.
Analysis: U.S.-Saudi Nuclear Decoupling, Israeli Normalization, and the Emergence of Global Totalitarian Superstates Mordechai Sones
‘The Abraham Accords may be a “Trojan Horse” designed to prevent Israeli sovereignty and pave the way for a binational, democratic “State of Israel & Palestine” with equal rights, integrated into the Saudi-dominated Middle East Union’
May 12, 2025 Jewish Home News
According to recent reports, the Trump administration has decided to decouple U.S. support for Saudi Arabia’s civilian nuclear program from the Kingdom’s normalization of ties with Israel.
This policy shift suggests moves aligned with strategic objectives of emerging power blocs in a world consolidating into three dominant, increasingly totalitarian “managerial” blocs (Western/NATO, Chinese, Islamic/Sunni) and the formation of a post-Abraham Accords Middle East Union.
The U.S. decision removes a key condition previously placed on nuclear cooperation, granting Saudi Arabia a significant concession in its pursuit of nuclear energy, including potential enrichment capabilities. Publicly, this is framed within Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 goals for economic diversification and future energy needs, and the U.S. rationale includes securing strategic economic and military deals while navigating the political realities following the Gaza conflict that complicate Saudi normalization with Israel.
However, Vision 2030 itself may be a sophisticated exercise in statecraft, employing language of modernization and peace as instruments for power concentration and regime expansion. From this perspective, Saudi Arabia’s drive for nuclear technology, even under the guise of civilian use, is not merely an energy initiative but a strategic play to enhance its capabilities and leverage within the consolidating “Islamic Bloc,” a critical component of the emerging global triad alongside the Western and Chinese blocs.
The push for enrichment capabilities, despite proliferation risks and U.S. non-proliferation standards (like the Section 123 Agreement), can be seen through the lens of the “security dilemma” where the perceived threat from rivals (such as Iran) compels the acquisition of potentially destabilizing capabilities, drawing nations further into a “historical and political vortex.”
For the United States, representing the Western/NATO Bloc in this framework, the decision to decouple normalization from nuclear aid can be interpreted as a move aimed at maintaining dominance within a complex, multipolar world order. A U.S. president during this “advanced stage of the global shift towards totalitarianism” must prioritize maintaining American dominance among emerging “managerial societies,” potentially overriding other considerations, including traditional alliances or sentiments, for strategic necessity. Securing large economic and military deals with Saudi Arabia reinforces economic ties and leverages power, aligning with the “corporate fascism” aspect attributed to the NATO bloc and its reliance on economic influence and covert projection of “hard power.” By facilitating Saudi nuclear ambitions, even with risks, the U.S. may be attempting to manage the capabilities of a key player within the Islamic bloc, ensuring alignment or dependency, rather than allowing uncontrolled pursuit of such technology.
Furthermore, this policy shift gains significant context when viewed alongside the understanding that the Abraham Accords are not merely normalization agreements but precursors to the formation of a Middle East Union. This emerging entity is posited to be dominated by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and later Egypt, featuring supranational structures, including integrated military and judicial bodies potentially involving Israel and “Palestine.” In this light, the U.S. decoupling of nuclear aid from Israeli normalization could be interpreted as facilitating Saudi Arabia’s consolidation of power and capabilities prior to or during the formation of this Union. By obtaining advanced nuclear assistance from the U.S. before Israel is formally integrated into a structure potentially dominated by Saudi Arabia, Riyadh gains significant leverage and a strengthened position within the nascent Union, supporting the argument that Vision 2030 and related strategic maneuvers aim at “power concentration and regime expansion.”
While Islamic apologists claim the primary religious application for taqiya is protecting oneself and one’s faith under duress, the concept of deception in warfare is inseparable from the context of conquest and jihad. This principle allows for strategic and tactical deception of the enemy during wartime as a legitimate means to achieve victory and minimize casualties. Taqiya may involve strategic silence, ambiguous statements, or the outward appearance of alignment with a dominant political force to advance Islamic interests or long-term goals.
Thus, taqiya is not mere passive concealment due to fear of persecution, but active dissimulation employed strategically against adversaries in a state of conflict, as a tool for outmaneuvering enemies.
The implications for Israel, being at the “epicenter of the conflict” between the blocs and facing a strategy to abolish the traditional “Jewish State,” are particularly stark. Israeli alarm over proliferation and potential sidelining might be missing the deeper strategic objective. The Abraham Accords may be a “Trojan Horse” designed to prevent Israeli sovereignty and pave the way for a binational, democratic “State of Israel & Palestine” with equal rights, integrated into the Saudi-dominated Middle East Union. U.S. decoupling, by empowering Saudi Arabia within the regional architecture, advances the conditions for this Union structure, which would fundamentally alter Israel’s character and sovereignty by requiring external, supranational approval (from the ME Union assembly) for the use of its military forces.
The broader mechanisms described in the article, Trump, the Rise of the Triad, and Israel: The Emergence of Three Totalitarian Global Superstates – strategic deception, manufacturing consent, and unrestricted warfare – are also relevant. The public narratives around Vision 2030’s benevolent goals, the Abraham Accords as purely peace initiatives, and the “civilian” nature of the nuclear program appear to be tools for “manufacturing consent,” designed to mask the underlying strategic maneuvering related to bloc consolidation and the formation of the ME Union.
Events like the October 7th attacks may have been engineered to propel Israelis into a “war hysteria” necessary to commit their army as a “forward shock troop for the global new world order,” clearing territory for Saudi/American interests, representing an extreme example of strategic manipulation, with even devastating conflict being used as a tool of control and geopolitical restructuring.
Russia’s role, as the “wildcard,” lies in its potential to exploit the tensions and shifts created by this dynamic. While not directly involved in the U.S.-Saudi nuclear talks, Russia could seek to leverage the evolving power balance within the Middle East Union’s formation or the strains it places on U.S.-Israel relations to advance its own interests, such as maintaining its Syrian foothold or disrupting Western influence, aligning with its strategy of exploiting divisions and sowing chaos.
The Trump administration decision to decouple Saudi nuclear cooperation from Israeli normalization should not be seen as an isolated policy choice or standard diplomatic negotiation. Instead, it is a move deeply embedded within the struggle for dominance between emerging global managerial superstates and the formation of a Saudi-dominated Middle East Union. The pursuit of nuclear capability, the rhetoric of modernization (Vision 2030), and regional agreements (Abraham Accords) function as instruments of power consolidation, strategic deception, and the restructuring of the region into a new, potentially less sovereign, order for its constituents, including Israel, driven by the interests of the managerial elites controlling these emerging blocs, showing how complex, covert strategic objectives underpin seemingly conventional diplomatic and economic actions.
Old China Default TIERNEY’S REAL NEWS
MAY 12, 2025
Team Trump announced a deal with China to reduce tariffs for 90 days while they negotiate a final deal. Bessent even went on Morning Joe on MSNBC:
“What we have is a 90-day pause on the reciprocal tariffs. Both sides de-escalated by 115%. We are both at 10% on the reciprocal tariffs – and the 20% fentanyl-related tariffs against China are still on, and over the next 90 days, we have a mechanism to meet with the Chinese trade delegation again to discuss tariffs, non-tariff trade barriers, currency, labor and capital.”
That means we are imposing 30% tariffs with China and they are at 10% with us while the final deal is worked out.
Each network, and talking head, is spinning this their own way – and I admit I haven’t spent much time on it – but it sounds to me like China caved and came to the table and Trump gave them a way to save face.
GORDON CHANG: “Trump has given China an historic opportunity to step back from a collision with much of the world. Will a hostile Xi Jinping take advantage of what could be his last off-ramp? President Trump traded relief from our tariffs for China’s promise to open up its economy. The only way Xi Jinping can honor the promise is to give up most elements of communism because predatory trade practices are inherent in that system.”
Let’s see how this plays out.
HOWEVER, what NOBODY is reporting is what I just learned today about an old default in China that Trump is likely using behind the scenes as leverage.
I need to study it more but here’s what I just learned about the huge debt that Communist China DEFAULTED on years ago and still owes the American people. I didn’t know any of this – did you?
I’m guessing the Trump administration is leveraging this old default to renegotiate our trade agreement with China when no previous US administration has even tried.
Communist China currently owes American investors over one TRILLION dollars. The Chinese government doesn’t like to talk about it and the US government apparently doesn’t want to raise it, until now. But decades ago, Beijing defaulted on debt owed to Americans, as well as investors and governments around the world.
The story begins nearly 100 years ago, in 1913, when the old government of China began issuing bonds to foreign investors and governments for infrastructure work to modernize the country. As the country fell into civil war in 1927, paying these debts became increasingly difficult and the Chinese government eventually fell into default.
In April 1938, the Republic of China (ROC) issued a large volume of long-term sovereign gold-denominated bonds, secured by Chinese tax revenues, to private investors and governments to finance the war against Japan. These “gold bonds” specified repayment in gold or its equivalent value, which was a common practice to assure investors of value stability during times of currency instability.
There were also U.S. dollar-denominated bonds issued by the ROC, but these were more prominent in the early 1940s, notably the “American Dollar Bonds” of 1942, which were intended to absorb excess Chinese currency and were to be repaid in U.S. dollars after victory over Japan.
The China we know today would not have been possible without these bond offerings – which are now in default.
The Republic of China (ROC) defaulted on its sovereign debt in 1938 during its conflict with Japan.
The Communist Chinese Party (CCP) achieved military victory in China by the end of 1949, following the Chinese Civil War. The CCP, led by Mao Zedong, established the Communist People’s Republic of China (PRC).
After the military victory of the Communists in China, the ROC government fled to Taiwan. The People’s Republic of China was eventually recognized internationally as the successor government of China. Under well-established international law, the “successor government” doctrine holds that the current government of China, led by the Chinese Communist Party, is responsible for repayment of the defaulted bonds.
More than 20,000 American investors currently own this debt. The U.S. government may also own Chinese war debt, unpaid since World War II.
While successor governments are usually bound by the debts of predecessor governments, the new Chinese Communist government refused to pay any of these claims.
The issue lay dormant for decades. Then, in 1979, as part of normalizing relations with the CCP, the Carter administration appears to have dropped the matter of the war debt entirely.
UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said, in 1987, that for China to have access to UK capital markets, it had to honor the defaulted Chinese sovereign debt held by British subjects. Faced with that choice, Communist China agreed.
Unfortunately, the US failed to do the same. To this day, China has had access to U.S. capital markets while openly rejecting its sovereign debt obligations to American bondholders.
It doesn’t matter how old these bonds are – that is irrelevant. What matters is that this is a sovereign obligation. As recently as 2010, the German government made its last payment for reparations from World War I. In 2015 Great Britain made payments on bonds issuances that dated from the 18th century.
A private group of American citizens called the ABF holds a large quantity of these gold-denominated bonds. This citizen-led group, the American Bondholders Foundation (ABF), serves as trustee with power of attorney for some 20,000 bondholders, whose bonds are valued at well more than $1 trillion.
The Trump administration could do what the U.K. did in 1987 and view the repayment of China’s sovereign debt as essential to its national security interests. They could acquire the Chinese bonds held by the ABF and utilize them to offset (partially or in whole) the $850 billion-plus of U.S. Treasuries owned by China (reducing up to $95 million in daily interest paid to China). This would lower the US national debt.
Given that relations with China have deteriorated and there is bipartisan agreement on the threat from China, this matter could finally be acted upon by both Congress and the Trump administration.
China has not exactly disavowed the debt; it simply has selectively refused to pay it and none of this debt is currently reflected in the CCP’s “credit rating.”
SOLOMON YUE: “China owes U.S. investors over $1 trillion in U.S. bonds, plus interest and penalties for default. U.S. Congress could pass a bill to take away China’s Foreign Sovereign Immunity, allowing U.S. citizens to sue China in U.S. courts for the defaulted bonds. The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) generally grants foreign states immunity from lawsuits in U.S. courts.”
Congress can also enforce the repayment of these bonds. The American Bondholders Foundation (ABF) is a citizen-led organization founded in 2001 to advocate for the resolution and repayment of defaulted sovereign debt of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) held by approximately 20,000 families in the United States. The PRC has refused to pay the American holders of these bonds, despite settling with Great Britain in 1987.
The removal of immunity would also allow American citizens to sue China in civilian court for actions related to the coronavirus. That’s another threat that President Trump has mentioned in the past. He once said that Communist China owes the world TRILLIONS of dollars for COVID.
Trump could move in to kill 2 birds with 1 stone: forcing repayment of the $1 trillion bonds plus COVID19 reparations.
The Trump administration must be fully aware of this. Part of the latest “trade war” was likely to remind Communist China who is in charge – and it’s not them. While many nations reached out immediately to the Trump administration to negotiate new trade plans, Communist China remained defiant for a few weeks and its people turned on them. So did many nations in the world.
Now I know why Trump said: “Maybe I’ll just write them a little crypto check and pay off our debt.” Now you know why Bessent is monetizing assets like gold and the CCP has been stockpiling gold. CHECKMATE. It’s all connected. It has to be!
I need to do more research on this and connect more dots but if you have other sources or information you’d like to share with me – please do so.
The Pope, Catholics, and the Jews Jack Engelhard
Is the new Pope good for the Jews? These days, frankly, is anything good for the Jews? Opinion.
May 12, 2025, 3:59 PM (GMT+3) Israel National News
One point five billion Catholics in today’s world. One point six billion Muslims. Jews? Fifteen million.
Talk about outnumbered!
Of course, we knew it all along, how small we are numerically, but it became manifestly apparent, an epiphany, when broadcasters kept mentioning the new Pope, Pope Leo as the spiritual leader over one billion-plus Catholics…so at the moment I wondered how we Jews manage to get noticed at all.
Yet we get noticed more than any other people, and seldom in a good way…eight million in Israel, and the rest scattered between New York City and Boca Raton.
Pope Leo is a fan of the Chicago White Sox, which is good for them…but will he be good for the Jews?
These days, frankly, is anything good for the Jews? The thugs for Hamas are still rioting at Columbia U and on campuses everywhere.
What do they want?
They want us dead
But we are so few.
Too many.
What did we do?
It does not matter. You’re a Jew.
Since we find ourselves slumping, via the antisemitism, we can use a lift, a kind word, a pat on the back, from so powerful a world figure as the Pope.
Do not bet on this.
Pope Leo is surely aware of Bilam’s prophecy, that we Jews are a “people destined to dwell alone among the nations.”
That’s been taken as a curse, certainly among Popes and the Church. But Rashi sees it differently.
Rashi says that on the day of reckoning, the nations will be counted for their sins, but only the Jews, His treasure, will be exempt.
Hence, a blessing.
A blessed people we are, but it doesn’t always feel that way down on the street, where from one incident to another, we find ourselves recognized and noticed
Since we are so small in number, what do they want from us? What is their grievance from Gaza to Philadelphia?
Philly is where Dave Portnoy had his own epiphany, the knowledge…and lesson to the rest of us…that to be Jewish is to always be ready for the sucker-punch.
Is it true that Trump differs from Netanyahu on Iran, Yemen and Gaza, and worst of all, that he has plans to recognize a Palestinian state?
Say it ain’t so.
But if so, we are in deep quagmire.
Back to Portnoy.
Portnoy is a young, multi successful entrepreneur whom you probably know from his pizza reviews on YouTube.
One day he steps into a bar, in Philly, which he owns, and finds a party going on upon the theme “F…the Jews.”
What did he do to deserve this? Plus, if it can happen to Portnoy, a guy so rich, so hip, so cool, it can happen to anyone.
Maybe the Pope can explain and straighten this out. A graduate of neighboring Villanova, he’s got strong ties to Philly…and to Dave Portnoy.
A pep talk would be so appreciated
Portnoy is stricken by the fact that patrons and employees are in this together. His impulse is to send the ringleader to Auschwitz as an eye-opener.
But changes his mind. What’s the use?
How does it end? It ends with every curse turned into a blessing.
Jack Engelhard writes a regular column for Arutz Sheva. Engelhard wrote the int’l bestseller Indecent Proposal that was translated into more than 22 languages and turned into a Paramount motion picture starring Robert Redford and Demi Moore. New from the novelist, the anti-BDS thriller Compulsive. Website: www.jackengelhard.com
Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, the Abraham Accords, and Strategic Deception By Mordechai Sones
Vision 2030 may be a complex exercise in statecraft, employing soothing talk of peace as instruments of power concentration and regime expansion
May 12, 2025
Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, launched in 2016, presents an ambitious blueprint for economic diversification, social liberalization, and enhanced global standing. Promoted as a transformative shift away from oil dependency towards a vibrant, modern economy and society, it underpins Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s consolidation of power.
Contents
Economic Diversification: Aspirations vs. Reality
Social Reforms: Facade for Repression?
Governance and the “Ambitious Nation”: An Orwellian Contradiction?
Vision 2030, the Abraham Accords, and Strategic Deception
However, viewed through a critical lens, particularly considering the Kingdom’s deeply entrenched authoritarianism and sophisticated international influence operations as noted elsewhere, Vision 2030 warrants significant skepticism. Its grand pronouncements of reform often stand in stark contrast to the persistent realities of domestic repression and may function as a form of strategic deception to expand the regime’s sphere of influence and international leverage.
Economic Diversification: Aspirations vs. Reality
The core economic goal of Vision 2030 is weaning the Kingdom off oil revenues. Initiatives include developing tourism, entertainment, technology, and mining sectors, attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), and empowering the private sector, particularly Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Giga-projects like NEOM, Qiddiya, and the Red Sea developments are physical manifestations of this ambition, funded heavily by the Public Investment Fund (PIF).
However, critics question the sustainability and true diversification potential. While non-oil revenue has increased, much economic activity remains heavily state-driven, reliant on oil-funded PIF investments rather than organic private sector growth. The feasibility of attracting sufficient sustained FDI ($5.7% of GDP target) in a region prone to instability, and within a system lacking political transparency and rule of law, remains uncertain. Giga-projects face questions about profitability, environmental impact, and timely completion, with recent reports suggesting significant scaling back of NEOM’s initial scope. Furthermore, reliance on vast numbers of migrant workers for these projects often occurs under the exploitative kafala system, a stark contradiction to the image of a modernizing nation.
Social Reforms: Facade for Repression?
Vision 2030 has been accompanied by highly publicized social reforms, such as lifting the ban on women driving, relaxing gender segregation rules, and opening cinemas and entertainment venues. These are presented as evidence of a move towards a “Vibrant Society.”
As previously emphasized, these reforms coexist with an absolute monarchy that tolerates zero political dissent. While women have gained some freedoms, the male guardianship system, though reformed, still imposes significant restrictions. Freedom of expression, assembly, and religion remain severely curtailed. The state continues to employ the death penalty at one of the highest rates globally, often for non-violent offenses. The brutal 2018 murder and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul serves as a chilling reminder of the regime’s capacity for silencing critics, even transnationally. Independent civil society is non-existent, and activists, clerics, and intellectuals routinely face arbitrary detention, unfair trials, and lengthy prison sentences. These reforms, therefore, can be interpreted as carefully curated concessions designed primarily for international consumption, masking the regime’s fundamentally repressive nature, which in key aspects like political freedom and extra-territorial targeting, arguably surpasses that of heavily criticized Iran.
Governance and the “Ambitious Nation”: An Orwellian Contradiction?
The “Ambitious Nation” pillar promises efficiency, transparency, and accountability, including anti-corruption drives.
But in an absolute monarchy where power is concentrated, genuine accountability remains elusive. Anti-corruption campaigns have been criticized as selective, potentially serving as tools for consolidating power and eliminating rivals within the ruling elite. The lack of independent judiciary, free press, or political opposition means there are few effective checks on state power. Saudi Arabia’s ability to secure positions on UN bodies related to human rights and ethics, despite its abysmal record, highlights a capacity to manipulate international institutions for legitimacy, undermining the very notion of an “Ambitious Nation” committed to global standards.
Vision 2030, the Abraham Accords, and Strategic Deception
The Abraham Accords, normalizing relations between Israel and several Arab states (UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan), create a new regional context. While Saudi Arabia has not formally joined, it has engaged in rapprochement talks and opened its airspace, driven partly by the potential alignment with Vision 2030’s goals – accessing Israeli technology (AI, biotech, agritech), attracting investment, and bolstering regional security cooperation.
Saudi Arabia’s engagement with the Abraham Accords framework may be a calculated element of strategic deception serving Vision 2030’s realpolitik aims:
- Image Laundering: Associating with normalization efforts, even indirectly, helps project an image of Saudi Arabia as a modernizing, peace-oriented regional player, further masking its domestic repression and controversial foreign policy actions (like the Yemen war).
- Leverage and Technology Acquisition: It provides a pathway to acquire advanced Israeli technologies, potentially including surveillance and security tools that could enhance state control, while also strengthening security ties with the US, which heavily backs the Accords.16
- Distraction and Influence: It aligns Saudi Arabia with a key US foreign policy objective, potentially securing greater diplomatic cover and reinforcing the “Saudi blind spot” in the West, where focus remains disproportionately on Iran. The pursuit of these ties allows Riyadh to leverage its economic power – wielded through PIF investments in Western economies and sophisticated media/lobbying campaigns – to ensure continued strategic partnerships despite its human rights record. This deep economic integration provides leverage arguably unavailable to sanctioned Iran.
- Bypassing Core Issues: Engagement offers a way to potentially gain the perceived benefits of regional integration while continuing official rhetoric demanding a two-state solution as a prerequisite for full normalization.
Conclusion: A Trap?
Vision 2030 presents a tempting vision of national transformation. However, a sober analysis, informed by the Kingdom’s documented human rights abuses, its sophisticated influence campaigns in the West, and its strategic maneuvering within shifting regional dynamics like the Abraham Accords, casts significant doubt on its stated aims. The vast expenditures on giga-projects and social reforms may primarily serve to consolidate the power of the ruling elite, enhance its international standing through carefully managed optics, and create deeper economic entanglements that discourage Western criticism, rather than fostering genuine, broad-based liberalization or accountability.
The Western fixation on Iran, fueled partly by Saudi influence, may obscure the more insidious, long-term challenge posed by a deeply repressive, yet economically integrated and strategically positioned, Saudi Arabia. Vision 2030, far from being a straightforward blueprint for progress, may be better understood as a complex exercise in statecraft, employing the language of modernization and soothing talk of peace (via the Abraham Accords context) as instruments of power concentration and regime expansion on both the domestic and international stages. Its ultimate legacy remains uncertain, demanding ongoing critical scrutiny rather than wishful acceptance of its promotional gloss.
Meanwhile, it was reported that US President Donald Trump is “no longer linking Saudi civilian nukes to Israeli normalization.” Four days later, Israel President Isaac Herzog told reporters in Berlin that there is nothing he wants more “than to shake the hand of Mohammed bin Salman,” saying the process “started with President Sadat in 1977, then with Jordan, then with the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco in the Abraham Accords. And what’s the next step?”
What Most Palestinians Really Want by Bassam Tawil
May 12, 2025 at 5:00 am
- Palestinians who are saying that they are unaware of Hamas’s October 7 atrocities against Israelis are either engaged in self-deception or influenced by Hamas’s venomous propaganda machine, including the Qatar-owned Al-Jazeera TV network, which has long been serving as the terror group’s unofficial mouthpiece. Notably, according to several polls, Al-Jazeera is the most watched TV station in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
- If, according to the polls, most Palestinians are saying that they want Hamas to keep its weapons and remain in power in the Gaza Strip, it means they want the terror group to carry out more atrocities against Israel and Jews. If the Palestinians are saying that they prefer Hamas over any other Palestinian party, it means that they do not support any peaceful settlement with Israel. It means that the Palestinians want to see Israel obliterated and replaced by an Islamist state, armed and funded by Iran and its other terror proxies, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen.
- One can only hope that the Trump administration and other international parties will read the results of the Palestinian polls to get a better understanding of what many Palestinians really want: to murder as many Jews as possible and displace Israel.
A few weeks after October 7, 2023, a poll published by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research showed that 72% of the Palestinian public believe that Hamas’s decision to launch the attack was “correct.” The center’s latest poll, conducted this month, shows that an overwhelming majority of the Palestinians (85% in the West Bank and 64% in the Gaza Strip) oppose disarming Hamas to stop the war with Israel. Pictured: Palestinians rally in support of Hamas on December 15, 2023 in Nablus.
An overwhelming majority of the Palestinians (87%) believe that the Iran-backed Palestinian terror group Hamas did not commit atrocities against Israeli civilians, including women and children, on October 7, 2023, according to a public opinion poll conducted in early May by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research.
When asked if Hamas had committed the atrocities seen in the videos shown by international media displaying the acts committed by Hamas members against Israelis in their homes on that day, these Palestinians said the group did not commit such atrocities, while only 9% said it did.
The poll, conducted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, shows that many Palestinians are living in denial, and trying to protect themselves from a truth that is apparently too painful for them to accept: that many Palestinians support terrorism and that most of the victims of the October 7 massacre were innocent civilians.
This, despite the fact that many of the Hamas terrorists who invaded Israel on October 7, murdering 1,200 people and injuring thousands, used GoPro cameras and cellphones to document the attack. Many of the crimes were also documented by Israeli security cameras, car dashboard cameras, traffic cameras and first responders.
During the attack, a Hamas terrorist used an Israeli woman’s cellphone to call his parents: “Father, I just killed 10 Jews, their blood is in my hands, thank God. Tell mom, your son is killing Jews.”
CNN reported on October 26, 2023:
“At least a half-dozen of the [Hamas] militants who breached the Gaza border and attacked Israeli communities had cameras strapped to their bodies, in an apparent attempt to collect propaganda material during the incursion….
“The videos, some of which have been posted to social media, provide a harrowing first-person view of the Hamas fighters’ final hours of life, and the death and destruction they caused during their unprecedented assault. They show the slaughter of civilians, indiscriminate shooting in Israeli communities, and the taking of hostages — clear evidence of war crimes that undermines Hamas’ claims that its fighters did not enter Israel with the intent of killing civilians.”
A few weeks after October 7, 2023, a poll published by the same center showed that 72% of the Palestinian public believe that Hamas’s decision to launch the attack was “correct.” The poll, in addition, showed that support for Hamas has more than tripled in the West Bank compared to three months earlier. In the Gaza Strip, support for Hamas increased from 38% before the October 7 massacre to 42%.
The latest poll also shows that an overwhelming majority of the Palestinians (85% in the West Bank and 64% in the Gaza Strip) oppose disarming Hamas to stop the war with Israel. When asked whether they support or oppose the eviction of some Hamas military leaders from the Gaza Strip as a condition for stopping the war, 65% said they oppose it, while 31% expressed support for their removal. When asked which political party they support, the largest percentage (32%) said they prefer Hamas, followed by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas’s ruling Fatah faction (21%). Thirty-four percent said they do not support any of them or do not know.
If new PA parliamentary elections were held today, 43% of the Palestinians said they would vote for Hamas, 28% for Fatah, eight percent for third parties, and 19% have not decided yet. The last parliamentary elections, held in 2006, resulted in a Hamas victory. A year later, Hamas staged a violent coup against the PA and seized full control of the Gaza Strip.
The results of the recent poll show that most Palestinians are not only in living in denial regarding the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7, but that they continue to support a terror group that has brought death and destruction on tens of thousands of the residents of the Gaza Strip.
Palestinians who are saying that they are unaware of Hamas’s October 7 atrocities against Israelis are either engaged in self-deception or influenced by Hamas’s venomous propaganda machine, including the Qatar-owned Al-Jazeera TV network, which has long been serving as the terror group’s unofficial mouthpiece. Notably, according to several polls, Al-Jazeera is the most watched TV station in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Sadly, the Palestinians’ widespread support for Hamas, especially in the aftermath of the October 7 carnage, shows that many continue to support the group’s terrorism and call for the destruction of Israel. Their strong support is the direct result of decades of universal Palestinian incitement against Israel and Jews. The incitement finds expression in schools, the media, mosques, even in crossword puzzles, as well as the rhetoric of Palestinian leaders and officials.
This ever-present incitement is why it is hard to find Palestinians who are prepared to condemn, let alone acknowledge, the October 7 atrocities against Israelis. This incitement is also why it would not be a good idea to hold general elections in the PA: it is clear – according to the polls – that the Palestinians still do not consider it a mistake they made when, in 2006, most of them voted for Hamas.
If, according to the polls, most Palestinians are saying that they want Hamas to keep its weapons and remain in power in the Gaza Strip, it means they want the terror group to carry out more atrocities against Israel and Jews. If the Palestinians are saying that they prefer Hamas over any other Palestinian party, it means that they do not support any peaceful settlement with Israel. It means that the Palestinians want to see Israel obliterated and replaced by an Islamist state, armed and funded by Iran and its other terror proxies, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen.
One can only hope that the Trump administration and other international parties will read the results of the Palestinian polls to get a better understanding of what many Palestinians really want: to murder as many Jews as possible and displace Israel.
Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East. His work is made possible through the generous donation of a couple of donors who wished to remain anonymous. Gatestone is most grateful.
🚨 BREAKING: Gaza Celebrate After Israel’s HUGE Announcement [34:56]
May 11,2025 Tousi TV
Saudi Arabia, Not Iran: Are We Transfixed on the Wrong Threat? MORDECHAI SONES
A more balanced and critical assessment of both regimes, free from the distortion of economic ties and strategic convenience, is crucial for understanding and surviving the conflicts behind unfolding
MAY 11, 2025
For a generation, Western foreign policy and public discourse have largely fixated on the Islamic Republic of Iran as the primary threat emanating from the Middle East. Its revolutionary anti-Western rhetoric, nuclear ambitions, and support for regional proxies have dominated headlines and shaped strategic priorities.
Contents
Beneath the Surface: Iran’s and Saudi Arabia’s Human Rights Records Side-by-Side
UN Membership: A Mask of Legitimacy?
Shaping the Discourse: Saudi Influence in Western Media
Saudi Investments: Deeper Ties and Quieter Influence
The Iran Fixation and the Saudi Blind Spot
However, a compelling case can be made that while this focus has been maintained, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a key Western ally, has been consolidating its power, engaging in widespread repression, and exerting considerable influence in a manner that poses an arguably greater, albeit different, long-term threat that has been largely overlooked.
Both Iran and Saudi Arabia are authoritarian regimes with deeply dishonorable human rights records. However, a direct comparison of their repressive features reveals a disturbing picture in Saudi Arabia, one that is often less scrutinized in Western discussion.
Israel Prepares to Destroy Hamas [2:14] JEROME R. CORSI, PH.D.
President Trump Has Arranged for Libya to Accept the Refugees
MAY 10, 2025
As Trump has designed a peace strategy, Iran and Israel continue to move into further conflict. Either Iran destroys its own nuclear weapons program and facilities, or Israel will do it for them. The dangerous game continues to unfold.
Jonathan Pollard: Trumps’ GULF CURVEBALL: Will Netanyahu Act? [9:25]
May 9, 2025 Machon Shilo
Audio Message from Jewish hero Jonathan Pollard
