Saudi Helicopter Carrying 8 High-Ranking Officials & Prince Bin-Muqrin Crashed Near Yemen Border – All Dead

It’s unknown whether this was part of the ongoing purge in the kingdom but we shouldn’t be surprised if it is.

 

 

The shocking latest twist in what has been a chaotic weekend in Saudi Arabia is news that a helicopter transporting 8 high-ranking Saudi officials (including prince Mansour bin-Muqrin) has crashed in the south of the Kingdom, near the border with Yemen.

As PTI reports, a Saudi prince was killed today when a helicopter with several officials on board crashed near the kingdom’s southern border with war-torn Yemen, state television said.

Future Saudi king tightens grip on power with arrests including Prince Alwaleed

FILE PHOTO – Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia October 24, 2017. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

 

RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s future king has tightened his grip on power through an anti-corruption purge by arresting royals, ministers and investors including billionaire Alwaleed bin Talal who is one of the kingdom’s most prominent businessmen.

Prince Alwaleed, a nephew of the king and owner of investment firm Kingdom Holding, invests in firms such as Citigroup and Twitter. He was among 11 princes, four ministers and tens of former ministers detained, three senior officials told Reuters on Sunday.

The purge against the kingdom’s political and business elite also targeted the head of the National Guard, Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, who was detained and replaced as minister of the powerful National Guard by Prince Khaled bin Ayyaf.

Obama Admin Loyalists, Government Insiders Sabotage Trump White House

White House / Getty Images

 

Former admin planted series of landmines to subvert Trump team

The Obama administration worked in its final weeks in office to undermine the incoming Trump White and continues to do so, according to multiple sources both in and out of the White House.

Behind the effort, these sources say, are senior government officials who previously worked under President Obama and remain loyal to his agenda. These individuals leak negative information about the Trump White House and its senior staff to a network of former Obama administration officials who then plant this information in key media outlets including the Washington Post and New York Times.

Turkey fires 10,000 more civil servants, shutters 15 media organizations

In the latest wave of purges after the July 15 coup attempt, Turkey has sacked 10,000 more civil servants and shut down 15 more media outlets.

Ankara said those let go in the new round of dismissals are suspected to have links with terrorist organizations by which is meant U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blames for orchestrating the failed coup.

Venezuela Will “Purge” All State Workers Who Sign Maduro Recall Petition

Last week we reported that in addition to confiscating the guns of Venezuela’s famished population, president Maduro had a warning for would-be coup plotters (perhaps sensing that a coup is imminent): “Did you see what happened in Turkey?” said Maduro, in a televised public event on Thursday evening. “Erdogan will seem like a nursing baby compared to what the Bolivarian revolution will do if the right wing steps over the line with a coup.”

Erdogan locks US airmen, nuclear arms in Incirlik

An update from a previous post on the unreported (not one word) Incirlik airbase situation, where ~1500 American soldiers are being held hostage by Erdoğan. Share this unreported story with your friends and get the word out.

 

 

This extraordinary situation, reported here by debkafile’s military sources, whereby a large group of American military personnel are held virtual captive by an allied government, was almost certainly raised in the phone call that took place Tuesday between President Barack Obama and Erdogan.  But the most outlandish aspect of this affair is that no American official has raised it in public – nor even by the administrations most vocal critics at the Republican convention which nominated Donald Trump as presidential candidate.

China’s Xi Jinping Era Has Begun

Xi’s control over China’s former leaders suggests his is China’s most powerful leader since Mao.

September 30, 2015 marked a new beginning in Chinese politics — the start of a new era in Xi Jinping’s authority. On this day, the State Council hosted a dinner celebrating the 66th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China. In contrast to the past, when retired senior leaders were invited to join the current leaders to partake in the celebrative banquet, most of China’s previous leaders were absent this time.

US Army Gen. Odierno Retires amid Controversy over Iraq Remarks

Fall in line with the liars in the White House or get purged like this respected General. It remains to be seen how long Brig. Gen. Wilson Shoffner will last given his statement regarding ISIS gaining ground. All branches are being purged of those who hold the line against the Obama administration, or are Christian.

 

 

U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno headed into retirement Friday amid controversy over his recent remarks on Iraq that were challenged by the Baghdad government, the State Department and now U.S. Central Command.

When asked if CentCom agreed with Odierno’s assessment that the campaign against Islamic militants in Iraq was essentially at a “stalemate,” Air Force Col. Pat Ryder, the chief spokesman for the command, said Friday, “No, I don’t agree with that.”

U.S. military decimated under Obama, only ‘marginally able’ to defend nation

As a result of the ongoing purge, all four branches of the U.S. military are showing signs of cracking and fracturing. At this pace of suicidal disintegration it might not even be able to defend the homeland by 2017.

 

The U.S. military is shedding so many troops and weapons it is only “marginally able” to defend the nation and falls short of the Obama administration’s national security strategy, according to a new report by The Heritage Foundation on Tuesday.

“The U.S. military itself is aging. It’s shrinking in size,” said Dakota Wood, a Heritage analyst. “And it’s quickly becoming problematic in terms of being able to address more than one major conflict.”

President Obama’s latest strategy is to size the armed forces pledged in 2014 so that the four military branches have sufficient troops, ships, tanks and aircraft to win a large war, while simultaneously acting to “deny the objectives of — or impose unacceptable costs on — another aggressor in another region.”

Saudi shakeup: New king purges Abdullah’s sons from key security posts

Saudi King Salman has reshuffled the Cabinet and government in what appeared to be directed against his late brother. On Jan. 29, Salman ordered the dismissal of several sons of the late King Abdullah, who died on Jan. 23.

Exclusive: CIA’s Top Spy Steps Down

The purge roles on:

 

The secretive head of the agency’s National Clandestine Service is retiring amid reports of infighting over a reorganization of the intelligence service.

…

As a practice, the CIA doesn’t identify the head of the clandestine service by name. But Frank Archibald was outed in a Twitter post in 2013, and details of his biography were known to some journalists. Archibald, who was 57 when he took the job that year, reportedly served tours in Pakistan and Africa and also headed the CIA’s Latin America division. The Associated Press reported that Archibald “once ran the covert action that helped remove Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic from power.”

Archibald’s retirement comes at a transitional moment for the CIA. The agency’s director, John Brennan, is considering major changes to the agency’s structure, including the possible creation of new intelligence centers and doing away with the traditional division of CIA into its analysis group and the clandestine service.

Captain of San Diego-based warship relieved of duty

Another senior military officer ‘redirected’.

 

The captain of one of the Navy’s premier warships has been relieved of command after an investigation found that he routinely used foul and abusive language toward crew members and engaged in inappropriate touching and questioning of women.

Capt. Wayne Brown was relieved as commander of the San Diego-based amphibious assault ship Boxer after an investigation concluded that he had “lost the respect, trust and confidence of his subordinates” because of his temper and his behavior toward female crew members, according to the investigative report. His behavior included touching and asking crew members whether they were using birth control with their husbands or boyfriends.

Brown created a “hostile, offensive and intimidating work environment,” according to the investigation that was undertaken after complaints from enlisted personnel and junior officers.

The recommendation to relieve him of command was endorsed by Rear Adm. Frank Ponds in late September.

Nuclear commander lost job after being caught playing fake poker chips

Downfall of Vice-Admiral Timothy Giardina is latest embarrassment for America’s missile men, amid low morale and a string of public scandals

By day, Vice-Admiral Timothy Giardina was one of the US Navy’s most senior figures – as deputy head of US Strategic Command, he was number two in command of America’s nuclear arsenal.

But by night, at the Horseshoe casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa, he was known as Navy Tim, a heavy gambler who was accused of making his own $500 poker chips and eventually banned.

…

Documents unveiled under a Freedom of Information Act request depict him as an habitual poker player, spending more than 1,000 hours – or 15 hours per week – at the Horseshoe’s tables in the 18 months before being caught playing three phoney chips in June 2013.

Senior Navy Intelligence Officer Canned by Pentagon for China Comments

Capt. James Fanell was removed from his position as the director of intelligence and information operations at U.S. Pacific Fleet. Fanell was reassigned within the command.

Though neither the Navy nor Fanell commented on the reason for the personnel change, it is widely believed to be due to an internal investigation of his comments on China, according to the report.

Fanell warned during a February public appearance that a recent Chinese amphibious exercise led naval intelligence to assess that China’s strategy was to be able to launch a “short, sharp war” with Japan, an unusually frank assessment about a closely watched region.

2 Nuclear Commanders Fired, Another Disciplined

The purge continues while America continues to turn a blind eye.

 

The Air Force on Monday fired two more nuclear commanders and disciplined a third, fresh evidence of leadership lapses in a nuclear missile corps that has suffered a rash of recent setbacks, including the firing last year of its top commander.

The most senior officer to be relieved Monday was Col. Carl Jones, the No. 2 commander of the 90th Missile Wing at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming, in charge of 150 of the Air Force’s 450 Minuteman 3 nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles. He was dismissed “for a loss of trust and confidence in his leadership abilities,” and has been reassigned as a special assistant to the wing commander.

The actions Monday were confirmed to The Associated Press in response to an AP inquiry about an internal Air Force investigation of two commanders at the 91st Missile Wing at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, which also is responsible for 150 Minuteman 3 missiles.

It is unusual for disciplinary action to be taken against senior officers at two of the Air Force’s three nuclear missile bases on the same day. Officials said the timing was a coincidence. It extends a pattern of leadership failures in the ICBM force over the past year.