The Trump administration has put Americans through such a dizzying array of near-daily corruption so deep that a U.S. president somehow makes over two billion dollars while in office – impossible without obliterating conflicts of interest – that many of us, even the most attentive, have been somewhat lulled to sleep. It’s not only exhausting, but also leads to a certain amnesia regarding some issues.
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But among the concerns about deepening corruption, there are some issues that can never be set aside and must arise in our minds daily: Epstein, the appearance of pay-for-pardons, and the airplane. We now have to plant perhaps the biggest, the one that threatens civilization at a level matched only by climate change – no hyperbole – because Donald J. Trump just opened the door to U.S. sanctioned nuclear proliferation in the Middle East. He did so not only with a nation with which he had many pending business deals, but one that also murders journalists, supplied 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9-11, and is run by a corrupt and murderous thug rivaling Putin, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Short and sweet, the Trump administration just entered an agreement allowing the Kingdom to enrich uranium and plutonium, justified as needed for power usage, and yet with few safeguards to cap enrichment such as to never come close to material for a nuclear bomb.
We are in a war with Iran purportedly over Iran’s decision to enrich uranium and create nuclear-tipped missiles, and yet we just blessed such a plan with a nation that might be just as untrustworthy, just as dangerous, just as corrupt, and just as capable of starting a nuclear war that threatens the world. Maddeningly, it is also a nation with far more business deals pending with the American president’s family. It is, again, Saudi Arabia.
This potential deal with the potential conflict also smells enough to stand out, according to The New York Times, meaning there’s something likely hidden, something awful, because there actually is a model for how to do a deal like this properly. The fact that the Trump administration purposefully veered away from the established model points to something wrong. Inevitably, we arrive back at the conflict.
Nuclear power deals in the Middle East are not new. The United States entered into a similar agreement with the United Arab Emirates in 2009. But that agreement contained far more restrictions and conditions, including stringent inspections, signing and “additional protocol” with the International Atomic Energy Agency. And the UAE even agreed not to create its own fuel, and thus would never have the infrastructure to create a weapon.
The UAE agreement, one brokered by both the Bush and Obama administrations, became known as the “Gold Standard” for nuclear nonproliferation. And yet for reasons known only to Trump, this particular administration and this particular agreement set all those Gold Standard restrictions aside.
Wonder why?
Well, for one, Saudi Arabia, led by the butcher who is MBS, absolutely assures us, according to The New York Times, that the Kingdom will proceed to enrich weapons-grade uranium (And once there, an easily made weapon) “if Iran ever obtains a nuclear weapon.” Do you find it likely that a man like Prince Mohammed will patiently wait for Iran to successfully implement a nuclear weapons program before he starts building his own? Or, given that we’re at war with Iran because they are said to be close to weapons-grade uranium and plutonium, do you find it more likely that he simply starts off on the assumption that Iran will soon enough have that capability such that the goal is weapons-grade enrichment right away?
Now, to be absolutely sure, there are reasons one would want to obtain nuclear weapons to match those of an enemy like Iran, hoping to reach mutual assured destruction. Thus, from a certain point of view, Saudi Arabia’s desire to “nuke up” is understandable. And yet, from a far more valid, lasting, and fundamentally safer point of view, that need can be entirely vitiated by one promise by the United States: “We will defend any nuclear attack on you with a nuclear response.”
Indeed, the Biden administration understood MBS’s desire to protect the Kingdom so much that the Biden Administration sought to make such a deal with Saudi Arabia – allowing enrichment, contingent on one major concession that would have made the Middle East much safer: that Saudi Arabia recognize Israel.
And yet, for reasons known only to Donald Trump, this deal isn’t dependent upon such a massive gain; indeed, it’s only dependent upon some nebulous Trump assurances that there will be limits. Except, again – Prince Mohammed has already promised to blow by those restrictions based on one measuring stick, one perhaps already “close enough” to keep going.
In other words, the Donald Trump administration, at war with Iran over the fear of the proliferation of nuclear weapons, might just have set off a nuclear arms race in the Middle East, all but compelling Egypt, Turkey, the UAE again and Jordan, at a minimum, to initiate their own programs, based on the same standard. And off we go.
Off we go. And while “mutual assured destruction” has always kept nations possessing nuclear weapons in stasis and prevented them from use, does anyone believe that such safety and sanity applies equally to the Middle East, based on their history, especially Saudi Arabia?
So let’s once again talk about Saudi Arabia and why all these other administrations might work with the Saudis only under some strict protections, along with significant gains from the Saudis, but the Trump administration appears ready to simply push ahead without.
Well, for one, we already know that Trump has a classic conflict of interest. Again.
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The Trump Organization and its partners, led by sons Don Junior and Eric Trump, have expanded significantly in Saudi Arabia with multiple Trump-branded real-estate developments announced through Dar Global (a company with close Saudi government ties), and the Trump Organization is in ongoing discussions involving major Saudi projects such as Diriyah.
Those are just a couple of handy examples that fit right in with Jared Kushner profiting off the last administration’s treatment of Saudi Arabia (Essentially letting the Kingdom off scot-free for butchering an American resident and Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, along with credible reports that Kushner provided sensitive U.S. intelligence to MBS allowing the 2017 anti-corruption purge (which arrested hundreds of Saudi princes, businessmen, and officials) and perhaps aided in killing of other dissidents.
Of course, almost impossible to believe as unrelated; Kushner’s brand new investment firm post-administration got $2 billion to invest (and profit from percentages) from MBS upon the completion of his work.
What might Donald Trump and the Trump Organization be getting in consideration of this deal? Given the open past corruption and certainly the appearance of a laughable conflict of interest, it is absolutely irresponsible not to ask what might be in it for Trump.
Total reset: It is possible that Donald Trump just unleashed a planet-threatening nuclear arms race off in the Middle East, and entirely possible that he did so for personal profit – practically the definition of not only an American nightmare, but the entire First World’s line in the sand, the one that – if profit were to be established, and the United States did nothing to stop it, would be the moment that we officially crossed over. We are no longer “that” United States. (If we haven’t already passed that juncture.)
Rather than be lumped in with all the “good countries” in NATO (Canada, the U.K., Germany) and in East Asia (South Korea, Japan, Australia), we now find ourselves in the company of MBS and Putin – as always, you know – the “bad guys.”
And here we are. The United States may be crossing the line to sanctioned nuclear proliferation for presidential personal profit and very, very much to the detriment of the average American who would, literally, be much less safe in such a world.
This deal has to be ratified by Congress, and the business development side, using American companies to set up the infrastructure, likely has some strong Republican support, according to the Times, but there are enough questions surrounding the deal that it’s not going to get a Congressional auto-stamp. Of course, that leaves sensible Americans, ones not wanting to unleash nukes across the Middle East and ones with serious questions about those possible conflicts, reliant on a Republican Congress to ask the right questions, demand honest answers, and then neutrally evaluate the pros and cons. The same Americans must rely on the Trump administration feeling constrained by Congress. Try not to laugh. Try not to cry.
Actually, go ahead and cry.
Because this truly is one of those deals that, for some reason – reasons the administration prefers not to address- doesn’t contain the restrictions or gains other presidents demanded; no “gold standard” here, though it was certainly available. But not wanted. And thus one of those conflicts of interest that arise daily that better stick in one’s mind daily, right up there with Epstein.
Donald J. Trump, the man with business deals spread across Saudi Arabia, a nation led by a man who’s proven himself ready to kill critics and personally pay American leaders who “aided” MBS’s goals, just green-lighted a nuclear arms race in the Middle East, one that MBS has promised to jump on, contingent only on that premise underlying why we’re currently at war with Iran.
Daily conflicts and corruption, amnesia, it passes, it’s exhausting, can’t keep up. But unlike even 747s and cryptoscams, we better keep “Saudi nukes” in mind daily at the level we keep “Epstein cover-up” at the forefront of our minds. So forefront that one would be smart to contact representatives to get some answers on what Trump might be getting in this deal, the one that shouldn’t move off a page, never mind into law.
Yeah, yeah – it just keeps going. But this one is different. This one threatens the planet. This one better be watched and better be stopped, even if it already seems too late.
It might literally be the international community’s worst nightmare. It really is okay to cry. But also cry to Congress. It can’t hurt.
Jason Miciak is a RawStory columnist and former editor of Occupy Democrats, author, political consultant, attorney, and single parent girldad. Please follow him on Bluesky, and he can be reached at [email protected]. He also reads and appreciates comments.
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