SUSPICIOUS SAUDIS SENSATIONALLY SAY SALMAN SENILE ; SPOILED SON SHINES SUPERFICIALLY

         
               Saudi King Salman makes 31 YEAR OLD son Mohammed first in line to the throne.

                                                          PREEMPTIVE COUP  ?
                                                      

                                Mohammed bin Salman currently Defense Minister and responsible for                                    

•                       World's third largest defence budget.Five times larger than Iran.
•                       Saudi Arabia's military fiasco in Yemen
•                       Failed strategy in Syria,funding Al Quaida linked militias against Assad.
•                       Confrontational stance to US Rapprochement with Iran 
•                       Diplomatic break with Quatar
•                       Trumpski's Sword Dance

   Apparently the Saudis failed to mention that the dance is part of a Bedouin Circumcision Ritual                                              
                                           and that he was guest of honour.
Actually the dance video http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/20/politics/trump-saudi-arabia-dance/  reminds me of dance I witnessed at the the Beltze Rebbe Schtible in Stamford Hill,North London --also part of  circumcision ritual but without the swords.
They had apparently been turned into ploughshares.  
                                                                                                                             
The Crown Prince Chairs:

• the government's main economic bodies 
•  the Board of Aramco  and
•  the Kingdom's Sovereign Wealth Funds

In these roles he has

•  Replaced the senior staff in nearly all economic area,
•  Fired the long standing minister of Energy and key force within Opec  
•  Launched "Vision 2030" designed within 15 years to transform the economy                          away from its dependence on oil.                                   and                                                    

                                                 introduced "austerity "measures

•            raising taxes,
•            cutting  government salaries
•            slashing the Saudi Welfare Budget.                                                                                                                                 

                                                   All Jolly Popular Locally                                                                                             

                                                              

 He is also responsible for the 2015 strategy of increased oil output to reduce prices in order to:

•             Hurt Iran                                                and the  
•             US fracking industry
•             Regain control of oil market as the swing producer.

                                  All this has worked out very well

• Costing  Saudi $100 billion a year
•  Beggaring African producers like Nigeria 
• Annoying Gulf Allies                                                        and 
• Losing control of the oil market !

                                   
                                                     OOPS

The Prince is Secretary General of the Royal Court and as such is the gatekeeper to his father.

The Regime has been a tight knit hereditary Wahhabist gerontocracy   since its founding in 1933.

This Young man has grasped the mandate for fundamental reform of the House of Saud.

Including reining in the Religious police and softening Saudi Sharia.
He is still there !

He has almost as much power as Jared Kushner : also 13.
http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/jared-kushner-and-mohammed-bin-salman-princes-of-tech-disruption
They are the brothers they always wanted.
The older,Jared,with billions in debt.
The younger,Mohammad, with billions.

Next week the two plan to meet over drinks to finally solve the Israel/Palestine                         kerfuffle as a prelude to creating Middle East peace.
Then to the Maldives for some well earned R & R
  
         Though shall not LUST after your Brother's Wife--Holy book of Cyclops

King Cyclops has posted on Saudi,the Prince and Stability  7/8 times before.
His subjects have shown little interest.Thence comes......the oil price apocalypse 😰

Prince Mohammad announced in April last year the creation of a new $Trillion Wealth Fund and a public sale of 5% of Aramco..

The parlous state of the Kingdom's finances and the continued crash in oil prices meant that the fund could not be financed from taxes or oil revenues .

 He proposed listing a world wide IPO of ARAMCO.

This was widely/wildly applauded by the usual suspects:

                          Wall Street and London Investment Banks,Financial Advisers and Law Firms.

                    Always willing to work in their clients best interests.😈

The process has run into a few minor snags--[see the King's predictions on May 2016[.

The Prince and his advisers claimed a valuation of $20+ trillion for 100% of Aramco.

Making a 5% float worth $1 trillion-- needed for the new Wealth Fund--and for infrastructure--and Vision 30, and....

The market men licked their lips at the succulent fees 😏

However it seems recent leaks are designed to"lower expectations" to  $700-$1.1 Trillion range.
If the IPO ever happens expect that to drift down to $600-800  billion.

The organisation  representing professional investment funds etc in London have called on the London Stock Exchange to not make ANY exceptions to listing rules --minimum float,transparency on oil and financial reserves ,shareholder rights etc--to get the listing.

No such concerns from US Funds ,but then in the USA there are Laws and SEC Regulations and fear of 9/11 litigation.
The Saudi  security establishment is determined to maintain secrecy over level of Oil Reserves.
Retired Aramco executives  fear the strategic repercussions of revealing true operating cost,capex and revenues to their competitors,the markets and the Iranians.

                                     This should all work out very well

Despite not having the funding,the new Wealth Fund made its first investment in June 2016.

Under the direction of the youthful Uber Mench it bought a 5% stake in the unlisted,totally illiquid Uber ride hailing company.The fund paid the "princely" sum of  $3.5 billion valuing Uber at almost $70 billion,or 25% of the total Saudi stock market. Salman had become the Uber Prince.[see Cyclop's June 5, 2016 posting]  

                                                           Just in time 
         Before the exit from China [wonder if that was in the pitch book😈😈]
        Multiple lawsuits-                  patent abuse
                                                    sexual harassment,                                                                                                                   violation of Labour laws
                                                    short changing drivers,
                                                    trading without a licence
                                                    etc,etc

          And  before                   the forced departure of 20+ senior executives ,
                                               board resignations
                                              this week's forced exit of CEO,founder ,
                                             and principal shareholder Travis Kalanick..

The company is not public so hard to know  how much all this has reduced market value;       estimates run from 40-60% since the Saudi purchase.
                       
                               A Saudi one year loss loss of SAY $1.6-2 billion.

Still if it gets worse they can sell out the remaining $1-2 billion investment on the markets.
Oh,that's right the stock is not listed.Maybe Texas Pacific will help them out.
The Fund has yet to make a second investment.


On 10 January 2016, The Independent reported that "the BND, the German intelligence agency...portrayed Saudi defence minister and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman...as a political gambler who is destabilising the Arab world through proxy wars in Yemen and Syria "

                  Try to persuade CYCLOPS that this is not a preemptive coup.         
                                     Where will it all end?


ps.   This is the unofficial photo of Trumpski's arrival in Mecca