Mohammed Al-Minshawi-Washington
The New York Times revealed that some of the imprisoned members of the Saudi royal family - through their intermediaries - are seeking to push Washington to influence Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman; This sheds light on the divisions of the ruling family and the great American role in the Saudi system of government.
This is not the first time that Washington has become a theater of internal Saudi conflicts. The American capital witnessed a frantic race between the current crown prince and the former crown prince, Muhammad bin Nayef, before Muhammad bin Salman resolved the battle of the American arena in his favor in mid-2017.
The New York Times report indicated that princes from the Saudi royal family are seeking out "lobby" companies that have ties with the administration of US President Donald Trump, in order to end what they see as political persecution from the Saudi crown prince.
A company in which Robert Strick - who has good relations with personalities in the Trump administration - has signed a 2-million-dollar contract to call for the release of Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Muhammad Al Saud, and Strech previously contracted with former Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef in 2017 to defend his interests in Washington.
US Justice Department data also indicate that Barry Bennett, a former Trump campaign adviser in 2016, signed a similar contract with a jailed emir who was a great rival to Muhammad bin Salman.
An appropriate timing and
in an interview with Al Jazeera Net, the researcher at the Institute of International Policy bin Freeman pointed out that the time is very appropriate to form a "lobby lobby" on the Saudi regime in Washington, especially in light of the great anger on the part of Trump because of Saudi Arabia's role in reducing oil prices, which is what He called on him to reduce the military presence there.
Bin Freeman stated that "Saudi Arabia and Muhammad bin Salman are not mentioned in the American media except in thorny issues that harm the image of Saudi Arabia and its crown prince, the most recent of which is the dismissal of the Inspector General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs against the background of investigations related to arms sales to Riyadh, and days before there were news of investigations for" FB IE "reveals the link of the Saudi pilot - who killed two American soldiers at an al Qaeda base in Florida - with al Qaeda."
And about the Saudi princes spending big sums in search of some influence with the Trump administration; Ben Freeman believes that "it is bad for millions of dollars to be spent in Washington through" pressure companies "for justice within Saudi Arabia."
And bin Freeman stressed that with the passage of time, Washington is discovering that "Mohammed bin Salman's campaign against corruption was only a step to extend his political control by arresting his political rivals." Ben Freeman believes that "it is time to release these prisoners unjustly in Saudi Arabia."
The two princes competed
years ago, and Washington witnessed a silent struggle between the current Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the former Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef over the size of their influence in Washington.
The signs of this competition appeared to the public when the Saudi Ministry of Interior - which was headed by Mohammed bin Nayef - contracted in May 2017 with a "pressure company" to serve its interests and goals in Washington, DC, despite the prevailing custom being the contracting of embassies; Being the official representative of countries with "lobby companies", and not bodies within the states.
Ten days after the Saudi Ministry of Interior signed a contract with Snoran Group Policy, the contract - which Al Jazeera had viewed - was registered with the Ministry of Justice as required by US laws, and the contract was for a period of one year, in exchange for the ministry paying $ 5.4 million to the company receiving it In the form of monthly installments, the value of each of 450 thousand dollars, and the contract included provisions for establishing direct communication between the Saudi Ministry of Interior and American politicians.
The Saudi Ministry of Interior chose that company precisely because of the proximity of its senior managers to the American President Donald Trump and his work team. The company attracted months before its contract with the Saudi Interior, Mr. Stephen Jolly, one of the pillars of the Trump campaign to work as its CEO, and a month earlier that also attracted Ajacob Daniels, campaign leader for Trump in Michigan, joins its team of managers.
The Ministry of Interior's contracting with a "pressure company" represented an explicit declaration of competition for influence in American circles, as Muhammad bin Salman established research bodies and a "lobby company" to directly serve his interests in Washington, such as the "Arabia" Foundation, which was supervised by Ali Al-Shihabi ( A close associate of Muhammad bin Salman), before it closed its doors last year, in addition to a "lobby company" called the Saudi-American Public Affairs Committee (Sabrac), which is run by Salman Al-Ansari, who is also close to the Saudi crown prince.
After recording the independent Ministry of Interior contract five weeks ago, on June 21, 2017, the Saudi Crown Prince, Minister of Interior Muhammad bin Nayef, was removed from office, and Muhammad bin Salman escalated the mandate of the Covenant.
Despite all the crises that Saudi Arabia has gone through under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whether by military intervention in Yemen, the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and even the oil price war during the past months that have affected American producers; Prince Muhammad bin Salman has strong support from the White House, and has close ties to President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, according to Ben Freeman.
Bin Freeman concluded his talk to Al-Jazeera Net that "the Saudi regime has spent nearly $ 250 million on lobby and public relations companies in Washington since the September 11 attacks to beautify its image, and it is ironic that a Saudi lobby is used to defeat the last Saudi in Washington."