F. William ENGDAHL: Saudis' Unprecedented Break with Washington over Egypt!

One of the least commented aspects of ousting Egypt's Morsi is the defiant act of the Saudi Royal House in backing the ouster of the Brotherhood and supporting the military restoration. The Saudi move is unprecedented in its open defiance of White House declared backing for the Muslim Brotherhood. The implications of the split are huge. Twilight in the desert? Since the time in 1945 on his return from the fateful Yalta Conference, that US President Roosevelt met Saudi King Ibn Saud and won exclusive rights for US Rockefeller group oil companies to Saudi Arabia's vast oil wealth, the relationship between Saudi Arabia's vast oil wealth, the relationship between Saudi and US foreign policy has been one of almost satrapy status for the Saudis. Following the Kissinger orchestrated 1973 oil shock in which OPEC raised its price by some 400%, Washington extracted a pledge from the Saudis that they would insure that OPEC sold its oil only in dollars, thereby ensuring
the continued dominance of the US dollar as world reserve currency. In return, Washington agreed to sell US arms including training the Saudi Air Force. And in 2010 just as Washington launched its Arab Spring democracy offensive in Tunisia, Egypt and across the Islamic arc of crisis, the Obama Administration announced the largest arms deal in US history. The US agreed to sell the Saudis 84 F-25s new and upgrade another 70 as part of a $46 billion deal, the biggest arms deal in US history, as it prepared to isolate Iran. As we reported in an earlier article, before the Egyptian military coup, the Saudis had been given secret assurance to Defense Minister and Chief of the Army, General Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, that the Saudis along with other conservative Gulf oil states including Kuweit and UAE would guarantee financial support should the Obama Administration cut the $1 billion annual aid to Egypt's military in retaliation for ousting their man, Morsi. On July 17, the newly sworn
in Egyptian transitional government confirmed that it has received $6 billion in grants, loans and fuel from Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Saudi Arabia approved $4 billion in aid to Egypt and the UAE. Saudi Arabia approved $4 billion in aid to Egypt and the UAE has offered $2 billion in desperately needed support for the economy. The Saudi funds comprise a $1.5 billion central bank deposit, $1.5 billion loan in the form of an interest free deposit with Egypt's central bank. The news is a double slap in the face to Washington who had insisted that Morsi's government buckle under to harsh IMF conditionalities as precondition for financial help. Qatar reacts dramatically: Conspicuously, one Gulf energy rich state absent from the aid is Qatar whose Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani had poured more than $6 billion in Egypt since the revolution two and a half years ago and perhaps another $7 billion to bankroll Islamists in Libya, Syria and Gaza!