Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was interviewed by Fox News Chris Wallace via satellite from Saudi Arabia:

(more…)

President Trump is scheduled to deliver a historic speech in Saudi Arabia during the Arab Islamic American Summit.  The venue is The King Abdulaziz Conference Center and the scheduled time is approximately 9:15am EDT / 4:45pm local.

Update Video Added:

(more…)

Schedule Sunday starts 2:00 am EDT – There is a 7 Hour time difference between the U.S. (EDT) and Saudi Arabia. President Trump’s schedule for Sunday, 5/21/17 – (all times are local /eastern):

♦ 9:00 am / 2:00am EDT – The president participates in a bilateral meeting with the King of Bahrain – The Ritz-Carlton
♦ 9:20am / 2:20am EDT –  The president participates in a bilateral meeting with the Amir of Qatar – The Ritz-Carlton
♦ 9:50am / 2:50am EDT – The president participates in a bilateral meeting with the President of Egypt – The Ritz-Carlton

♦ 11:10am  / 4:10am EDT – The president participates in a United States Gulf Cooperation Council Meeting – The King Abdulaziz Conference Center
♦ 12:45pm / 5:45am EDT – The president participates in a bilateral meeting with the Amir of Kuwait – The Ritz-Carlton
♦ 1:05pm / 6:05am EDT – The president participates in a bilateral meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister of Oman – The Ritz-Carlton
♦ 2:25pm / 7:25am EDT – The president participates in a reception with Heads of State – The King Abdulaziz Conference Center
♦ 3:00pm / 8:00am EDT – The president participates in the Arab Islamic American Summit Luncheon – The King Abdulaziz Conference Center
♦ 4:15pm / 9:15am EDT – The president participates in the Arab Islamic American Summit – President Trump Speech – The King Abdulaziz Conference Center
♦ 7:50pm / 12:50pm EDT – The president participates in the Inauguration of Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology – Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology
♦ 8:25pm / 1:25pm EDT – The President participates in remarks at Tweeps 2017
– The Ritz-Carlton

Livestream Below:

(more…)

The pageantry and scale of the royal reception toward President Trump and the U.S. is reflective of much more than a singular presidential visit to a nation and region of geo-strategic importance.

The word “reset” is frequent amid media reporting of the Saudi trip but few people have followed the recent regional history to thoroughly understand what exactly is being reset.

~ President Donald Trump and Saudi King Salman – Joint Statement.

President Trump is being recognized and respected by the regional Arab coalition for his specific approach and outward worldview which is based on eye-to-eye diplomacy.

Through the contacts, discussions, emissary meetings and individual diplomatic engagements over the past six months, the Arab region members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) -and specifically Saudi Arabia- are overjoyed to find a fresh U.S. perspective based on mutual respect. (more…)

United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir hold a press briefing shortly after President Donald Trump and Saudi King Salman signed a series of agreements, including a military sales deal.

Expansive Transcript to include the media question and answer session is provided.

[United States Office of The President and U.S. Department of State]

Important Reminder – The scope of the economic impact of this ‘bilateral’ trade agreement has additional benefits when you consider within the next 12 months the U.S. Trade Team (Ross, Lighthizer, Mnuchin and T-Rex) will be renegotiating NAFTA, and bilateral trade with China, the European Union and the U.K. 

FOREIGN MINISTER AL-JUBEIR: Are we ready? Okay. Good evening, everybody. I would like to welcome all of you to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It’s a great pleasure and honor for me to welcome my colleague and friend Rex Tillerson on his first visit to Saudi Arabia as Secretary of State. Mr. Secretary, while this may be your first visit as Secretary of State, you have been here many, many, many times over many, many years. You know our country and our region extremely well. And I believe your country is fortunate to have you as Secretary of State during this period. We in the region feel very fortunate having you at the helm of the State Department.

(more…)

The primary elements of the historic arms side of the strategic agreement today is to position Saudi Arabia to enhance its own defense capability.  Over time this will lessen the concern or need of U.S. military forces or deployment.

The United States will manufacture, sell, train and support over $110 billion in U.S. hardware to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (explained below). In return, the Saudi government has committed over $350 billion in additional bilateral trade imports and investments.

[U.S. Department of State] Today, in a significant expansion of the more than seven-decade long security relationship between the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the President and Secretary Tillerson attended a signing ceremony for almost $110 billion worth of defense capabilities to be conveyed via Foreign Military Sales Letters of Offer and Acceptance and a Memorandum of Intent to support Saudi Arabia’s defense needs.

(more…)

The size and scale of the pageantry is directly related to the scope of expressed respect.

Update: Video Added

.

.

A good day simply becomes a great day when you get to see T-Rex and Wilburine dancing with sabers.

(more…)

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir hold a briefing shortly after President Donald Trump and Saudi King Salman signed a series of agreements, including a historic military sales deal.

(more…)

In January of 2015 Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi began a journey of peace by asking the holiest and most influential Islamic Scholars in the Arab world to join him in stepping away from the noise of extremist voices and engaging in long-term introspective review of their Islamic faith.  President al-Sisi called for a religious revolution to focus Islam toward a future of peace.  The engaged Dar al-Iftaa scholarly audience erupted in applause.

President al-Sisi stood up, resolute, spoke of large truths with bold leadership, and took great risk upon himself.  After the speech a coalition of like-minded voices began to grow in number and consequence.   That moment became the pebble dropped in the shoe of the Arab leadership of consequence – the emphasis shifted toward peace.

That influential speech, and more importantly the leadership of all joining member states, including the praise of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia before his untimely death, paved the way forward toward this upcoming weekend.   King Abdullah’s successor, his brother King Salman, is now positioned to put his own footprint in history.

All of the necessary elements, many of them taking years to organize, are aligned in common purpose for this specific moment in time.

More than a dozen heads of state from Arab and Islamic nations have been invited by Saudi Arabia’s King Salman to attend the conference with President Trump including: Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (Egypt), King Abdullah III (Jordan), Muhammad Fuad Masum (Iraq), Mamnoon Hussain (Pakistan) and all six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE).  All are expected to be in attendance.

We are living in one of those rare moments when we are fortunate enough to see the building blocks of historic enterprise being erected while we watch.  The results of these next several days will shape how our children view the landscape of the middle east in all the years to come.

(more…)

Consider this weekly address a preview of the seismic geopolitical shift that is about to become evident in the next several days.

.

Over the past four months the U.S. media have done a horrible disservice to the American electorate by not reporting on the scale and scope of activity undertaken by the Trump administration in their assembly of The Peace Coalition.

(more…)