I generally agree with your assessment except you are giving too much emphasis on the cover story, in particular, the arms deal. MBS bought Trump's support for the removal of bin Nayef, attacking Qatar (with Erik Prince's mercenaries based in the UAE), the resignation of Hariri in Lebanon, and the arrest of rival princes, for one simple reason: $20 billion Saudi deal with Blackstone. What people don't understand is that the "Russia story" is not a Russia story -- Russia is a dependent economy getting crushed by low oil prices and sanctions -- it needed Saudi cooperation to raise oil prices as much as, if not more than, the US to lift sanctions. For the operation to work in the States, it needed support from powerful forces WS (Blackstone), Big Oil (ExxonMobil), the Mercers (Bannon) and the DeVoses (Prince). The free hand that MBS has comes directly out of that deal, particularly when they pay $20 to Trump's handler, Schwarzman. Trump got fooled if you believe the cover story -- what matter is Blackstone got paid ($400 just for management fees of Saudi money, not including percent on return).
I generally agree with your assessment except you are giving too much emphasis on the cover story, in particular, the arms deal. MBS bought Trump's support for the removal of bin Nayef, attacking Qatar (with Erik Prince's mercenaries based in the UAE), the resignation of Hariri in Lebanon, and the arrest of rival princes, for one simple reason: $20 billion Saudi deal with Blackstone. What people don't understand is that the "Russia story" is not a Russia story -- Russia is a dependent economy getting crushed by low oil prices and sanctions -- it needed Saudi cooperation to raise oil prices as much as, if not more than, the US to lift sanctions. For the operation to work in the States, it needed support from powerful forces WS (Blackstone), Big Oil (ExxonMobil), the Mercers (Bannon) and the DeVoses (Prince). The free hand that MBS has comes directly out of that deal, particularly when they pay $20 to Trump's handler, Schwarzman. Trump got fooled if you believe the cover story -- what matter is Blackstone got paid ($400 just for management fees of Saudi money, not including percent on return).