SLEAZE, bribery, and secret alliances allegedly marked Trump’s Middle East policy in his first term, and set him on the road to an illegal and unwinnable war against Iran in his second.
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SLEAZE → mark → second
The central characters in that sordid set of machinations were his own son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, a few Gulf rulers, and Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu — all working towards a plan to redraw the political map of West Asia.
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all → work → Asia
Iran was the adversary to be contained, and it was on this that they converged: a plan to “blow up Obama’s Iran nuclear deal”.
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they → contain → deal
Billions of dollars were allegedly paid to Kushner in what may be the biggest scandal in recent history — one that best defines the link between money and Trump’s conduct of his Middle East policy, and which has pushed the entire region into an intractable conflict with global consequences.
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which → pay → consequences
A recently published book, Princes and Thieves by investigative journalist Matthew Cole, provides startling details on how billions of dollars were allegedly transferred into accounts — managed by Kushner — by Gulf sheikhdoms, to implement a plan to break Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran and change the “political map of the Middle East”.
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billions → publish → East
The author supports his view of the transactions with details drawn from accounts hacked by a Western intelligence agency, though Kushner has called the allegations fabricated.
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Kushner → support → allegations
According to the author, the transfers began in 2017 and were well underway by the spring of 2018, during Trump’s first term — when Kushner served as the president’s special envoy on the Middle East.
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Kushner → accord → East
While he had very close relations with Israel, he also cultivated strong business and diplomatic connections with willing Gulf sheikhdoms to allegedly pay for influence with the Trump administration.
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he → have → administration
>A recent book details how money and corruption were leveraged to redesign the Middle East.
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money → detail → East
According to the author, “Kushner, UAE ruler Mohamed bin Zayed (MBZ), and Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) of Saudi Arabia, converged at an auspicious moment.
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Kushner → accord → moment
MBS wanted to be crown prince.
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MBS → want → ?
MBZ wanted to blow up Obama’s Iran nuclear deal, and Kushner wanted both to help him force the Palestinians into a deal that Israel would accept”.
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Israel → want → that
The convergence against Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran — formally the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — brought Saudi Arabia and the UAE together on the issue.
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convergence → bring → issue
Agreed on July 14, 2015, between Iran and the P5+1, and endorsed by Security Council Resolution 2231, the deal came into effect in January 2016.
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deal → agree → January
Under it, Iran capped its enrichment at 3.67 per cent, cut its centrifuge numbers and opened its nuclear facilities to IAEA inspection.
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Iran → cap → inspection
In return, nuclear-related sanctions on Iran were lifted on oil exports, banking, and SWIFT access, with frozen assets to be released in stages.
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assets → relate → stages
But Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE had strong reservations.
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Israel → have → reservations
Each opposed the JCPOA for different reasons and with different intensity; the common ground was that the agreement was too narrow and too temporary, its restrictions written to expire under sunset clauses.
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restrictions → oppose → clauses
Israel openly campaigned against it, and the two Gulf states lobbied against it too.
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states → campaign → it
In May 2018, the president withdrew from the JCPOA and reimposed sanctions in phases under a “maximum pressure” campaign.
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president → withdraw → campaign
The move brought the Gulf nations closer to the Trump administration.
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move → bring → administration
The billions alleged to have flowed into Kushner’s accounts appeared to have delivered.
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billions → allege → accounts
The book maintains that early in Trump’s first term, “MBZ and MBS offered to pay for a slush fund dedicated to helping the new administration with foreign policy goals”.
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MBZ → maintain → goals
Both Arab rulers saw this as part of an effort to help Trump win a second presidency.
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Trump → see → presidency
In the same period, Kushner conceived the so-called Abraham Accords aimed at normalisation between Israel and the Arab states.
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Kushner → conceive → Israel
He owned the file.
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He → own → file
No State Department desk, no regional bureau, no ambassador in the chain: a son-in-law with a security clearance and a direct line to the president negotiated directly with the Gulf rulers, according to the book.
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son → negotiate → book
One goal was to sideline the question of a separate Palestinian state.
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goal → sideline → state
The UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan signed.
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UAE → sign → ?
The book also reveals that during that period Kushner helped negotiate a secret warming of diplomatic relations between Israel and the UAE — the arrangement that later became public as the Abraham Accords.
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that → reveal → Accords
Cole writes that “Kushner helped negotiate an agreement by Israel to help defend the UAE against a major Iranian military attack.
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Kushner → write → attack
The UAE needed to cover the cost of that emergency defence, and its government secretly made another transfer to Israel’s Central Bank.
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government → need → Bank
Combined, the three accounts represented a secret foreign policy negotiated by Kushner with the leaders of Israel, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia.
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accounts → combine → Israel
Not only did his position require financial disclosure for ethics regulations, but each year he worked in the White House he had to file both a public and a confidential financial form, the Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Report, known as a 278e disclosure.
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he → require → disclosure
Because he had access to classified government secrets, Kushner was required to disclose any bank account to which he had signatory — or beneficiary — access.”
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he → have → access
But apparently, the president’s son-in-law did not comply.
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law → comply → ?
The writer quotes a source that Kushner “promised MBZ he’d push their agenda with Trump if they participated in a fund.
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they → quote → fund
He wanted normalisation with Israel so that business could take off”.
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business → want → Israel
“The Emiratis and the Saudis do this once a year.
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Emiratis → do → this
A billion or two is nothing for them, and if it gets them what they want, it’s money well spent,” the source told the author.
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source → get → author
…and 3 more, not listed.
The Aporia
