The king of Saudi Arabia is dead at the age of 90 today and there’s been lots of conversation about his legacy today. But who is the new king set to replace him? Given he’s known as the ‘war prince’ what does this mean for the future prospects of stability in the Middle East? Glenn had his researcher join the show to discuss.
Below is a rough transcript of this segment:
GLENN: So we brought Jason in. He's one of our researchers. Jason, what did you do in the military.
JASON: I was military intelligence, both counterintelligence and analysis.
GLENN: So -- so here's what -- here's what Jason said. He's on our research team. And he kind of poked his head in during the break when we said, what do we know about the new Saudi -- the new Saudi king, on replacement, the prince? What do we know?
JASON: We have been looking at him for a little bit. He's basically considered the war prince. He --
GLENN: Hang on there. That sounds good, doesn't it? That's a positive move. We got the war prince in.
STU: I'd be very upset if he was known as the peace prince.
GLENN: That would be terrible.
JASON: So he and two other of the next successors to the throne are all pretty militant.
GLENN: How do you mean militant? Islamic militant.
JASON: No, not Islamic militant. They've been pushing for solidarity and attacking radicalism --
PAT: That's good, right.
GLENN: Notice he did not say yes.
JASON: It's hard to say when you're talking about the Saudis and which way they'll take it.
PAT: Yeah.
JASON: One day they that I they're going to attack ISIS and behind the scenes --
GLENN: They're attacking us.
JASON: On the other end.
GLENN: So the war prince is the guy coming in. What does it mean that Yemen is collapsed today? Are these two related at all and what does it mean?
JASON: Very interesting to see how aggressive he'll get with that because Yemen has basically been toppled by Houthi rebels and the Houthis are a branch of Shiites -- there's not 12ers. I think they're considered 5ers, actually, so there's close to Sunis than say Iran is.
GLENN: Okay.
JASON: But Iran has been rumored to and they most probably are supporting.
PAT: So they're waiting for the 5th Imam not the 12th Imam squares after that they don't recognize.
GLENN: So bizarre, so bizarre.
PAT: So is he in a well also?
GLENN: No, just the 12.
PAT: Just the 12th, all right.
GLENN: Are you mocking?
PAT: Not at all.
GLENN: All right.
PAT: Not at all.
GLENN: Because we know what whens when you mock. You dare mock the fifth, the seventh, the ninth, the first, or the 12th. Dangerous stuff.
JASON: It's not uncalled for at all for a more militant Saudi king to see a Houthi government that's backed byane in Yemen -- by Iran in Yemen for him to see it as a clear and present danger and want to do something about it.
PAT: How long have they been talking about anotheris? I lost a toothi and I put it under you are my pillow.
STU: Take a sand here, Jason. Are they youth or not. Don't say they're Houthi. Are they youth or are they not Houthi.
JASON: They are Houthi.
(overlapping speakers).
GLENN: Let me ask you this, Jason. Does this -- does this accelerate the instability and chaos in the Middle East? Or is it business as usual?
JASON: It definitely has the potential to escalate it depending on how he handles -- if he's not as reserved as -- the former king is, it definitely has the potential to.
GLENN: To destabilize.
JASON: Yes.
GLENN: So let me switch gears. I sent you a piece of information yesterday. I saw -- I'm at the Billy Joel concert and I'm sending Jason a research something. I said, could you verify this for me. It's a missile that, quote, has just been found on a platform. Almost like an Atlas or ICBM rocket just been found by satellites. In the deserts just outside of Torhan. And the president just said, oh, they've halted you a that stuff. They're not -- all that stuff. They're not doing any of that. And now there's this missile sitting on a launchpad. And A, did you verify that that picture is real? Do you know yet?
JASON: Looks real.
GLENN: Okay. And what does that mean? Where did this come from? Did that come from the Israelis? The Israelites or the Jews?
JASON: So that was released via an Israeli news station, like Channel 2 News I believe it was. It definitely appears to be real. I highly doubt that they stumbled on that by themselves.
GLENN: So is this -- is there a connection at all to the president is not going to meet with -- and this is really bad. The president is not going to meet with Benjamin Netanyahu. I guess there's some leaked information back and forth that we're all pissed about and they're pissed about. Boehner is having him up to speak to the Congress. He's getting obviously the snub from the president. Is this going to play -- is this a thumb in the eye, this -- you know, released picture now of -- showing the president doesn't have a clue or is lying to the American people?
JASON: I would say no question about it. I mean, the president came out in the State of the Union and said their nuclear program had halted since they signed the agreement. It was no longer active, you know. The day after -- you know, Boehner invite Netanyahu to come talk to Congress, and then a day after that -- and specifically that he invited them come and talk about the danger that Iran posed. A day after that he made this invitation, this video of this ICBM, 100-foot ICBM gets leaked to Israeli news. I guarantee you that's going to be one of the main points of discussion that he brings up.
GLENN: With us last thing. Let me change gears here. What's our next special. Is it on the NSA and spying, the history of spying? Squares that's right.
GLENN: That's next month? Squares I believe it's February the 10th-ish.
GLENN: Jason is a brilliant guy. Been with me a long time. But we decided to do a series of specials called the roots and we just did one on Russia and I wanted to do one on the history of spying because you know, everything -- there's going to be no secrets here soon. But I'm going up to New York and I have never heard of this. And you know me, I love history and I love New York history. Where is the place you're taking me to do part of this special next week?
JASON: The Black Chamber.
GLENN: Listen to this. Tell the story quickly.
JASON: So there was a really brilliant man. His name is Herbert Yardley. He was recruited back in -- when the you know entered World War I. He went and broke most of the German codes during that time. Brilliant, brilliant man. Came back to the states after the war was over and then as soon as the war was over, he should have been shut down but he wasn't. Instead, they made a deal under the table with the state department to keep his program alive. You would think that you know, just hearing about a -- you know, the -- you know, the NSA spying in on their own citizens started now around the Edward Snowden times, when all actuality, it started back in 1999 with this guy named Yardley.
GLENN: Woodrow Wilson. And this is a townhouse. The Black Chamber?
JASON: I think today it's being used as a townhouse, an apartment building. You'd never know what it was just by looking at it.
GLENN: what it was is all of the messages, Western Union, and everything, correct me if I'm wrong, Western Union and everything, it all came in to that place and they were reading all traffic. 1919. Nothing has changed.
PAT: It's amazing.
GLENN: Nothing has changed. The Progressives do what the Progressives do. Over and over again. Thanks, Jason. I appreciate it.
Featured image courtesy of the AP.