Khashoggi’s criticism of Trump—calling his agenda for the Middle East “contradictory”—is relatively mild, and yet it touches on a major paradox at the heart of MBS’s plan for cooperation with Trump: inasmuch as the Red Sea Conspiracy requires that America please Russia by various means, and inasmuch as the United States withdrawing troops from Syria would have that effect but also strengthen Iran’s hand, Trump will be granting a major victory to both Russia and its ally Iran if he effectuates MBS’s grand plan for the destruction of Iranian power by changing U.S. policy in Syria.
