Can visualize it you can better understand it so weve told you about all the different incidents that have been taking place here in the persian gulf over the last several weeks how volatile this this region right here has become of late its almost like think of it this way its like this area here its like a line of demarcation between 2 countries that hate each others guts they despise each other right so heres saudi arabia on this side of the persian gulf right saudi arabia which needs United States protection here in the gulf which it offers which also needs United States protection here in yemen where its fighting a war right now let me show you the adversaries the other side right here is your wrong as you can see right there which supports the actions in yemen that are at war with saudi arabia and also what can we say about iran well they want dominion of this area of the. Persian gulf and are trying to establish it with its navy so both iran and saudi arabia right you have iran and saudi arabia fighting for gemini in this region they both want to say we are the boss you know we are were controlling this situation but something something happened last year something that began to alter this a little bit let me show you another map so we can capture what were talking about here bring that in if you can. All right here it is its these 2 dots essentially right here see these 2 locations that are not far from that last september of last year there was a bold attack i mean they hit them hard these are the famous aramco oil fields in saudi arabia one of them are kurds right here this is called an ill try pronouncing it but its a bouquet ok right here in this region and the other one occurred here in the region known as coup rise those are 2 big giant Major Oil Fields they knocked out Oil Production for more than 2 weeks shut him down and there is reason to suspect that you know who was behind it iraq iran behind the attack so what happened saudi arabia turns to the United States after this incident and they say please help us United States so the United States sent them several batteries of Patriot Missiles and 2 jet fighter squadrons to defend these particular oil fields so guess what happened within the past week the United States says to saudi arabia sorry charlie were going to take those Patriot Missiles and the fighter squadrons back youre on your own because the saudis were Still Producing and shipping out too much oil causing the price of u. S. Crude to tank and all the businesses here were complaining to the white house the white house picks up the phone they threaten saudi arabia essentially telling them look you either stop producing were going to lose the protection that were given you and. Then the white house did it wasnt just a threat President Trump told the protection so now guess what saudi arabia does guess what theyve just done they just announce that theyre going to reduce their output of oil again by another 1000000 barrels a day right so. Its actually as i lay out the scenario for you you have to ask yourself who is the winner in all of this and whos the loser well the winner in all of this middle east experts is iran interestingly enough while theyre also saying that for the 1st time in a long time theyre seeing the saudi veneer if you will showing signs of cracking let me put up another sign that kind of shows you what were talking about these are the signs that the saudis are hurting right. Boil demand down right nobody wants or oil because of covert 19 thats tough for a country thats basically a one trick pony economy right theyre forced to cut their production they say that they will not pay for their own defense really. And iran is not letting up and now we have Something Else we have learned that its going to begin to tax its own people as we see here in the bottom of the kingdom is actually increasing its that its a value added tax which is what they call it there we dont have it here its a tax on consumers and businesses by a whopping 15 percent. Thats a situation something we havent seen in a while this is friction this is pain where there usually isnt any now how does this change that middle east dynamic thats were going to drill down on right here on the news of rick sanchez where we believe its time to do news again. Here we go with a list of the questions that we think well be asking them are after watching arse today is one of the worlds richest countries hurting now and how much was there really a technical error leading to the dismissal of the Michael Flynn case what are the u. S. And canada teaming up to mine from the moon. Dont know us. Lets get started though with this curious case. For decades now i dont have to tell you. That saudi arabia has flaws that its world its worth on the world stage often times to the point of seeming almost repugnant with the exception of iran countries big and small. Treated saudi arabia like the us whatever you want you get whatever your wat it but covert magazine and circumstances have seemed to suddenly change that for the 1st time in like 4050 years weve expanded coverage on this story and were going to give them with our to correspondent john hardy. Saudi arabia like the rest of the world has been struggling with the coronavirus pandemic the kingdom of 34000000 people has more than 42000 confirmed cases and close to 300 deaths anough to hit the economy there hard as well so much so riyadh is planning on tripling its vats the value added tax on basic goods from 5 percent to 15 percent starting july 1st while also suspending the cost of living allowance to its citizens starting june 1st saudi arabia instituted the back 2 years ago as part of an overall plan to cut its reliance on the worlds crude oil market the cost of living allowance of 1000. 00 reales or about 270. 00 per month to state employees starting in 2018 to help offset be increased costs of the valley and a rise in the price of petrol now with revenues falling because of the corona virus pandemic the kingdom is looking to recoup the money lost the countrys finance minister Mohammad Dunn said in a statement the measures are aimed at helping put public finances in a position to support the economy as it emerges from lockdown adding quote these measures are painful but necessary to maintain financial and economic stability over the medium to long term and overcome the unprecedented Coronavirus Crisis with the least damage possible the question is. How much damage these measures will have to the most drastic action taken yet by a major golf will produce or some spoil prices plunged more than half in march the International Monetary fund has projected that all 6 Energy Producing gulf states in the Gulf Cooperation Council saudi arabia kuwait bahrain cutter United Arab Emirates and oman will be an economic recession this year and as the g. C. C. States grapple with the Financial Outlook post pandemic saudi arabia is also planning to cut its Oil Production by 1000000. 00 barrels starting june 1st to reportedly further help support the Global Oil Markets coate and the u. A. E. Also planned additional cuts meantime the United States is removing 2 Patriot Missile batteries that had been guarding Saudi Oil Fields from iranian attacks and what was reportedly the fall out from the dispute over the Saudi Oil Price War with russia asked about the removal of the patriot batteries President Trump said this last week i dont want to talk about it but were doing some things were making a lot of moves in the middle east and elsewhere were doing a lot of things all over the world militarily weve been taken advantage of all over the world our military and. In this instance where and this is nothing to do with saudi arabia this has to do with other countries frankly much more u. S. Secretary of state my palm peo said the Patriot Missile battery which all did not signal any decreasing support for saudi arabia nor was it related to the ongoing oil dispute between saudi arabia and russia pompei 0 said the u. S. Still considers iran a threat it will likely be a topic of discussion when secretary pompei o meets with israeli officials this week in jerusalem where hes also expected to discuss Israels West Bank anik sation plans and chinas control of israels haifa port for the news with Rick Sanchez John hardy. So what are you doing all youve got is all suddenly nobody watches joining us now are 2. Guest to discuss this topic of former newquay m. P. George galloway and their column as to noted professor Richard Wolffe professor im going to start with you what do you make of this sticky wicket that suddenly the saudi arabians of find themselves as well the 1st thing id say is that anybody who continues to believe in as secretary of state palmdale really needs to clean their ears and reopen their eyes to understand you had it right rick this isnt a very important break in the relationship between the United States and saudi arabia they used to Work Together pretty well pretty consistently to make a lot of money for Oil Companies by moving the price up or down as needed now theyve had over flowing out of the United States in the leadership of mr trump wants to make sure and among the people doing the oil fracking and in the oil business in the middle of our country from china in the north to texas in those and to do that in ca to get the price up and to get the price up the biggest producer of oil in the world is saudi arabia weve got a cold virus that worsens that simple law of economics to supply so far down that the price of oil goes up that is 100. 00 people in the midwest the packers want and thats what the Oil Producers one of fact little hurt all along with our heating oil and our gasoline and the fertilizer producers will use the oil that comes later thats after the election the immediate job is what it is and its audis have to go along or else. In exactly the way you summarize thats interesting and im thinking george i wonder. Are the iranians smart enough to to know this was coming and to kind of almost. Get a malka vague. In fashions whole thing up as some are charging. Me. No i think they just sit back and watch the special relationship between the u. S. And saudi arabia begin to see it and whats happening. Professor wolf just said the special relationship doesnt look so special now the trumpet ministration has on ish saudi arabia quite severely here this is not just a token withdrawal its sending a big message to the world. For flooding the market with oil trying to destroy the oil and fracking oil industry in the United States and severely damaging the interests of the u. S. And multinational Oil Companies so your my c saudi arabia was a trifle im grateful in doing that because the United States on the right the very existence of saudi arabia and president was very blunt about last year when he said publicly. The royal. Would he didnt put it that way wouldnt last 2 weeks of the american underwriting and that was brutal but true so i dont think iran has. But iran is clearly a beneficiary of that. Just discovered the rake still plenty of us hardware and the persian gulf the biggest u. S. Military base in the whole world is next door to saudi arabia qatar and as weve discussed before the persian gulf is truck block with American Naval hardware let me ask you economically speaking lets look at the long range picture here i imagine a saudis are saying eventually this whole thing is going to be over everyones going to want our oil again. And were going to be top dog are they smart are they right or wrong if theyre thinking that way. Well i think if you have probably carefully weighing the pros and cons of what might happen since none of us really know let me add another caution production by a 1000000 barrels is not going to bring the price of oil because the problem is much bigger than that there would have to be much larger cuts bulge in saudi arabia and in the other Oil Producing countries who are not at all in a position to do that. Not brush or not and so on and so i dont see if youre going to see more maneuvering as each side tries to give love the least in order to get the most and saudi arabia is going to have that kind of thing then were seeing now if thats going to be the way to fix this problem and they are going to resist because its shaking up their own society its a really important story im so glad we had a chance to discuss it with with you guys i appreciate your time to both of you thank you very much theres still a lot more ahead this is that is the rick sanchez were so glad youre watching our special coverage of the be right back. Join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and ill be speaking to guest of the world of politics or business im showbusiness ill see that. You guys remember space force well now President Trump has another plan for space this one is really if you just part of the pot out there. Well out there you know environmentalists often get angry in their opposition to things like drilling and strip mining and sensitive areas well how about the moon how about mining the moon is that sort of enough for you perhaps some people are saying well why would we go there well maybe its a defensive plan as in you know the u. S. Defense but then you ask against whom right there are suggestions though you should know that there are still nazis hiding out there on the moon but then again thats just a movie i think the white house knows that. Either way here with more on this new play. It serious by the way is the precious we. Might need the moon for materials is something on the white house agenda in the making the u. S. Is reportedly drafting an International Agreement called the artemis accord the main purpose of the pact is related to lunar mining proposing safety zones which would separate a countrys moon base from others this would ignite the groundwork for allowing ownership of mind resources the artemis a court would also bypass the United Nations treaty process according to an anonymous source familiar with the draft according to the source this isnt some territorial claim the idea is if you are going to be coming near someones operations and theyve declared safety zones around it then you need to reach out to them in advance consult and figure out how you can do that safely for everyone there have been conspiracy theories floating around the far side of the moon already houses a secret base some say its not seas while others believe its aliens the movie iron sky depicts a theory of nazis inhabiting the moon with the hopes of taking over earth for these guys anyway now its a case from the moon. The outer space treaty of 1967 in which the us is a member prohibits military activity on places like the moon and also bans asturian of weapons of mass destruction the treaty does allow for peaceful exploration and use of space well the us has not yet share the draft with ally countries according to a media reports the us will not be sharing it with russia the report quotes Anonymous Sources saying the pentagon increasingly views moscow as hostile for making threatening satellite maneuvers toward u. S. Spy satellites in earth orbit but raf is reportedly named after nasa is new Artemis Lunar Exploration Program the goal is to get astronaut back on the moon by 2024 reporting for the news with Rick Sanchez Natasha sweet artie. I want to show you something take a look at this image. That you see behind that truck right there is the white house right and then theres that truck and about 0300 other trucks on constitution avenue there are independent truckers who are here for a protest and now youre about to see my colleague Michele Greenstein whos got this story covered for us michelle take it away. Look rick dont let brokers kill the Trucking Industry keep brokers accountable for not paying Truck Drivers these are just some of the signs that im seeing here on constitution avenue behind me in front of me all along this street are over 100 trucks and truckers from all across the nation have gathered here in the capital with a very simple message they say theyre being charge such High Commission rates by freight brokers that some of them are actually operating at a loss they say some of the smaller trucking businesses are actually losing money while transporting essential goods during the coded 1000. 00 crisis and that some of them have already gone out of business now with these truckers want is for the trouble ministration to open an investigation into the fray procuress an investigation under the sherman antitrust act which says that corporations can collude with one another to do price fixing and the main thing they want rick is transparency take a listen to the order to investigate these Brokerage Companies are under the safe food habits. And have. Sort of federal regulations for non