http://canadiandimension.com/articles/2007/02/22/926/
Saudi-Russian nuclear/satellite pact a reminder of other rifts in the Middle East(Jonathon Manthorpe) Vancouver Sun Thursday, February 22, 2007 Almost drowned in the torrents of speculation in the past few days about Washington’s intentions towards Iran and its nuclear development program was a brief story about an agreement between Moscow and Saudi Arabia. Russian President Vladimir Putin, we are told, sealed a deal with King Abdullah last week by which Moscow will provide Saudi Arabia with six military surveillance satellites and help with the development of a nuclear program. The deal would make Saudi Arabia the first Middle East country beyond Israel with the capability to spy on its neighbours from space and the nuclear development program, though of course only for “peaceful purposes,” carries the strong suggestion that Riyadh no longer trusts Washington to be the unswerving defender of its interests. Saudi Arabia appears to be taking the first steps down the path — already travelled by Israel and being tested by Iran — of acquiring the ability to make nuclear weapons. This move is an important reminder that the fracture points in the Middle East are not always where they are portrayed in the West. The picture painted in Europe and North America usually highlights regional confrontations with Israel and the United States and fails to give enough perspective to the ethnic and religious rifts among Middle Eastern countries. And certainly the rhetoric that pours out of the mouth of Iran’s seriously sinister President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tends to concentrate on Washington and Israel. It should always be remembered, though, that Ahmadinejad is merely a dog hired to bark by Iran’s true rulers, the ayatollahs of the all-powerful Guardians Council, and that he can be cuffed into the kennel any time his style ceases to suit their purposes. But Ahmadinejad was at it again on Wednesday as the International Atomic Energy Authority prepared to report to the United Nations Security Council that Iran has not, as ordered by the international body 60 days ago, shut down its enrichment of nuclear material. Tehran insists it is within its rights to enrich uranium by five per cent and thus make fuel for nuclear power reactors, and that it has no intention to create bomb material. “The enemy is making a big mistake if it thinks it can thwart the will of the Iranian nation to achieve the peaceful use of nuclear technology,” Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying in the official media. “The enemy” of Iran is a wider circle than just the U.S. and Israel. As ethnic Persians and Shia Muslims in a region dominated by Sunni Muslim ethnic Arabs, the Iranians have potential enemies on all sides. That is especially true of Saudi Arabia since 1979 when the fundamentalist Muslim ayatollahs came to power in Tehran and created a revolutionary Islamic state. This was and is a direct challenge to Sunni Saudi Arabia’s historic assumption that it is the eternal heartland of Islam and the natural leader of Middle Eastern nations. Iran is despised and feared in the palaces of the Saudi Arabian monarchy. First there is the Arab-Persian ethnic divide, but the House of Saud has for many decades allowed radical Wahabbist religious leaders to dominate the style of Sunni Islam. At best, Wahabbists think Shia Muslims are irredeemable heretics. At worst the wilder Wahabbists believe the creation of the Shia sect is an ancient Jewish conspiracy to divide Islam. But when the multitude of princes of the House of Saud look beyond their borders these days they see a Middle East and Persian Gulf increasingly dominated by Iran and an Iran that is rushing to acquire nuclear facilities. The catastrophic American-led invasion of Iraq has given power to that country’s southern Shia majority and potentially created an ally for Tehran right on the border of Saudi Arabia. And last summer, Iran’s surrogates in Lebanon, the Hezbollah militias, fought Israel to a standstill and acquired great stature for themselves and their Tehran mentors in the Middle East. No wonder Russia’s Putin found a market last week for his country’s nuclear know-how in Saudi Arabia. The irony is that part of the attraction of Russian nuclear technology is the steadfast way Moscow has continued building the Bushehr nuclear reactor for Iran despite the international clamour for Tehran’s isolation. Moscow, it seems, can be trusted to stay firm. [EMAIL PROTECTED] +++ ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Great things are happening at Yahoo! Groups. 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