And The New Leader of the Free World Is.Saudi Arabia? Posted By Barry Rubin On May 27, 2011
Since the United States is not leading the anti-Islamist forces in the Middle East and protecting the relatively moderate Arab states, the new leader is.Saudi Arabia. But, you say, isn't Saudi Arabia also Islamist? Well it's as Islamic as you can get without being revolutionary Islamist. Isn't Saudi Arabia profoundly anti-Jewish? Yes, but it mostly just talks about it. Isn't Saudi Arabia anti-democratic? Yes, we'd prefer the United States but President Barack Obama is busy with other things. Obama wants Middle East Muslims to love America. There are only two problems: 1. His policy doesn't work. They don't love America. 2. The Muslims he keeps appealing to are those who are radical and pro-terrorist. For those who are Muslims but don't want to overthrow their neighbors, go to war with Israel as soon as possible, throw out U.S. influence, and transform their countries into something like Iran and Taliban Afghanistan, Obama is a problem. So the Saudis are doing <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/28/world/middleeast/28saudi.html?emc=eta1> what I've been telling the Obama administration to do for 2.5 years: Form an alliance opposing revolutionary Islamism. Of course, the Saudis won't include Israel (at least publicly) and they won't get Europe, but at the moment they're all we've got. This was completely predictable. Some weeks ago, Nawaf Obaid, who speaks for the Saudi government, in an informal and deniable way, of course, voiced <http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/amid-the-arab-spring-a-us-saudi-spli t/2011/05/13/AFMy8Q4G_story.html?hpid=z4> the Saudis' anger and disappointment with a U.S. government that fails to fight against revolutionary Islamism and protect it from Iran. I've been writing about this split for two years and now it has happened. The thing is that the Saudis are right and Obama is wrong. It helped overthrow the Egyptian regime and was ready to help bring down the government in Bahrain. The Saudis have had enough. The Jordanians would do the same if they could, as would Israel. And there are plenty of countries in South America, Central Europe, and Asia that also feel this U.S. government has let them down. Wasn't this the U.S. government that was going to win over the Muslims, make the Arabs love America, and make the United States popular again? Saudi Arabia has plenty of shortcomings. It won't even let women drive! But at least it won't let Tehran and the Muslim Brotherhood get in the region's driver's seat. _____ Article printed from Rubin Reports: http://pajamasmedia.com/barryrubin URL to article: http://pajamasmedia.com/barryrubin/2011/05/27/and-the-new-leader-of-the-free -world-is-saudi-arabia/ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [email protected]. -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [email protected] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [email protected] Unsubscribe: [email protected] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtmlYahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
