Today, as is the case with many Thursdays, the offerings from media outlets are pretty boring. Since political blogging is, by and large, a reactive form, that doesn’t provide a lot of grist for the mill.
Why is Thursday so boring?
Today, as is the case with many Thursdays, the offerings from media outlets are pretty boring. Since political blogging is, by and large, a reactive form, that doesn’t provide a lot of grist for the mill.
Why is Thursday so boring?
Bodies to be burred on Friday.
Meant “buried,” but I suppose “burned” would have worked as well.
Thursday is all about getting to Friday.
I was going to point to this as a counter-example, but then realized it was published yesterday.
The U.S. Saudi ‘crackup’ is just another example of the Obama Administration’s well-thought-out, finely tuned foreign policies. However, when all else fails, we can always go down memory lane chirping the mantra about how ‘Detroit is alive and OBL is dead.’ Oh yes, even that has to be altered a bit now, as Detroit has joined OBL in the death spiral of bankruptcy.
For those not paying attention, the Saudi refusal to accept a UN Security Council seat is a big effing deal.
Tasty, agree that the Saudi’s UN reaction is a significant event, especially as they are part of a larger ME coalition, including Israel, Jordan, Egypt, who represents some of the only allies we have in the region.
All of these reactions, though, are part and parcel of a much larger picture emerging, insinuating that maybe Rev. Wright’s now famous phrase ,”The chickens are coming home to roost,” prophetic in illustrating the current back washing of unfulfilled words and hubristic actions of his famous pew-occupier — leading to some feeling thatObama’s credibility is melting.
I don’t think it’s that big a deal. The Saudi have just decided, correctly, that they have more influence outside the Security Council than in it.
When I seek an informed opinion on matters Saudi Arabia I generally turn to John Burgess. Here’s what John says about the “rift” between the KSA and U. S.:
I hadn’t known until I read the Max Fisher piece that the U.S. had built “a secret drone base in Saudi Arabia.” The more things change . . .
I would suggest that the Saudis are beginning to look for a new benefactor. The arms the US is sending as a consolation prize is worthless to them. If the Saudis could protect themselves, they would.
The Russians are the likely choice, but the Chinese may want to get into the world arena.
There is a lot of change happening, and the old assumptions are proving useless. I am not familiar with John Burgess, and he may have a better track record than the other “experts”.
John occasionally posts, in the comments, at OTB. His professional bio:
@sam
What is his track record? Is he more right than wrong? Does he try to paper over when he is wrong? I do not expect somebody to be 100% about everything, but the “experts” have been so wrong about the ME, I am ashamed for them. It would be nice if they had some shame.
John understates his experience somewhat. His father-in-law was the first U. S. diplomatic delegate to the KSA. John was physically present when the Camp David accords were negotiated.
@TastyBits, Burgess is an expert in the sense he rarely, if ever, makes broad claims about Saudi Arabia.
The Russians are the likely choice, but the Chinese may want to get into the world arena.
Why would the Russians upset long-term relations with the Syrians for the Saudis? I’d think the Chinese are a much more likely alliance for the Saudis. But the problem is that the Chinese aren’t likely to be able to militarily defend Saudi Arabia, and even if they send a few divisions over, are they likely to be as ‘respectful’ as the Americans of Saudi sovereignty?
For that matter, could the Russians provide the kind of military protection that the Americans have? At the moment we’re kind of the only game in town for what the Saudis want.
The Saudis have a lot of money, and not much else. It isn’t at all clear to me what they will do if the US alliance completely dissolves. At a guess, they’re doing what they’re doing now in the belief that the current Administration is completely feckless, and will try and position themselves with various powerful members of Congress and hope for a more friendly Administration in 2017. In the meantime the Saudis better crack down on any and all domestic opposition even harder than they have, as it must be clear to them that the US will support any attempt to overthrow their regime after the way we turned out back on Mubarak.
@Icepick
It looks to me like the Saudis are stepin’ out. If they cannot rely upon US protection, a US/Saudi relationship is worthless for them. Also note, the Saudis are a client state of the US. There is no treaty to cause the US to help the Saudis, and any help does not necessarily need to be what the Saudis want.
The Saudis need to be protected from a land invasion, and they need the shipping lanes protected. China is building up its deep water navy and its air force. Protecting the shipping lanes would be a good opportunity for them.
The Pax Americana is waning, and shipping in that part of the world is getting less secure. If (when) India and Pakistan go to war, Saudi Arabia will side with Pakistan.
The Russians can provide protection with Iran and Syria as client states by keeping them on a leash. The Saudis can purchase a lot of military hardware.
My opinion is that this is an inflection point in the US/Saudi relationship.