Helena Cobban makes a notable observation:
Yemen, Jordan, Algeria, and other Arab countries have also been seeing some significant popular unrest... However, one other player in the Middle East is currently notable because it is "the dog that isn't barking" (pardon the metaphor, which is derived from Sherlock Holmes.) This is Saudi Arabia, which throughout these past 41 years-- and most particularly since the killing (assassination?) of King Faisal in 1975-- has been a central bulwark of U.S. policy both within the Middle East and far beyond.
In Lebanon, it was the Saudi monarch's stalwart support of Saad Hariri, and his equally stalwart opposition to the government in Damascus, that sustained (financially and in other ways) the whole anti-Syria, anti-Hizbullah, and "March 14" phenomenon from 2004 until the Doha summit in 2008. And this time around, when Hariri desperately sought the support of King Abdullah in New York, instead of giving him what he sought, Abdullah checked out of playing any continuing active role in the negotiations over Lebanon. So when I say Saudi Arabia is the "dog that isn't barking" this is not a comment on the absence of popular protest in Saudi Arabia (which may or may not be happening; but it isn't being reported at this point.) It's a comment on the fact that Saudi diplomacy is playing no discernible role these days in trying to prop up the pro-U.S. order of which it has for so long been a key pillar.
One thing is certain, should the US-backed Mubarak regime fall, Israel will not be able to count on a US-led attack against Iran. Saudi Arabia and Egypt both play a pivotal role in that anti-Iran coalition. As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls.
“Saudi diplomacy is playing no discernible role these days in trying to prop up the pro-U.S. order of which it has for so long been a key pillar.”
(But Israel is America’s only ally in the Middle East.)
But Israel is America’s only ally in the Middle East.
that is how it now appears. unless there is some backyard plan for US/SA to stay out of it and let the egyptian regime fall. unless there’s some payback going on we don’t know about. unless this is somebodies way of getting around congress.
i don’t know what to think but right now, no news (from saudi arabia) seems like good news to me.
hey roha, helena’s got a killer post up about the muslim brotherhood. in it she mentions
it appears the plan for a number of years been to prop up israel, at the expense of all our other opportunities for alliances there.
I’m noticing helena’s link is not opening. here it is again. her whole post is really good.
Yemen is heating up, and SA can’t afford to ignore Yemen.
hmm, yemen is a country i know less about. i don’t know how to respond wrt how it relates to SA. i imagine helena would know…
Heh – look at today’s home page at Arab News: all about the flooding in Jeddah. The Egyptian “protests” have equal billing with the snowstorm in NY
omg, you’re right. how bizarre plus the challenger 25 years later (cape canaveral). strange.