Israel Matzav

What Israel could learn from the Saudis

The Saudis are starting to push back hard.

Saudi intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan told European diplomats that Riyadh is contemplating a “major shift” away from the US over Washington’s policies on a host of issues, including Syria.

That message reflected the views not just of Prince Bandar, a noted hawk on Middle East issues and outspoken former ambassador to Washington, but of King Abdullah and the rest of the Saudi leadership, diplomatic sources in the Gulf said.

While Saudi Arabia’s frustration with the US was real and has led it to explore alternatives to its 70-year dependence on their strategic alliance, nobody seriously thinks Saudi cooperation with Washington will cease, the sources said.

Michael Doran, a senior fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, who previously served as US deputy assistant secretary of defense and a senior director at the National Security Council, told The Jerusalem Post that the Saudis are upset that Obama is unwilling to take a stronger stance against the Iranian-Syrian alliance.

“The failure to support the Syrian rebels is a big part of the story, but the Saudis also see a general tilt in American policy in favor of Iran and away from the traditional allies of the United States,” said Doran.

Prof. Efraim Inbar, director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (BESA), told the Post that the Saudis are not the only ones bewildered by Obama’s conduct in the Middle East.

“Their exasperation with American weakness is clear.

Their fear of Washington striking a grand bargain with Tehran is evident.

Unfortunately, there is no real alternative to American involvement and the Saudis as well as others have no real other choice but to wait until Obama is gone,” said Inbar.

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Iranian nuclear threat, Saudi King Abdullah

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:24 AM