A Saudi-US fence around Iran ~ UN and the Arab League join the effort to contain Iran's regional....

The Christian Science Monitor ^ | March 26, 2007 edition | Editors

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Iran sent a belligerent warning last Friday: It seized 15 British sailors and marines in the Persian Gulf. The hostile move wasn't aimed only at London. It came just before anti-Iran moves by the UN Security Council and Sunni Arab nations. The real message? "Don't fence us in."

Tehran's radical Shiite regime faces an unusual partnership of foes opposed to its regional and nuclear ambitions. The United States and Saudi Arabia, either working separately or together, have rallied friends and allies to isolate Iran by adept diplomacy.

On Saturday, for example, the United Nations Security Council voted 15 to 0 to toughen sanctions on Iran for its failure to suspend suspect nuclear activities. The first sanctions were imposed in December. If Iran doesn't suspend uranium enrichment within two months, the UN may apply further pressure, or at least nod to efforts by some nations to divest from Iran.

And this Wednesday, the 22-state Arab League will gather in a rather public display of unity against Iran, hosted by Saudi Arabia's ruler, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz. He has led the diplomatic offensive to roll back Iranian influence among Lebanese, Palestinians, and Shiite Iraqis.

From a larger perspective, the Saudis are trying to curb the influence of radical, violent Islam – a move that should win the Saudi regime more support from Muslims around the world who see it as caretaker of major holy Islamic sites.

The king, worried about Iran's ties to the radical Palestinian group Hamas, was also able to broker a deal this month between

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

fyi

[DB]

"From a larger perspective, the Saudis are trying to curb the influence of radical, violent Islam..."

Wahhabism.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

And this Wednesday, the 22-state Arab League will gather in a rather public display of unity against Iran, hosted by Saudi Arabia's ruler, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

fyi

[livius]

Interesting, but I doubt that the Saudis are trying to "curb violent Islam." They simply don't want to be taken over by Iran and see Iran become the major player in the ME.

I think our only chance of forming "alliances" with these people is based, not on their desire to do good and play nice, but on their mutual fear and hatred of each other. And even that is unpredictable, because every so often they remember that they all hate us even more.

[RightWhale]

Somebody in Pakistan said Pakistan would throw in with Iran; that makes one Pakistani anyway. China is an unknown, but they would have to do something someplace else if they want to play. Syria will try something and get kicked again. Looks like Iran is about to fall since they are essentially alone in the world.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

A real Global Chess Match.....

[SE Mom]

From the piece:

~snip~
"And this Wednesday, the 22-state Arab League will gather in a rather public display of unity against Iran, hosted by Saudi Arabia's ruler, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz."

~snip~

[ClaireSolt]

And Donald Trump says all Condi does is get off planes. She has a regional vision that does not sit well with those who want to split hairs and say we should just fight al Quaeda in Afghanistan. You know, the demidiots.

[SCHROLL]

The good king should announce his country is going to stop exports of gasoline to Iran beginning immediately and ask all other nations to put the squeeze on them as well.

[Brad from Tennessee]

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

[JustTheTruth]

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

I'd say: The enemy of my enemy is my temporary ally.

Friendship has little to do with it; the reality is that self-interest is the name of the game between nations and those who lead them in today's world. And unfortunately, there is nothing in there about what is "right" in an ethical or moral sense.

[Earthdweller]

"And this Wednesday, the 22-state Arab League will gather in a rather public display of unity against Iran, hosted by Saudi Arabia's ruler, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz."

Why is that the dems are too stupid to see this big picture unfolding? Kad...they are idiots! There..I got that off my chest.

[Marine_Uncle]

The mullahs continue to make very bad decisions. They isolated themselves to the extent even the Russians don't want to be their puppet master. The Russians at this point realize they can never take Iran over for it's warm water ports, only use Iran when appropriate against the west in general and attempt to re-balance power in the ME.
But the mullahs use the Russians as well. And the Russians get the short end of the stick, other then getting monies for weapon deliveries. The Russians probably fear oil/gas pipelines built from Iran and going north and east with some percent of control by Russia, could get blown up eventually and they would be out another few billion. Just like is now happening with the reactor deal.
The Chicoms likewise will stay quiet as churchmouses and just hope they can continue to get Iranian oil, and continue selling them weapon systems.
But the Mullahs put the ruskies and chicoms on the spot over and over again. Now like the eraser head, the russkies and chicoms have been put into a corner. They cannot openly support a hostile Iran.

[Valin]

For more on the background of this I'd recommend

Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam
by Gilles Kepel (Author), Anthony F. Roberts (Translator)

http://www.amazon.com/Jihad-Trail-Political-Gilles-Kepel/dp/0674008774

Amazon.com
Gilles Kepel's Jihad is an intense, detailed examination of the militant Islamist movement over the last quarter-century. Kepel divides his book into two parts--"Expansion" and "Decline"--and posits that the September 11, 2001, attacks, rather than demonstrating "strength and irrepressible might," highlighted the "isolation" and "fragmentation" of a "faltering" and probably doomed extremist ideology. Kepel follows Islamism from its theoretical underpinnings in the late 1960s and its rapid expansion into Africa, the Middle East, the Balkans, and Central, South, and Southeast Asia, through the Taliban's ascendancy in Afghanistan and beyond. He explains Islamism's attractions, and outlines its severe shortcomings. With consummate skill, he illuminates the bewilderingly intricate effects global events (oil prices, the fall of Communism) have had on internal politics of individual countries, and vice versa. Kepel, wisely, refuses to prognosticate. Instead, his achievement is in providing--for the determined reader--a deeply authoritative context for the seemingly inexplicable events of the recent past.

[bboop]

Thanks for taking the time to summarize his findings. Very interesting.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks E.