Saudi Arabia's No Good, Very Bad Year: Riyadh's royals are having a rough time

Foreign Policy ^ | June 15, 2011 | Simon Henderson

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It's hard to imagine a more disastrous year for Saudi foreign policy. In January, Tunisian President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali fled from riotous mobs to exile in the Saudi port city of Jeddah. Now the new regime in Tunis wants him back to put him on trial. In February, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, a longtime Saudi ally, was forced from office. In the space of days, Washington went from words of support for Mubarak to saying it was time to go. Then in March, after Bahrain looked as if it may concede the principle of a government ruled through the will of the people, Saudi riot-control forces backed by tanks poured across the causeway to the island.

In Riyadh and other Gulf Arab capitals, princes and sheikhs were left wondering how solid U.S. support would be for them. Last month, they got their answer, when President Barack Obama slammed Bahrain for its handling of demonstrations in his major May 19 foreign-policy address on the Middle East. To emphasize the point, when the island kingdom's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, visited Washington this month, his meeting with Obama was reduced to a "drop-by," and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton didn't extend the courtesy of a joint press conference after their meeting.

OPEC... Saudi representative Ali al-Naimi... leading a ploy to increase production quotas in order to ease high oil prices... But Iran led a bloc of OPEC members that disagreed, preferring high revenues. It's not clear who has whom over a barrel -- but the Saudi response is predicted to be a unilateral increase in production. This might help U.S. gas prices, but it means that Saudi Arabia will "go it alone" instead of exhibiting world energy leadership.

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Muslims don't need leaders telling them what Islam is all about - they can open up a copy of the Koran and discover its meaning for themselves. I think the root cause of the recent radicalism is the Koran, combined with increased literacy in Muslim countries, starting around the mid-20th century.

The average Iranian, or Afghan, as a couple examples, do not speak, read or write Arabic. Yes, there are translations of the Koran into Persian and Dari for Afghans, in recent decades. But, those translations & versions of the Koran often differ, and are based on interpretations of the translator(s). So, at least the non-Arabic speaking moslems do heavily rely on what their various mollahs & clerics say, teach & preach. All, in turn, based on interpretations of what is stated in the Koran, in its original Arabic, mind you, Saudi Arabic, form..

But, Mohammad's & his immediate disciples actions do not require interpreting as Historical Facts, provided they are not portrayed in a positive light by most moslems, and not justified in their own revisionist history of Islam. Unfortunately, Islam & Mohammad's, along with his disciples' actions, continue to be portrayed as good, and/or justified by most moslems & their clerics to date.

Islam for many at least in Iran continues to be shoved down their throats, by various means, violently or thru propaganda, or, generally, thru some form of pressure. That is Islam & has always been since its inception. And, we keep feeding it in the West & elsewhere.

Personally, I don't care what the Saudis do in S. Arabia, so long as they keep it strictly within the borders of S. Arabia. And, I do agree with you that Iranian regime should be the priority to be brought down. But, all the signs from the West & the US to do so, so far, have not been promising, for whatever reasons.