Posted on 12/09/2006 3:18:24 PM PST by NormsRevenge
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia's king warned Saturday that all of the Middle East is threatened by escalating conflicts around the region, from spiraling sectarian violence in Iraq to rising tensions in Lebanon to fighting among Palestinians.
"Our Arab region is surrounded by dangers," King Abdullah said at the opening of a summit for leaders of the oil-rich Arab nations around the Persian Gulf. "It is like a keg of gunpowder waiting for a spark to explode."
Palestinian factions are fighting each other, and Iraq is slipping into "the darkness of strife and mad struggle," a danger that also looms over Lebanon's diverse communities, he said in a speech before the leaders began a closed session.
The two-day meeting of the six Gulf Cooperation Council nations is focusing on how to head off wider strife exploding from those conflicts or the nuclear standoff between a defiant Iran and the West.
The leaders of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman are also expected to discuss a U.S. advisory panel's recommendations on the Iraq war. The bipartisan Iraq Study Group urged the Bush administration to engage Syria and Iran in a diplomatic effort to stabilize Iraq.
Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal warned earlier this week that Iraq "poses a great challenge to the region, its security and its future" and called for "halting all forms of interference in Iraq" — an apparent reference to Syria and Iran.
Each has ties with key factions in Iraq: Iran with Shiite Muslim parties that dominate the U.S.-backed government and have militias blamed for much of the sectarian bloodshed, and Syria with Sunni Arabs, who are the main force in the insurgency. But both Iran and Syria deny supporting violence in Iraq.
Kuwaiti columnist Youssef al-Rashed expressed alarm Saturday that suggestions from the Iraq Study Group could lead to a too rapid withdrawal of U.S. forces, saying that could hurt Persian Gulf nations.
"If the United States is unable to manage the situation shrewdly, any sudden or premature pullout would result in a security vacuum that would affect us all," al-Rashed wrote in the newspaper Al-Anba.
Kuwaitis are nervous that Iraq's Sunni-Shiite bloodshed could spill over to their country, where Shiites make up 30 percent of the people. Similar concerns are shared by Saudi Arabia, which is up to 15 percent Shiite, and Bahrain, a Sunni-ruled island kingdom in the Persian Gulf with a Shiite majority.
Gulf countries also worry about the international standoff between Iran and the West over suspicions the Tehran regime is developing nuclear weapons in violation of treaty commitments and are pressing for sanctions. Iran insists its program is only for generating electricity and vows to continue defying a U.N. demand that it suspend uranium enrichment.
Leaders of the Arab nations around the gulf have publicly focused on safety issues involving Iran's plan to start its first nuclear reactor late next year.
But they are equally worried about a possible military clash pitting Iran against the United States and its ally Israel. The gulf states that are host to U.S. military bases — Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar — fear Iran could retaliate against them.
Iran's top national security official, Ali Larijani, has urged the gulf Arab countries to evict the U.S. bases and join in a regional security pact with his government.
Qatari political analyst Mohammed al-Musfir called on the Arab leaders meeting in Riyadh to take a tougher stance on Iran and abandon the "very mild" statements usually issued at the end of their annual summits.
"They follow a policy of appeasement. ... They have to issue an outright rejection of (Iran's) nuclear armament," he said.
___
Associated Press writer Diana Elias reported from Kuwait City.
Saudi intelligence chief Prince Muqrin bin Abdel Aziz Al Saud delivers the keynote address opening The International Institute for Strategic Studies' regional security conference Friday, Dec. 8, 2006, in Manama, Bahrain. Senior Iraqi, Iranian and U.S. officials are among prominent participants in the three-day 'Manama Dialogue,' which includes discussions on sectarian violence, maritime security and the roles of Europe, Asia and the United States in the Middle East. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)
More like "Head Bedouin."
And if the Middle East is a powder keg, it's because vermin like him have played both ends against the middle for the past half a century.
Saudi Arabi's King Abdullah and Crown Prince Sultan (L) attend the opening ceremony of the Gulf Cooperation Council Summit in Riyadh December 9, 2006. Saudi Arabia called on Gulf Arab leaders meeting in Riyadh on Saturday to set aside their differences to make economic union a reality in the energy-rich region. REUTERS/Stringer (SAUDI ARABIA)
They are all scared to death of a nuclear Iran.
Burn baby, burn.
Live by Allah, get blown up by Allah.
Saudi Arabia has been building the fires next to all the stockpiles of gunpowder for the past thirty years or so, with their funding of madrassas that emphasize Wahhabist interpretations of the Koran, to the exclusion of all else.
Why, of course the royals would never actually go out and engage in this kind of insurrectionist and revolutionary behavior themselves, they leave that for the sons of the minor families of their kingdom. Then the royals may claim they have no control over the behavior of these contrary youths. Surely it must be the Zionist spies that abound that have turned these youths to the dark side.
Zionist spies are easy to identify. Theyt all have the aspect of pigs and monkeys. Just ask any youngster of four or five years old at one of these Wahhabist madrassas.
What kind of "wall" does one get for $12 billion? What kind of fence are the Israeli's building? What kind of fence has been debated in the U.S. legislature.
Of the three barriers, pick two that are bad. Kind of like faster, cheaper, better - pick two.
"If the United States is unable to manage the situation shrewdly, any sudden or premature pullout would result in a security vacuum that would affect us all," al-Rashed wrote in the newspaper Al-Anba.
Ya know, maybe some good will come out of the ISG.
The "spark" is the Ram that is preparing to charge westward, southward and northward (Europe-ward more specifically). Prepare yourselves, Saudis.
I daresay it will be a polonium / beryllium spark.
I thinks this is more Saudi deception. However, if it is true, it is their baby all grown up. When it comes to pass it will be like it was for the Brownshirts in Hitler's Germany, the new Jihadists will overrun the Saudis.
If it burns, you will feel the heat big time. If the flow of oil from the region is disrupted for any significant period of time, the world will be plunged into a depression. The US stock market will crash.
If the Saudi's are so concerned, they could stop funding terrorists.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia's king warned Saturday that all of the Middle East is threatened by escalating conflicts around the region, from spiraling sectarian violence in Iraq to rising tensions in Lebanon to fighting among Palestinians.
"Our Arab region is surrounded by dangers," King Abdullah said at the opening of a summit for leaders of the oil-rich Arab nations around the Persian Gulf. "It is like a keg of gunpowder waiting for a spark to explode."
Palestinian factions are fighting each other, and Iraq is slipping into "the darkness of strife and mad struggle," a danger that also looms over Lebanon's diverse communities, he said in a speech before the leaders began a closed session.
(IMO) The area has not hit rock bottom yet, and until it does the "leaders" will continue to keep running things in the same old way. One of the reasons we went into Iraq was to put and end to the same old way of doing things.
I thinks this is more Saudi deception
?
More like "Robber Chieftain"
?
The region is "surrounded by dangers." The deception is that really, the west is being surrounded by danger emanating from the Islamic regions. They are fighting each other, it is true. But they are united in their war with the infidels.
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