09-27-2014, 10:15 AM
OBAMA's SAUDI VISIT – HOW AMERICA PLAYS WITH THE IRANIAN REGIME AND SAUDI MONARCHY
Adnan Khan
http://www.khilafah.eu/kmag/article/obam...i-monarchy
The USA, the world’s superpower, has been extremely busy in the first few months of 2014. The US initiated new plans and gave fuel to other plans to protect, maintain and expand America’s array of interests around the world. Whether it’s the upcoming presidential elections in Egypt, the Geneva 2 conference in Switzerland, rapprochement with Iran or the crisis in Ukraine, the US faces a delicate task as it attempts to deal with a number of emerging challenges in the Middle East.
It was in this context the White House announced on Monday February 3rd 2014 that US president Barak Obama will visit Saudi Arabia in late March 2014. This is Obama’s second trip to the country. His only other visit was in June 2009, when he stopped briefly in Saudi Arabia, on the eve of his speech in Cairo. White House spokesmen Jay Carney said at his briefing: “Saudi Arabia is a close partner of the United States, and we have a bilateral relationship that is broad and deep and covers a range of areas, and the president very much looks forward to the visit, where all of those areas will be discussed in his meetings…Whatever differences we may have do not alter the fact that this is a very important and close partnership.”
Most of the media were surprised at this sudden announcement, as Obama would be visiting Saudi within two months. This indicates that it was a sudden decision and has the hallmarks of something urgent. Three issues caused the US administration to organize this urgent meeting and these are Egypt, Syria and US-Iran rapprochement.
SAUDI’S SYRIAN TREACHERY
The uprising in Syria officially reached its 3 year anniversary in March 2014 and despite numerous attempts to derail the uprising of the Ummah of Syria, the US has failed to halt the flames of change in the country. Saudi Arabia has played a key role in diverting, altering and diluting the demand for real change by the Ummah in Syria.
Saudi Arabia has played a key role in the Western strategy of supporting specific groups over others in order to weaken the Islamic resistance against Basher al-Assad. Saudi played the role of financing and delivering arms to specific groups in order to weaken those calling for an independent Islamic state in Syria. Saudi Arabia’s role has been to provide arms to some rebels in order to create a relationship of dependency.
Whilst Saudi Arabia has its own aims of ensuring Iran is not strengthened through the outcome in Syria, both Iran and Saudi are in agreement that no Islamic alternative should emerge. Whilst Iran openly supports and aids the al-Assad regime, Saudi Arabia is strengthening the al-Assad regime by infiltrating and weakening the resistance against him. Prince Turki, the former Saudi intelligence chief and envoy to Washington, said in a recent interview in February 2014 that the mainstream opposition must be strengthened so that it could protect itself from, “these extremists who are coming from all over the place” to impose their own ideologies on Syria. As a result, Saudi has financed the large purchase of infantry weapons, such as Yugoslav-made recoilless guns and the M79 Osa anti-tank weapon, from Croatia via shipments shuttled through Jordan.
Saudi Arabia played a central role in arming and funding the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and the Syrian National Coalition and its military wing the Syrian Military Council (SMC). In addition, Saudi Arabia also helped organize the unification of roughly 50 rebel brigades into “Jaysh al- Islam,” under the leadership of Zahran Alloush, a commander whose father is a cleric based in the kingdom. Saudi Arabia is now the main country financing and arming the rebels.
This strategy has however failed to strengthen a moderate, Western friendly opposition. The FSA has more or less lost all credibility as it failed to govern effectively in areas that were under its control in the North of Syria. Many complained of their incompetence and corruption. The SMC was completely undermined when its headquarters in Northern Syria were raided and taken over by rebel fighters when its leader Salim Idris was in Turkey and has never returned. With the Geneva 2 talks failing in late January 2013, aligning US aims with Saudi money and actions is essential for the US if it’s to stop real change coming to Syria.
BROTHERS IN CRIME
Egypt has played a central role in the Middle East ever since the US emerged as the world’s superpower after WW2. Successive leaders from Nasser, to Sadat to Mubarak all protected US interests by subjugating their own people to a life of misery. For the US, Egypt’s role is to maintain the 1979 normalization treaty with Israel which ended state-to-state war between Israel and Egypt and thus established a permanent presence in the region for the Israelis. The Arab spring however challenged America’s architecture and as a result Washington decided to turn its back on Mubarak but the architecture Mubarak and his predecessors constructed remained untouched.
The army was forced to watch from the sidelines as the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) swept to victory and when Muhammed Morsi confirmed he would be respecting all prior treaties, the US set about strengthening his rule as he confirmed he would protect US interests.
With the economy on the brink of bankruptcy and with regular stand-offs on the streets of Cairo, throughout the rule of Morsi the domestic political scene was never stable and was worsened by the confusion brought about by the Morsi government over decision-making. The US needed domestic political stability in Egypt in order for the country to play a role in the region and Morsi failed at this and made matters worse the longer he remained in office. With the MB unable to protect US interests due to their inability to bring political stability to the country, the US changed the leadership of the country. Once the coup had taken place on 3 July 2013, Obama said: “The Egyptian armed forces should move quickly and responsibly to restore full power to a civilian government as soon as possible.” Obama approved of the coup by not condemning it, he even refused to call the overthrow of a democratic government a coup. Secretary of State John Kerry confirmed the return of the military regime as: “restoring democracy.”
Ever since Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took power, the US set about strengthening his rule. America’s massive financial assistance to the Field Marshal continues despite the technicality that “restoring democracy” occurred through an undemocratic, and very bloody, military coup against a democratically elected government. For the US, the fact that the rule of Field Marshal Sisi is built upon the arrests and detention of thousands of Egyptian children and upon the brutal killings of unarmed protesters is secondary.
Saudi Arabia’s role is to prop up the Sisi government and give it regional legitimacy. In the wake of the ouster of President Muhammed Morsi, Saudi Arabia moved to provide Egypt with $12 billion in financial assistance. Saudi, along with the the Gulf States deplored the fall of Hosni Mubarak in 2011. With the economy of Egypt in freefall from decades of incompetency from pro-US leaders, Egypt will need significant finance to stay afloat and once again it is Saudi Arabia that the US will be relying upon to protect US interests.
DIVIDED IN THEIR ‘UNITY’
The Saudi monarchy has been running wild ever since the US announced its normalization with Iran. As Iran’s ambitions in the region include dominating it and ensuring it remains the power in the region, Saudi Arabia has always viewed Iran as a threat and tensions between the two go back decades. Iran has tried to dominate the Persian Gulf – considered one of the most strategic locations in the world due to its oil and gas reserves. Saudi Arabia views this as a threat to its existence and has attempted to defend itself by supporting, arming and funding militant groups to fight and weaken the Iranian regime. Iran considers the oppression of all Shi’ah in the region an attack on Iran itself and as a result has utilized the large Shi’ah presence in the Eastern provinces of Saudi Arabia (where most of its oil fields are) to interfere in Saudi in order to weaken it. When the Arab spring arrived in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia instantly sent its forces to prop up the Sunni monarchy as it feared Iran would take advantage of the demands of the majority Shi’ah population to destabilize Bahrain which is linked by a causeway to Saudi Arabia.
It came as somewhat of a shock when pictures beamed around the world of Secretary of State John Kerry directly talking with the foreign minister of Iran Mohammad Javad Zarif and agreeing on US-Iran ties. The Wall Street Journal reported at the announcement of Obama’s visit to Saudi Arabia: Arab officials briefed on the coming summit, which was pulled together quickly in recent days, said it would be crucial to aligning American and Saudi policies as political change and sectarian strife continue to sweep the Mideast and North Africa. “This is about a deteriorating relationship” and declining trust, said a senior Arab official in describing the need for the summit. The Wall Street Journal also reported Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal: “What was surprising was that the talks that were going forward were kept from us.” The US needs Saudi Arabia in order to achieve its multitude of interests in the region and shoring up Saudi support is one of the key reasons the US president will be personally visiting Riyadh.
The Saudi monarchy was upset that America is now turning to Iran to achieve its interests in the region. The various anti-US statements by Saudi officials have been due to its astonishment that it no longer is the slave that will execute US interests as it has now chosen Saudi’s arch Persian neighbor, who is now a more attractive asset is subjugating the region. Whilst Saudi Arabia and Iran may have their own regional ambitions and view each other as enemies, they are both united in their slavery to the US. The Saudi monarchy is upset that it has been replaced by the Persian slave.
CONCLUSIONS
The Arab spring challenged the status quo in the Middle East and challenged America’s number one tool – agent rulers. The sudden announcement of Obama’s visit to the region also shows that the US fundamentally achieves its interests in the Middle East through agent rulers who serve the US rather than their own people. Whether it’s the Saudi Monarchy, Jordan’s king, Iraq’s fledging government or Iran’s clerics, all of them compete amongst each other to gain America’s favor and all fall over themselves to strengthen America’s plans. Saudi Arabia has used its historical links to the birth place of Islam to give itself some moral authority, even though in reality it is selective in its actions. Saudi Arabia turned the other way when the Muslims in Myanmar were being massacred, similarly Saudi Arabia did not move against the slaughter of the Ummah in the Central African Republic (CAR) despite possessing the capability to do so. Saudi Arabia like all the Muslim nations, has national interests, not Islamic interests and this is the lens through which it views the world.
What is significant to note is how America is exacerbating the divide between the Shia in Iran and the Salafists in Saudi. Both these regimes are only interested in serving America’s designs of dividing the Ummah along sectarian lines. America courts both regimes whilst ensuring a degree of tension remains between the two so she can manipulate the affairs of the region. What is required for the sincere sons of this Ummah is to realize how America in collusion with the clerics in Iran and the sheikhs in Saudia are fuelling the fitnah of division in the Ummah. Only an Islamic Khilafah built on the Islamic Aqeeda and not on any sectarian or nationalist line can bring true unity and challenge America’s designs in our lands. This is the call that needs to be raised in the Ummah today. This is the only call that can defeat America’s plans in the region.
The Saudi monarchy has for the moment survived the Arab spring. However both Mubarak and Gaddafi for long survived opposition against their rule and were able to hide their treachery, but in the end, it was just a matter of time before the Ummah united together and took their destiny into their own hands.
Adnan Khan
http://www.khilafah.eu/kmag/article/obam...i-monarchy
The USA, the world’s superpower, has been extremely busy in the first few months of 2014. The US initiated new plans and gave fuel to other plans to protect, maintain and expand America’s array of interests around the world. Whether it’s the upcoming presidential elections in Egypt, the Geneva 2 conference in Switzerland, rapprochement with Iran or the crisis in Ukraine, the US faces a delicate task as it attempts to deal with a number of emerging challenges in the Middle East.
It was in this context the White House announced on Monday February 3rd 2014 that US president Barak Obama will visit Saudi Arabia in late March 2014. This is Obama’s second trip to the country. His only other visit was in June 2009, when he stopped briefly in Saudi Arabia, on the eve of his speech in Cairo. White House spokesmen Jay Carney said at his briefing: “Saudi Arabia is a close partner of the United States, and we have a bilateral relationship that is broad and deep and covers a range of areas, and the president very much looks forward to the visit, where all of those areas will be discussed in his meetings…Whatever differences we may have do not alter the fact that this is a very important and close partnership.”
Most of the media were surprised at this sudden announcement, as Obama would be visiting Saudi within two months. This indicates that it was a sudden decision and has the hallmarks of something urgent. Three issues caused the US administration to organize this urgent meeting and these are Egypt, Syria and US-Iran rapprochement.
SAUDI’S SYRIAN TREACHERY
The uprising in Syria officially reached its 3 year anniversary in March 2014 and despite numerous attempts to derail the uprising of the Ummah of Syria, the US has failed to halt the flames of change in the country. Saudi Arabia has played a key role in diverting, altering and diluting the demand for real change by the Ummah in Syria.
Saudi Arabia has played a key role in the Western strategy of supporting specific groups over others in order to weaken the Islamic resistance against Basher al-Assad. Saudi played the role of financing and delivering arms to specific groups in order to weaken those calling for an independent Islamic state in Syria. Saudi Arabia’s role has been to provide arms to some rebels in order to create a relationship of dependency.
Whilst Saudi Arabia has its own aims of ensuring Iran is not strengthened through the outcome in Syria, both Iran and Saudi are in agreement that no Islamic alternative should emerge. Whilst Iran openly supports and aids the al-Assad regime, Saudi Arabia is strengthening the al-Assad regime by infiltrating and weakening the resistance against him. Prince Turki, the former Saudi intelligence chief and envoy to Washington, said in a recent interview in February 2014 that the mainstream opposition must be strengthened so that it could protect itself from, “these extremists who are coming from all over the place” to impose their own ideologies on Syria. As a result, Saudi has financed the large purchase of infantry weapons, such as Yugoslav-made recoilless guns and the M79 Osa anti-tank weapon, from Croatia via shipments shuttled through Jordan.
Saudi Arabia played a central role in arming and funding the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and the Syrian National Coalition and its military wing the Syrian Military Council (SMC). In addition, Saudi Arabia also helped organize the unification of roughly 50 rebel brigades into “Jaysh al- Islam,” under the leadership of Zahran Alloush, a commander whose father is a cleric based in the kingdom. Saudi Arabia is now the main country financing and arming the rebels.
This strategy has however failed to strengthen a moderate, Western friendly opposition. The FSA has more or less lost all credibility as it failed to govern effectively in areas that were under its control in the North of Syria. Many complained of their incompetence and corruption. The SMC was completely undermined when its headquarters in Northern Syria were raided and taken over by rebel fighters when its leader Salim Idris was in Turkey and has never returned. With the Geneva 2 talks failing in late January 2013, aligning US aims with Saudi money and actions is essential for the US if it’s to stop real change coming to Syria.
BROTHERS IN CRIME
Egypt has played a central role in the Middle East ever since the US emerged as the world’s superpower after WW2. Successive leaders from Nasser, to Sadat to Mubarak all protected US interests by subjugating their own people to a life of misery. For the US, Egypt’s role is to maintain the 1979 normalization treaty with Israel which ended state-to-state war between Israel and Egypt and thus established a permanent presence in the region for the Israelis. The Arab spring however challenged America’s architecture and as a result Washington decided to turn its back on Mubarak but the architecture Mubarak and his predecessors constructed remained untouched.
The army was forced to watch from the sidelines as the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) swept to victory and when Muhammed Morsi confirmed he would be respecting all prior treaties, the US set about strengthening his rule as he confirmed he would protect US interests.
With the economy on the brink of bankruptcy and with regular stand-offs on the streets of Cairo, throughout the rule of Morsi the domestic political scene was never stable and was worsened by the confusion brought about by the Morsi government over decision-making. The US needed domestic political stability in Egypt in order for the country to play a role in the region and Morsi failed at this and made matters worse the longer he remained in office. With the MB unable to protect US interests due to their inability to bring political stability to the country, the US changed the leadership of the country. Once the coup had taken place on 3 July 2013, Obama said: “The Egyptian armed forces should move quickly and responsibly to restore full power to a civilian government as soon as possible.” Obama approved of the coup by not condemning it, he even refused to call the overthrow of a democratic government a coup. Secretary of State John Kerry confirmed the return of the military regime as: “restoring democracy.”
Ever since Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took power, the US set about strengthening his rule. America’s massive financial assistance to the Field Marshal continues despite the technicality that “restoring democracy” occurred through an undemocratic, and very bloody, military coup against a democratically elected government. For the US, the fact that the rule of Field Marshal Sisi is built upon the arrests and detention of thousands of Egyptian children and upon the brutal killings of unarmed protesters is secondary.
Saudi Arabia’s role is to prop up the Sisi government and give it regional legitimacy. In the wake of the ouster of President Muhammed Morsi, Saudi Arabia moved to provide Egypt with $12 billion in financial assistance. Saudi, along with the the Gulf States deplored the fall of Hosni Mubarak in 2011. With the economy of Egypt in freefall from decades of incompetency from pro-US leaders, Egypt will need significant finance to stay afloat and once again it is Saudi Arabia that the US will be relying upon to protect US interests.
DIVIDED IN THEIR ‘UNITY’
The Saudi monarchy has been running wild ever since the US announced its normalization with Iran. As Iran’s ambitions in the region include dominating it and ensuring it remains the power in the region, Saudi Arabia has always viewed Iran as a threat and tensions between the two go back decades. Iran has tried to dominate the Persian Gulf – considered one of the most strategic locations in the world due to its oil and gas reserves. Saudi Arabia views this as a threat to its existence and has attempted to defend itself by supporting, arming and funding militant groups to fight and weaken the Iranian regime. Iran considers the oppression of all Shi’ah in the region an attack on Iran itself and as a result has utilized the large Shi’ah presence in the Eastern provinces of Saudi Arabia (where most of its oil fields are) to interfere in Saudi in order to weaken it. When the Arab spring arrived in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia instantly sent its forces to prop up the Sunni monarchy as it feared Iran would take advantage of the demands of the majority Shi’ah population to destabilize Bahrain which is linked by a causeway to Saudi Arabia.
It came as somewhat of a shock when pictures beamed around the world of Secretary of State John Kerry directly talking with the foreign minister of Iran Mohammad Javad Zarif and agreeing on US-Iran ties. The Wall Street Journal reported at the announcement of Obama’s visit to Saudi Arabia: Arab officials briefed on the coming summit, which was pulled together quickly in recent days, said it would be crucial to aligning American and Saudi policies as political change and sectarian strife continue to sweep the Mideast and North Africa. “This is about a deteriorating relationship” and declining trust, said a senior Arab official in describing the need for the summit. The Wall Street Journal also reported Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal: “What was surprising was that the talks that were going forward were kept from us.” The US needs Saudi Arabia in order to achieve its multitude of interests in the region and shoring up Saudi support is one of the key reasons the US president will be personally visiting Riyadh.
The Saudi monarchy was upset that America is now turning to Iran to achieve its interests in the region. The various anti-US statements by Saudi officials have been due to its astonishment that it no longer is the slave that will execute US interests as it has now chosen Saudi’s arch Persian neighbor, who is now a more attractive asset is subjugating the region. Whilst Saudi Arabia and Iran may have their own regional ambitions and view each other as enemies, they are both united in their slavery to the US. The Saudi monarchy is upset that it has been replaced by the Persian slave.
CONCLUSIONS
The Arab spring challenged the status quo in the Middle East and challenged America’s number one tool – agent rulers. The sudden announcement of Obama’s visit to the region also shows that the US fundamentally achieves its interests in the Middle East through agent rulers who serve the US rather than their own people. Whether it’s the Saudi Monarchy, Jordan’s king, Iraq’s fledging government or Iran’s clerics, all of them compete amongst each other to gain America’s favor and all fall over themselves to strengthen America’s plans. Saudi Arabia has used its historical links to the birth place of Islam to give itself some moral authority, even though in reality it is selective in its actions. Saudi Arabia turned the other way when the Muslims in Myanmar were being massacred, similarly Saudi Arabia did not move against the slaughter of the Ummah in the Central African Republic (CAR) despite possessing the capability to do so. Saudi Arabia like all the Muslim nations, has national interests, not Islamic interests and this is the lens through which it views the world.
What is significant to note is how America is exacerbating the divide between the Shia in Iran and the Salafists in Saudi. Both these regimes are only interested in serving America’s designs of dividing the Ummah along sectarian lines. America courts both regimes whilst ensuring a degree of tension remains between the two so she can manipulate the affairs of the region. What is required for the sincere sons of this Ummah is to realize how America in collusion with the clerics in Iran and the sheikhs in Saudia are fuelling the fitnah of division in the Ummah. Only an Islamic Khilafah built on the Islamic Aqeeda and not on any sectarian or nationalist line can bring true unity and challenge America’s designs in our lands. This is the call that needs to be raised in the Ummah today. This is the only call that can defeat America’s plans in the region.
The Saudi monarchy has for the moment survived the Arab spring. However both Mubarak and Gaddafi for long survived opposition against their rule and were able to hide their treachery, but in the end, it was just a matter of time before the Ummah united together and took their destiny into their own hands.