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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsU.S. Moves on Syria, Iran Anger Saudi Arabia
RIYADHThe Obama administration's handling of overtures on Syria and Iran have outraged regional ally Saudi Arabia, which is signaling it wants to do more to boost the power of armed Sunni rebel groups on the ground in Syria as the U.S. pursues diplomacy.
Saudis fear that Syrian President Basher al-Assad will use the time afforded by U.S.- and U.N.-backed diplomacy on Syria "to impose more killing and to torture its people," Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said Thursday night in New York, in a warning that was overshadowed by the attention paid to the weekend's first public contacts in three decades between the presidents of Iran and the U.S.
Accordingly, Saudi Arabia wants "intensification of political, economic and military support to the Syrian opposition
. to change the balance of powers on the ground" in Syria, Prince Saud said in his remarks to the Friends of Syria group, a coalition of Western and Gulf Arab countries and Turkey that supports the Syria opposition against Mr. Assad. The state-run Saudi Press Agency carried a transcript of his remarks.
The Saudi government has had no public comment so far on the groundbreaking phone call Friday between U.S. President Barack Obama, whose country Saudi Arabia sees as the main military protector of its interests, and new Iranian President Hasan Rouhani, whose country Saudi Arabia sees as its main threat.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303643304579104910000148876.html
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Warpy
(110,913 posts)After all, we've sold them plenty of death over the years and trained their people on how to deliver it.
malaise
(267,823 posts)weapons for the Saudis and Israelis. The mendicants are pissed and I am shocked I tell yah.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)randome
(34,845 posts)...understand some of the complexities involved here. You can't simply say, 'Peace to all' without someone else rising up to oppose you.
I agree Saudi Arabia needs to take matters into its own hands instead of letting us meddle but they won't.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]I'm always right. When I'm wrong I admit it.
So then I'm right about being wrong.[/center][/font][hr]
dkf
(37,305 posts)I don't see it.
leveymg
(36,418 posts)Maybe another one is overdue. Our current batch of "frienemies" in the Mideast have done nothing but allow their radicals to repeatedly attack us and have cost us a fortune in upkeep and capital accounts transfers.
We'd be better off if we just declared them supporters of international terrorism and freeze their US holdings as assets of enemy combatants.
dkf
(37,305 posts)Frankly if the report re:Chechen attacks on the Russian Olympics are true, that may go for us as well.
leveymg
(36,418 posts)The Russians are in much better shape today to protect their interests than they were when their southern regions were being carved up in the middle and late 1990s. The U.S. is no longer in a strategic position of unrivaled power where we can so easily restrain the Russians this time, and it no longer appears to be in our interest to help the Saudi paramilitary (al-Qaeda) strengthen and expand any longer.
Perhaps, there's a dawning realization along these lines that's occurring in both places,and more widely around the world?
Guy Whitey Corngood
(26,483 posts)killing people"? What's next The Taliban complaining about the lack of women's rights in another country?
KurtNYC
(14,549 posts)Syria is 3/4s Sunni but Assad and the government is Alawi (Shiite sect). Iran is 92% Shiite.
dkf
(37,305 posts)roamer65
(36,739 posts)An alliance I see coming very soon.
dkf
(37,305 posts)For the Israelis maybe that wouldn't be the worst thing to have a Muslim ally. I wonder if that would work out.
kelliekat44
(7,759 posts)warrant46
(2,205 posts)JI7
(89,182 posts)us
LittleBlue
(10,362 posts)What a farce.
Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)Uncle Joe
(58,112 posts)so that's something to think about.
Thanks for the thread, dkf.
Junkdrawer
(27,993 posts)that ought to get them thinking....