Showing posts with label U.S. interference in Middle East. Show all posts
Showing posts with label U.S. interference in Middle East. Show all posts

Friday, March 28, 2014

Saudi Arabia Isn't America's Friend

Mar 26, 2014
By
Source: Bloomberg View


Comments: The title of this article is misleading. Both the regimes of Arabia and The United States are members of the same team-the team of the NWO (New World Order). Just as the Democrats and Republicans are team mates within the team of NWO-the regimes of different nation states (which sometimes behave like they are hostile towards each other) are also team mates within the NWO team. The NWO play mind games against the public-both domestically within the U.S.-as well as internationally. "Bloomberg"  is obviously one of many mouthpieces of the NWO. With this article it is being an active player in the mind games of The New World Order (a.k.a. The Illuminati). There is some interesting information within the article itself. It is for this reason that I am sharing it in this blog. Here is the article:

"U.S. President Barack Obama is scheduled to meet with Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah tomorrow, and the president's critics have been sounding a warning: By parting with the Saudis on Egypt, Syria and Iran, they say, his administration is endangering a vital alliance. The truth is, the relationship with Saudi Arabia is overdue for a recalibration.

"The U.S. and Saudi Arabia still have common interests -- in fighting terrorism, for example -- and Saudi Arabia's oil wealth means it will hold disproportionate sway in Washington for years to come. But neither Obama nor his critics (nor, for that matter, Saudis themselves) should kid themselves. Saudi Arabia is not a natural ally of the U.S., and probably never has been.

"The current landscape puts in stark relief just how anomalous the relationship is. When the Saudis look around the region, they see rebellions that unseated autocrats, like them, in Tunisia and Egypt. The U.S. generally welcomed these developments. Meanwhile, the one uprising that Saudi's Sunni royalty supports -- in Syria, against Syria's non-Sunni dictator -- is failing, and the Saudis resent the U.S. for not intervening decisively.

"On Iran, the Americans and Saudis stood together when the country's government was led by the pugnacious Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. President Hassan Rouhani's election, however, created an opening for a diplomatic resolution to the dispute over Iran's nuclear program, splitting U.S. and Saudi interests. The U.S. wants the talks to succeed to avoid a war with Iran. The Saudis hope they fail so its Shiite archrival will remain the subject of sanctions if not attacks.

"By complaining that Obama turned his back on Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak after Egyptians rose up against him, Saudi leaders betray both an exaggerated sense of U.S. influence and an unwillingness to consider what democratic reforms they might make to avoid Mubarak's fate. Might they consider, for example, allowing national elections? How about peaceful demonstrations? How about giving women equal rights to men?

"For decades, Saudi rulers have been able to rely on their oil wealth both to pacify their population and smooth their relationship with the U.S. This tool, however, is not what it used to be. Increasing internal demand means the Saudis have less oil to sell abroad. And the U.S., by importing more crude from sources such as Canada and Mexico and exploiting its own shale oil reserves, has reduced its reliance on Saudi oil.

None of this is to argue that the U.S. and Saudi Arabia have nothing in common. It is in U.S. interests for the Saudis to continue supplying oil to U.S. allies that need it, and for the Saudis to use their spare production capacity to keep prices stable. For their part, the Saudis have to sell oil to someone, as oil revenue supports 80 percent of their budget, and keeping prices reasonable discourages investments in shale oil and alternative energy sources.

"The two countries also share a strong interest in combating terrorism, particularly by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the most serious terrorist threat to both. It benefits neither to scale back their close counterterrorism cooperation, which includes U.S. drone operations out of a base in Saudi Arabia.

The U.S.-Saudi relationship is one the region's oldest, and has a storied past. Obama and Abdullah can be expected to celebrate that history at their meeting. The future of the partnership, however, will require a realistic accounting of their mutual and divergent goals.

Link: http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-03-26/saudi-arabia-isn-t-america-s-friend?cmpid=yhoo.

Saturday, January 11, 2014

U.S. could train elite Iraqi forces in Jordan





WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration is considering providing new training to elite Iraqi forces in Jordan as U.S. officials seek ways to help the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki repel an al Qaeda campaign near its western border.

Earlier this week, U.S. officials said the United States was in discussions with Iraq about training its elite forces in a third country, which would allow Washington to provide a modest measure of new support against militants in the absence of a troop deal allowing U.S. soldiers to operate within Iraq.

"There is discussion about this, and Jordan is included in the discussions," a U.S. defense official said.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that a privately run special operations training center near Amman was one of the sites being considered.

Jordan, grappling with the mounting impact of the grinding conflict in neighboring Syria, is one of the United States' closest allies in the Middle East.

It was not immediately clear who exactly would provide the new training to Iraqi forces, but it might include U.S. special forces soldiers or contractors.

U.S. officials have grown increasingly worried about Iraq in recent weeks as al Qaeda has staged a comeback in western Anbar province, where the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, an al Qaeda affiliate, is seeking to set up a Sunni religious state straddling Iraq and Syria.

Two years after the Obama administration pulled all U.S. troops from Iraq, the U.S. response to mounting sectarian tensions and surging violence in Iraq has been limited by reluctance to further empower Maliki, a Shi'ite increasingly at odds with minority Sunnis, and by a widespread desire to ensure U.S. soldiers aren't involved in another Middle Eastern war.

The United States is already sending Hellfire missiles, surveillance aircraft and other gear that Maliki has requested.

But at a time when many U.S. lawmakers see the Iraqi prime minister as an aspiring authoritarian with close ties to Iran, the Obama administration has not yet provided Iraq with the attack helicopters that Maliki has requested.

Some in the U.S. Senate say the United States should not move ahead with plans to sell and lease several dozen Apache helicopters to Iraq without adequate assurances about how the attack aircraft will be used.
Because U.S. soldiers cannot conduct military activities in Iraq without a Status of Forces Agreement, providing new support to Iraqi forces outside of Iraq is one way the Obama administration can try to help Iraq beat back what appears to be a growing militant threat.

The troop agreement the United States negotiated with Maliki's government in 2008 expired at the end of 2011 as U.S. forces withdrew.
(Reporting By Missy Ryan; Editing by Ken Wills)