U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (L) and U.S. President Barack Obama are greeted upon their arrival on Marine One for a meeting with Saudi King Abdullah at Rawdat al-Khraim (Desert Camp) near Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, March 28, 2014. REUTERS/KEVIN LAMARQUE
Josh Rogin and Eli Lake, Bloomberg: Obama’s Middle East Balancing Act Tilts Toward Iran
As the cold war between Iran and Saudi Arabia heats up, the Barack Obama administration is trying to straddle the fence and not take sides, but its actions tell a different story -- they all seem to favor Tehran.
Following the Saudi government’s announcement Saturday that it had executed 47 prisoners, including a popular Shiite cleric, the U.S. State Department did two things. First, it issued a statement expressing concern that Riyadh’s actions were “exacerbating sectarian tensions.” Then Secretary of State John Kerry called Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, urging him to try to de-escalate the crisis.
Spokesmen for the White House and State Department on Monday insisted that the U.S. was not taking a side, and that Kerry was set to call Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir. But U.S. and Arab diplomats tell us that America's Gulf allies, who feel most threatened by Iran, see things very differently.
WNU Editor: Of the two countries .... for better or worst .... Saudi Arabia is the country that the U.S. must deal with when it comes to energy supplies and national security. This U.S. - Saudi relationship may be on hiatus right now, but I am willing to bet that it will change back to normal when the next President is sworn in .... regardless of who wins. But it is true that the Obama administration has given the impression (by words and by deeds) of reaching out to Iran .... unfortunately .... my gut is telling me that the Iranian leadership does not care .... Khamenei says US faces 'punch in mouth' in upcoming Iran elections (AFP).
6 comments:
I have always hated progressives.
We must be pure they say. We must not ally with a dictator or less than perfect country.
Yet other countries do it all the time and these same progressives are mute.
WNU Editor,
The US support for the Saudi war in Yemen, ( ships for the blockaide, a constant supply of ammo, air tankers, ELINT and AWAC's aircraft, satellite imagery, "shot calling", logistics train, hundreds of serving Military "Advisors", trainers and maintenence crews) put's a lie to the "not picking sides".
Saudi Arabia is no longer the "cornerstone" of US "Energy Security", Canada and the US Oil and Gas industries are,
( and that whole "energy security" Mantra has been utter bs. since the early Cold War, those that have oil and gas, have always had to sell it to those able to buy it, politics and religion be damned),
And arguably, aside from Israel, Saudi Arabia is the greatest source of US National Insecurity.
But the KSA does spend a lot of money on the MSM, buys tons of weapons, funds a lot of Think Tanks and Lobbiests, and buy's lots of US Politicians.
There's been no US favoring of Iran. The US was trying to avoid war.
"It’s Either Iran Nuclear Deal or ‘Some Form of War,’ Obama Warns" --NYT, Aug 5, 2015
Of course the cause of the war would be even more specious than the excuses the US gave for Iraq, "nuclear ambitions" vs. "weapons of mass destruction" but why allow logic to interfere when "great nations" make decisions that avoid (senseless) war.
Don,
The US War threats were hollow, even the Iranians knew that.
The US signed the 5+1 as a face savings measure, and because Russia, China and the EU were going to lift the sanctions with or with out a deal.
I agree that U.S. threats against Iran were hollow.
As I had mentioned years ago in this blog .... you would know that the U.S. was dead-serious in doing something against Iran if (and only if) the following deployments were to occur.
3-4 aircraft carrier strike groups near the Persian Gulf.
a massive Aegis cruiser deployment to shoot down Iranian missiles
B-2s deployed in large numbers to Diego Garcia
F-22s in Kuwait/Saudi Arabia/Qatar
A huge air-tanker fleet deployment to the M.E.
100,000+ U.S. soldiers in the Middle East
Reinforcing the U.S. presence in Afghanistan
But it never happened ... not even close. And once the Iranians figured that out ... which they quickly did .... they went about their merry way.
WNU Editor,
Since the "real men go to Tehran" day's, the Pentagon has gamed out three scenario's.
- strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities,
- strikes on Iran's military, political, civil and energy infrastructure,
- an invasion of Iran.
None of the games end well for the US, and in even the limited goals games, the stated goals were not achieved.
Post a Comment