Rivalry: Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran vye for influence in the Middle East (Data: World Bank, Global Firepower, CIA World Factbook)
The lifting of sanctions on Iran as a result of its nuclear deal with world powers will be a harmful development if it uses the extra money to fund "nefarious activities", Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Reuters on Tuesday.
He said in an interview, the first direct Saudi comment on the lifting of sanctions on its bitterest regional rival, that Saudi Arabia would never negotiate on "our faith and our security". On an international level, the continued engagement by the United States was the key to maintaining stability.
Saudi Arabia has in public always welcomed Iran's nuclear deal on the condition that it includes a tough inspections regime and that sanctions could be quickly reinstated if Tehran broke the rules.
Read more ....
News And Analysis On The Iran - Saudi Arabia Conflict
Saudi accuses Iran of sowing 'sedition, unrest, chaos' -- AFP
Iranian Official: Saudi Arabia Is Israel’s ‘Defense Shield’ In The Middle East -- Daily Caller
Iran's Lifted Sanctions Hit Saudi Arabia Right Where It Hurts -- Vocativ
Saudi and Iranian FMs take proxy war to the pages of the 'New York Times' -- Jerusalem Post
Can Iran Change? -- Adel Bin Al-Jubeir, NYT
Escalating Iran-Saudi Arabia tensions -- AIJAC
Iran Nuclear Deal Fuels Tension With Saudi Arabia Inflaming New Conflicts -- Mohammed Ayoob, Yale Global
Iran-Saudi Arabia: Quo vadis? -- Shahid Zubair, The Nation
8 comments:
"Saudi Arabia warns against 'nefarious activities' by Iran"
That's comical.
nefarious = wicked or criminal
In fact, while the U.S. charges Iran with being the world's chief state terrorist supporter, it is Saudi Arabia (and Qatar) which support the plethora of Sunni-wahabbi terrorist groups, plus Saudi Arabia is leading deadly attacks on poor Yemen, whereas Iran is attacking nobody.
Therefore Saudi Arabia's warning is comical, like its leaders. Bunch of losers.
notice there is next to no percentage representing christians in the combined populations of these two countries.
go ahead, connect the dots.
There are 370,000 Christians and 600 churches, 20,000 Jewish residents and 8 synagogues in Iran. There are still even 25,000 Zoasterans in Iran.
There are 1.5 million Christians in Saudi Arabia, but they are all there on Temporary Foreign Worker Permits, are forbidden from any public displays of Christianity, but are allowed to worship at home, as long as the windows are closed and the curtains drawn, the doors are locked, and there are no Muslims present. They are not allowed to have bibles, crucifixes, rosaries, etc., or any other articles of their faith.
There are no Jews in Saudi Arabia, nor are they allowed to enter the Kingdom.
Jay,
I hope you had a valid point or even a mere wisp of a cogent thought.
We are like to like Iran better than Saudi Arabia, because it is trending to zero, while Saudi Arabia is at zero?
That is like "liking" Mussolini's Italy better than Hitler's Germany, because it hasn't quite got as bad yet, but not for lack of trying.
Iran is trending towards 0 because the Zoasteran communities have been in a 1400 year old decline, but Iran is still the only place you can still find them,
The Christian community has been in a 1700 year old decline, and the Jewish community is in a 2100 year decline.
Pretty much why you can't find Anestanzi, Hopewell or Chacokia in the US anymore, even though at one time they were the dominant religious cultures.
On the other hand, the Cathar's, a much younger religious community, (1600's) was long ago driven into extinction through persecution in the west, along with the Fratichelli, Waldensians, etc, so while the West may prize itself for religious tolerance now, historically it has not been the norm.
In Saudi Arabi in contrast, as the House of Saud consolidated and expanded it's power in the 1920's and '30's, Jewish, Christian and Anamist communities were subject to genocide, expulsion and forced conversion. This policy was initially applied to the Shia, Ismaelli, Sufi and 5'ver communities of the eastern provinces and the captured Yemeni territories, but was defeated by the sheer numbers of these groups, and their willingness to suffer martyrdom over conversion.
The Saudi policy is best reflected by the actions of it's stepchild, ISIS.
While the MSM , the Saudi financed media and Think Tanks are selling this as a Sunni vs. Shia conflict, it is not.
Whabbism and Whabbist influenced Safilist sects like the Deobandi and Hashquabandi Sufi sects vs. The Rest of Islam, Christianity, Judiasm, Animism, Agnosticism, Paganism and even Athism.
In Whabbist doctrine, other Sunni's will be allowed convert, some Sufi's will be allowed to convert, some Shia will be allowed to convert, but everybody else must be killed.
Waldnesians still exist
"Today, the Waldensian movement is centered on Piedmont in northern Italy, while small communities are also found in southern Italy, Argentina, Germany, the United States, and Uruguay." -wiki
I have a book called "The Popes: A Dark History" It is not apparent to me that the Cathar Crusade would have happened if the 1st Crusade had not. It is also not apparent that there would have been a crusade had the Pope's legate or ambassador been murdered.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6581083-a-dark-history
The Christian community has been in a 1700 year old decline, and the Jewish community is in a 2100 year decline." That has nothing to do with oppression of lack of economic opportunity to those who are not Muslim.
The peak of the Jewish population in Iran, occurred after the Macabee Revolt against the Romans, when an estimated 500,000 fled to the protection of the Persian Kings. Roughly 250,000 retired over the years to Roman Judea.
The peak of the Christian community in Iran was during the Khwarazmian dynasty, reaching about 150,000 as clerks, scribes, tradesmen, traders and slaves.
The Mongol invasion and conquest depopulated much of Iran, and Christian populations never recovered. The Jewish population staged a brief growth rate during the Russian revolution and the European Genocide as the fled to Iran, but with the declaration of the State of Israel, the Shah deported all non-Iranian Jews. After the War of Independence, many Iranian News decided to take the Aliyah and the Jewish population has been more or less flatlined since then.
Persecution of Iranian Christians and Jews was actually significantly greater under the Shahs, who viewed Christians as Soviet and Iraqi proxies, and of course in the early years of the State of Israel, until the US brokered a detente, as either Israeli or Communist spies.
aside from the decline, 2015 has been the deadliest year in modern times to be a christian.
"The Christian persecution watchdog group Open Doors has released its annual list of countries where Christians face the greatest persecution and found that it has reached unprecedented levels worldwide as over 7,000 Christians were killed for their faith between Nov. 1, 2014, and Oct. 31, 2015."
http://www.christianpost.com/news/open-doors-world-watch-list-2015-deadliest-year-christians-killed-for-faith-jesus-christ-154875/
another fun fact, the uk is drastically becoming non-christian and paving the way for the perfect conditions for islamization. even famous atheists know somethings not right...
richard dawkins recently....
"There are no Christians, as far as I know, blowing up buildings,” he said. “I am not aware of any Christian suicide bombers. I am not aware of any major Christian denomination that believes the penalty for apostasy is death.”
“I have mixed feelings about the decline of Christianity,” Dawkins added, “in so far as Christianity might be a bulwark against something worse.”
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