Persian Gulf Leaders Seek U.S. Security Guarantees - In Writing

by JASmius



It isn't just Saudi King Salman who's blowing off a face-to-face meeting with the mullahs' stooge in Washington, D.C. The leaders of Oman, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates also suddenly had to wash their hair and couldn't make it, either.  And who can blame them?  Not only is the Obama Regime backing the Iranian-backed Houthi "rebels" in Yemen that its former Sunni allies are fighting in order to beat back the Iranian regional strategic pincer movement that is abundantly clear to anybody who can read a map, but they can see as easily as I did last week that this phony-baloney, plastic-banana short range missile shield proposal is designed for no other purpose than to keep nuclear weapons out of Saudi hands and protect Iran's nuclear semi-monopoly.

Springing from a culture in which back-stabbing is far more literal than metaphorical, the Saudis and their allies can see the betraying dagger coming.  That's why the days of Middle East diplomacy via "gentlemen's agreement" are over:

Persian Gulf leaders, set to convene at a Camp David summit this week, are pressing President Obama to strengthen the U.S. security relationship with the region and expand military assurances to address their growing concerns about Iran, U.S. and regional officials said.

Senior officials from several gulf nations said they understand that a mutual defense alliance, similar to NATO, is not possible. At the very least, however, they want a firmer and more specific U.S. promise to protect them from external threats.

“In the past we have survived with a gentlemen’s agreement with the United States about security,” said Yousef al-Otaiba, ambassador to Washington for the United Arab Emirates, one of the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries participating in the summit. “Today, we need something in writing. We need something institutionalized.” [emphasis added]

Not that O wouldn't shiv the enemies of his ally on a written agreement just as easily and without a second glance.  Mr. al-Otaiba and the other "subordinates" know that.  It illustrates what a tough situation they're in, why they're having to band together like this and still "do business," or at least go through the motions of same, with their former ally and benefactor knowing that we've switched sides.  It's a very dangerous path we're forcing them to walk, one that can only destabilize the Middle East even more than it has been already no matter what they do.  About the only disadvantage they don't have is that they're not Jewish, which makes the burgeoning alliance-that-cannot-speak-its-name between the Saudi alliance and Israel all the more fascinating.

But in diplomatic terms, "We need something in writing" is a full-on kick to the crotch that illustrates how much trust the U.S. has lost from our erstwhile friends in the Middle East to match how much fear and respect we've lost from our enemies, and how extraordinarily difficult it will be to regain either one.

Precisely as Barack Obama intended.