Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Saudi Arabia’s UN Sulk Aims at Obama (Part 2)

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Saudi Arabia’s UN Sulk Aims at Obama (Part 2)

Click here to access article by Melkulangara Bhadrakumar from Strategic Culture Foundation.

The author offers his assessment of the current Saudi "tantrum" toward the recent policies of Empire directors (naively ascribed by the author to the "Obama administration") whose policies toward Egypt, Iran, and Syria have provoked the ire of the rulers of this Medieval regime. They have been stuck in this time warp because of the protection given by the Empire in exchange for its oil resources and its role in backing the US dollar as an international currency (see this key historical analysis by F. William Engdahl).

I don't think that the cronies of the Empire (including Israel) in the Middle East have ever been so at odds with the directors of the Empire as they are today. It would be merely fascinating to watch how all this unfolds; but given the economic importance of this region for fueling the capitalist world, the "unfolding" could also have highly dangerous unforeseen consequences.

If this view is not confusing enough for you, then read the article which introduces Israel and Turkey into the scene: "On the Military Alliance of Israel and Saudi Arabia against Iran" by Nikolai Bobkin from the same website.

I had a problem with the following long sentence in Bobkin's article:

Besides enmity toward Iran, Israel and Saudi Arabia share the common goal of overthrowing the regime in Syria, Tel Aviv and Riyadh are united in supporting the military government in Egypt, and they have also found common ground with regard to the unacceptability of an increase in the geopolitical role of their common rival Turkey.

I think it would be clearer if re-stated as follows:

Besides enmity toward Iran, Israel and Saudi Arabia share the common goal of overthrowing the regime in Syria and are united in supporting the military government in Egypt. They have also found common ground with regard to the unacceptability of an increase in the geopolitical role of their common rival Turkey.