Carnegie Endowment for Peace - Diwan
Jennifer Kavanagh and Frederic Wehrey co-authored an article in Foreign Affairs, titled, "The Case Against Israeli-Saudi Normalization: A Deal Won't Forge a Two-State Solution or Push China Out of the Middle East."
A long time ago ...
Saudis don't want war with Iran. Checkmate! | by Mattes @BooMan - 1 Nov 2007 |
As preparations for war against Iraq intensified in the fall of 2002, neo-conservatives in Washington were fond of remarking that "the road to Tehran runs through Baghdad." The toppling of Saddam Hussein was to be the first step in remaking the map of the Middle East through military force. Syria and Iran were on the hit list, and even Saudi Arabia was suggested as a candidate for regime change.
Three years after invading Iraq, the U.S. military is bogged down but that hasn't cooled the ardor for invading Iran. Since late last year, the Bush administration has stepped up pressure on Iran. While there is no certainty that the United States will attack, the timing is suspicious: Why threaten a military strike possibly involving nuclear weapons against a country that, even by CIA estimates, is ten years away from building an A-bomb? In many ways, it seems a replay of the Iraq War: attack a reactionary Middle East regime with vast oil reserves over the issue of weapons of mass destruction and terrorism, pressure or bribe other countries and international institutions to join in the campaign, talk diplomacy but place intolerable conditions that doom any negotiations, all the while preparing for war.
US Will Be Ousted from Middle-East by Saudi King Abdullah | 27 Feb 2013 |
Crown Prince Abdullah worked behind de scenes for an Isreali-Palestinian peace settlement in 2000. Took the initiative for Saudi Arabia to accept the State of Israel in a new peace plan endorsed by all Arab states in 2002. Even George Bush the Elder intervened in an attempt to clear the air between the Saudis and the Bush/Cheney administration. It was all in vain as the US had their own agenda set with military sight on Iraq and Saddam Hussain. A new attempt was made in December 2003 to rebuild good relationships between the two nations. The WikiLeaks publication gives much needed insight to what depth the US standing had deteriorated in the Muslim world. The repeated failure of the US to act as an honest broker for peace between the Palestinians and Israel has left an indelible mark.
The large picture of what is happening these last few years starts to make sense. It becomes clear the United States and Western powers will be ousted from the Arab nations now participating in the Arab Spring. Because of Europe's rejection of Turkey and the Mavi Marmara incident with Israel, Prime Minister Erdogan has decided to look towards its Muslim neighbours in the Middle-East. As Russia is ousted from Syria and Obama has decided to be passive in his support for military intervention, it's precisely where Saudi Arabia and the GCC countries want to be. Momentarily these nations are rebuilding the Arab states with funding of $$ billions and shipping arms to the rebels or jihadists from Mali to Syria.
My heroine...
Helen Thomas on Her Resignation and Middle East
US pushes Saudi normalisation | Al Ahram Online - 27 Sept 2023 |
The US administration is relentlessly seeking to normalise relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and the negotiations have recently become more direct between the parties concerned.
Shuttle trips by diplomats participating in the talks have increased and contributed to the spread of narratives that a diplomatic breakthrough that will reshape the Middle East is looming.
Leading the talks are US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and his deputies Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein. For the Saudis, the focal point is Defence Minister Khaled bin Salman, the brother of Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, and National Security Adviser Musaed Al-Aiban.
For the Israelis, the main negotiator is Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a former ambassador to the US and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's most trusted aide.
There are no Palestinian negotiators, but Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Diplomatic Adviser Majdi Khaldi is the point of contact kept informed of developments in the talks.
In a sign of the seriousness of the talks, a Saudi delegation visited the Palestinian president in Ramallah on Tuesday. It was led by non-resident Saudi Envoy to the Palestinians Nayef Al-Sudairi, who was appointed last month.
His arrival in Ramallah marks the first time Saudi Arabia has sent a delegation to the West Bank in three decades.
Al-Sudairi said during a meeting with the Palestinian president that Riyadh is "working to establish a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital." He pointed to statements made by Bin Salman last week, "in which he indicated his great interest in the Palestinian issue and the Palestinian people."
Al-Sudairi, who is also Saudi ambassador to Jordan, was recently appointed Saudi Consul-General in East Jerusalem. During his visit, he said that Saudi Arabia is planning to open a consulate in East Jerusalem.
A Revived Arab Peace Initiative from Saudi Arabia Could Save the Middle East | The Cairo Review - Winter 2024 |
In 2012 ...
Netanyahu's war cabinet was divided on an all-out attack on the Islamic Republic of Iran to destroy its nuclear research capability.
Netanyahu promised to return a next time with a more compliant war cabinet which will support his ambition on biblical Zionists terms of his father Benzion and the Revisionist Zionism founded by Ze'ev Jabotinsky.
Netanyahu and the Iranian Threat | The airs Review - 11 Oct 2015 |
Benzion Netanyahu, a history professor, tutored his son on his own life's work, an encyclopedic history of the Spanish Inquisition. In 1492, with the Reconquista of Spain from Muslim rulers, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella embarked on a campaign to expel Jews from the country. For centuries, Spain had been the world's leading center of Jewish life and host to a celebrated coexistence among Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
When the Sultan took in Jewish refugees (1492)
No one ever taught me about Bayezid II, the sultan of the Ottoman Empire at the time of the Spanish Inquisition on heretics and Jews.. In August 1492, he sent his navy to Spain to evacuate the expelled Jews to the empire, where he granted them permission to settle and become citizens. He sent a special decree to the governors of his European provinces, ordering them to receive the Jewish refugees well. Bayezid reportedly criticized the Spanish rulers for rejecting the Jews: "You venture to call Ferdinand a wise ruler, he who has impoverished his own country and enriched mine!"
Netanyahu's cheap theatrics fall flat, but alas, he has an audience of one -- Trump | Mondoweiss - 3 May 2018 |
The bad news is that the world doesn't matter; Netanyahu obviously pitched his message to one person, Donald Trump, who is moved by cheap theatrics; and lobbying Trump to go to war against Iran looks to be a far better bet than lobbying his predecessor, Barack Obama. Under similar pressure three years ago, Obama said that only one country in the world was against the deal, Israel, and that it would be an "abrogation of my constitutional duty" to defer to Israel rather than the American people.
My diary ...
Netanyahu's Theatrics Falls Flat | 3 May 2018 |
That doesn't mean the alliance Israel and the U.S. won't succeed to enter a new war in the Near East against Iran. Bibi Netanyahu can use aggression against the biblical enemy of Persia to unite a divided population.
[...]
After losing out on the successful Iran nuclear deal under Obama, leave it to PM Netanyahu, conservative propaganda and the broad Israel lobby in the United States to take revenge ... Democrats losing their presidential bid in 2016. Pointing fingers to Russia? What a load of bs, fake news and pure propaganda ... dream on, keep eyes shut.
Xenophobia, Israel, Alt-right and the Jewish Question | 21 Nov 2018 |
There are multiple ways to theorize the growth of populist parties across the Western world, including the North Atlantic allied countries.
Yesterday I read an extensive article in The Guardian ...
My take on the rise of populist parties. There have always been elements present in political parties based on nationalism, anti-immigration and so-called culture of the fatherland. By the turn of the century, I felt an restlessness in the community and in the Netherlands. After the 9/11 attacks on America and the following War on Terror by the Bush/Cheney administration there was an inevitable series of events. General hatred for Muslims became the discourse in the media and between political parties. Xenophobia reared its ugly head and turned into anti-immigration policy by leading nations. A right-wing movement had a rapid growth and with the financial crisis the populists gained votes by putting blame on "the establishment".