Juan Cole (Salon): What Moore and neocons don't know about Saudi Arabia

[Jack Rabbit]

From Salon.com (Subscription or Day Pass Required)
Dated Friday August 5

What Michael Moore (and the neocons) don't know about Saudi Arabia
The left and the right have both crudely demonized the desert kingdom. But the ascension of King Abdullah gives the U.S. a chance to solidify relations with this flawed but key ally.
By Juan Cole

The late King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, who died on Aug. 1, should have been nicknamed "King Blowback." Along with his ideological soul mate, Ronald Reagan, who shared his long twilight, Fahd played a key, if inadvertent, role in nurturing Islamist extremism. Together, Reagan and Fahd -- one using proxy armies and arms, the other petrodollars -- launched a worldwide crusade against what they saw as the radical specters of communism and Khomeinism. To fight this battle, they gave massive support to Sunni Muslim fundamentalists as well as Saddam Hussein's Stalinist Baath Party. The rash decisions taken by the two leaders are in large part responsible for the crisis the world faces today.

The good news is that Fahd's successor, King Abdullah, is a far more cautious man, not given to his half-brother's dangerous adventurism. His ascension -- in fact, he has held power for a long time -- gives the United States an opportunity to improve relations with Saudi Arabia. As America faces the long, daunting task of recovering from George W. Bush's catastrophic foreign-policy blunders, solidifying relations with this key, if problematic, ally is high on the list of priorities.

The devout Abdullah ("the servant of God"), who has the smile and goatee of a genial beatnik, has been in de facto control of the kingdom since 1995, when Fahd ("the panther") had a debilitating stroke. He has now formally become king. Abdullah has reigned during difficult times and has responded with a mixture of caution and flexibility. This past spring, he held popular elections for municipal councils, among the first Saudi steps toward representative institutions. The elections were carefully circumscribed, with only half the seats on the councils filled through the polls, the other half being appointed by the central government. But neither were the elections meaningless. Muslim political activists, dubbing themselves the "Golden List," used grass-roots campaign techniques and networking to do very well in the elections. Optimists hope the victory will allow the religious faction to blow off some steam.

Read more.

[Catch22Dem]

1. I like listening to Juan on Majority Report

I've become quite a fan.

[Fovea]

2. Interesting article

but it does nothing to reduce my belief that Saudi Arabia is sitting where Iran was under the Shah. It is not the goal of the Whabbists to back away from the struggle against western values.

Nor will Abdullah magically have more success reining them in as King de jure than he did as de facto King.

Saudi Arabic might be able to become a republic of a non-islamist type, but it will not be easy or certain, and the monarchy does nothing to increase those odds, IMO.

[staticstopper]

4. would they be strugling against

"western values" if we did not mess in their culture?

I read Coles artical last week where he seemed to suggest the west stirred up radicalism so we could use them against the commies.

(edited for typos - my "a" key sticks)

[Fovea]

6. They use us the same way we used 'commies'

Because what we have done there is resented, even hated.

And because we go over there and act rich, fat, and dumb, just like their elites.

But unlike their elites, we don't even put on a show of piety or moralism. We drink, screw, and steal. Then we send in the military to guard the loot.

[thebigidea]

3. goatee of a genial beatnik? More like a disturbing child molester

considering he's been running things for years anyway, I don't see what the difference will be... much as I respect Cole.

[bemildred]

5. I find it hard to be optimistic.

I don't usually disagree with Prof. Cole, so that's a bit disconcerting.

I do think that Abdullah is most likely a bit less disfunctional than Fahd, but I doubt that he can fix the mess, or that cosmetic changes will be sufficient.

The forces at work in and on S.A. are such that it is very hard to predict the outcome, and very easy to predict that the status quo is unstable, volatile, and explosive.