Do we really want a nuclear Saudi Arabia?
Jun. 9th, 2019 01:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nairiporterU.S. approved secret nuclear power work for Saudi Arabia
It seems Trump's administration was secretly transferring nuclear technologies to Saudi Arabia shortly after Jammal Khashoggi's murder in Virginia. Actually just over a fortnight after the October incident (that was the first shipment). The second batch was sent in February.
This is a serious threat to the stability of the Middle East, which is not the most stable place on Earth as it is.
This puts Trump's decision from last month into new context: he decided to declare emergency because of the tensions with Iran, aiming to bypass Congress in selling arms to Saudi Arabia, UAE and Jordan worth a total of 8.1 billion dollars.
We all know what happens whenever a US president goes trigger-happy with exercising excessive executive powers at times of tensions. War happens. Things are obviously heading that way now. Trump has never shied away from displaying his affection to the Saudis (just like so many of his predecessors). He is willing to bypass Congress to sell weapons to the Saudis, and he evidently has no concerns with supplying them with nuclear know-how. Presumably, for energy purposes - but I think we know better than that.
As we have previously discussed here, every US president in recent times has somehow felt compelled to start at least one war overseas - and the ones who were always happiest about this were the big arms manufacturers, and the military. The largest beneficients of war. Perhaps he believes that starting another one would help reinvigorate the US economy, create/keep jobs in struggling regions, etc? Or maybe he wants to appease Israel some more? Or he senses that America's geopolitical standing in the world (particularly the Middle East) is waning, and a forceful re-arrangement of the chess pieces is his best option to keep the US afloat, geopolitics-wise? Or he is just bluffing for economic gains?
Whatever his reasons, he is treading on thin ice. Iran is not Syria, and definitely not Iraq or Afghanistan. It's a central player in its region, not a proxy. It has powerful allies with huge vested interests there: Russia, China, Turkey, Pakistan. This won't be an easy stroll in the park (not that the previous ones were, either). Trump should poise and make some more calculations, because the risk here is much more severe than in previous cases. The question is, does he even care?
It seems Trump's administration was secretly transferring nuclear technologies to Saudi Arabia shortly after Jammal Khashoggi's murder in Virginia. Actually just over a fortnight after the October incident (that was the first shipment). The second batch was sent in February.
This is a serious threat to the stability of the Middle East, which is not the most stable place on Earth as it is.
This puts Trump's decision from last month into new context: he decided to declare emergency because of the tensions with Iran, aiming to bypass Congress in selling arms to Saudi Arabia, UAE and Jordan worth a total of 8.1 billion dollars.
We all know what happens whenever a US president goes trigger-happy with exercising excessive executive powers at times of tensions. War happens. Things are obviously heading that way now. Trump has never shied away from displaying his affection to the Saudis (just like so many of his predecessors). He is willing to bypass Congress to sell weapons to the Saudis, and he evidently has no concerns with supplying them with nuclear know-how. Presumably, for energy purposes - but I think we know better than that.
As we have previously discussed here, every US president in recent times has somehow felt compelled to start at least one war overseas - and the ones who were always happiest about this were the big arms manufacturers, and the military. The largest beneficients of war. Perhaps he believes that starting another one would help reinvigorate the US economy, create/keep jobs in struggling regions, etc? Or maybe he wants to appease Israel some more? Or he senses that America's geopolitical standing in the world (particularly the Middle East) is waning, and a forceful re-arrangement of the chess pieces is his best option to keep the US afloat, geopolitics-wise? Or he is just bluffing for economic gains?
Whatever his reasons, he is treading on thin ice. Iran is not Syria, and definitely not Iraq or Afghanistan. It's a central player in its region, not a proxy. It has powerful allies with huge vested interests there: Russia, China, Turkey, Pakistan. This won't be an easy stroll in the park (not that the previous ones were, either). Trump should poise and make some more calculations, because the risk here is much more severe than in previous cases. The question is, does he even care?
