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Old Saturday, August 12, 2017
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Default Saudi Arabia’s Erroneous Foreign Policy

My article entitled, 'Saudi Arabia's Erroneous Foreign Policy'. Published in August issue of World Times magazine.

http://jworldtimes.com/jwt2015/magaz...oreign-policy/

Saudi Arabia’s Erroneous Foreign Policy

Saudi Arabia’s severing of ties with Qatar has laid bare the schisms in the Arab world. The crisis in this diplomatic relationship has huge implications for the region as Saudis, along with some other Gulf states, are heading toward a collision and it vividly exposes Saudi Arabia’s aspirations in the Middle East. So far, all diplomatic efforts to diffuse the crisis have failed. The following write-up will analyze KSA’s interference in other states’ affairs and will present an analysis on the 13 demands made by Saudi Arabia and its allies to Qatar.

The roots of problems in Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy can be traced back to February 14, 1945, when Saudi King Abd al-Aziz allowed US President Franklin D. Roosevelt to build a US airfield in Dhahran (an oil town in eastern Saudi Arabia on an inlet from the Persian Gulf), in return for military and business support. But Saudis made the real blunder after 1973-74 oil shock, when they accepted Henry Kissinger’s advice on petrodollar. According to that deal, KSA was to price oil in US dollars and also influence other OPEC members to do the same. In return, US would protect Saudi Arabia and its allies against any foreign invasions and domestic rebellions.

There is no denying the fact that the Americans pursue their own interests when it comes to supporting Saudi Arabia – or for that matter any other country – because Washington intends to dominate oil resources and market. Saudi Arabia’s bonhomie with the United States is one of the many causes behind its thorny relationship with Iran. KSA-Iran relationship considerably deteriorated after the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Iran accuses the KSA of being an American agent in the region.

Whatever turn the situation takes, a country should try not to break diplomatic relations with any other state, especially those in its neighbourhood. Nonetheless, it happened in the case of Iran. After KSA executed Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr, numerous protests were held in Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, India, Lebanon and Turkey; even Saudi diplomatic missions in Tehran and Mashhad were ransacked by angry mobs. In the aftermath of this incident, KSA severed its diplomatic relations with Iran. It must be understood that wars often occur after a series of escalatory events, rather than a singular decision, and embassies working in other countries play the most important role in handling such situations. Prospects of war between Saudi Arabia and Iran can be the beginning of a major catastrophe in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia is worried about Iran becoming a hegemon in the region, and it has developed a foreign policy to stop that from happening at any cost.

Conflicts in the Middle East, whether in Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq or Syria, share a common factor: the rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia. During the early days of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s rule, relations remained comparatively serene. But the 2011 Arab Spring changed altogether the region’s scenario.

(It's not complete. To read complete article, please open above mentioned web address, or fetch a copy of World Times magazine, August issue.)

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Jamal Abdul Nasir
jamalpsychologist@gmail.com

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