Saudi Arabia: Unveiling the Veil...!!!

Saudi Arabia: Unveiling the Veil

It came as a big surprise the Saudi government decision to withdraw its ambassador from Qatar and how it exerted pressure on UAE and Bahrain to do likewise. The Saudis were always very conservative and cautious to take such daring moves. So what really had happened to make the Saudis go beyond their known capability to adopt policies that are unfamiliar to their patient calculated practices? Not only they had put a pressure on the Qataris to submit to the Gulf Cooperation Council submissive approach but to outlaw the Muslim Brotherhood Movement which they had embraced and bankrolled for more than four decades. Let us dig deeper into the reasons that led to this action.

Everyone would have expected the Saudis to adopt this tough stand against Iran but not against a comrade from within the GCC! Unfortunately to the dismay of the Saudis, the big master namely the USA had changed its political focus from relying on the traditional GCC countries to the Islamic Republic of Iran and to the rapidly developing Asian countries. However, the GCC counties would remain as devoted agents, even if there is one renegade which is the State of Qatar! The Saudis would like to tame all the GCC to remain under their undisputed control. They are trying very hard to show the big master that they deserve not to be completely abandoned as a faithful agent. In order not to infuriate the boss, they cannot take a tougher stand against Iran other than the well-known rhetoric criticism to the Iranian policies of destabilizing the region. I guess the Saudis look like a soccer player who used to appease his coach in the field but recently he has to be benched to watch matches from the sideline! The uneasy dismay of the Saudis was manifested of bullying the small states within the GCC while ignoring the long tarnished demon of the Shiite sect!! Whether the Saudis like or dislike, the shiites are the coming menance of the region that would shake the gulf and the Middle East stability. It is not Qatar or the Muslim brothers that would form a threat but those who call the shots would tacticly and intentionly change the focus from the real coming threat to the region. The demographic formation of the small gulf states had shifted recently in favor of the shiites majority who almost grap most of the viable local and international trade within these states. It is only a matter of time, for the real demon of the east: Iran , to show its real motives under the big boss's blessing and approval.

The Saudis for a long time supported and bankrolled the Muslim Brotherhood movement to the extent that the series of the Faisal Islamic banks in Egypt and Sudan were mainly established in order to financially sustain the existence of this movement. Without this abundance of cash, the Muslim Brotherhood movement would have no chance to overcome the overwhelming tide of the socialist political parties. Even few years ago, they were forthcoming in supporting the Islamic opposition in the Syrian conflict, but suddenly they backtracked down leaving the whole burden to Turkey and Qatar. The multi-million dollar question is this a change of heart or a sign of a new dictated policy? I believe the latter seems to be more logical for an authoritative family dynasty that would rather cling to power against any gamble to take a solid stand with any pro-Islamic case that would serve the Islamic nation or the Arab cause.
The Saudi reaction to support Al Sisi military coup and to outlaw the Muslim Brotherhood movement is to contain the euphoric outcome of the Arab Spring. The dictated pressure came from the USA( though it is originally Israeli) to guarantee the safety of the fragile Israeli existence, expansion and domination. The jump of the Muslim brothers through a democratic process had created a threatening alaming situation to the master of the masters: Israel. The move was meant to vacuum the Arab spring from any meaningful change in the Muslim world with special focus on countries surrounding Israel. The Saudis had to support these counter revolutionary actions while it has to keep its position as a leader of the GCC and the Arab League through heavy financing.
Due to the wide spread of social communication use within the GCC, these family authoritarian regimes had found it very difficult to contain its influence over the narrow available political atmosphere. The dictatorial authority has taken different forms across the region depending on each state’s overall national trend. In Qatar, for example, the political opposition is almost negligent as compared to UAE, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. In the latter, religious upheavals are common due to its size, composition and political role. Even in Bahrain and UAE. the space of freedom available to citizens and other political organizations has been suffocated by the governments of these tiny states. Due to its importance to the economic viability of the west, western countries were very silent to criticize or approach these issues.
There are major human rights issues which could have provoked western intervention if they are keen to do so. In Saudi Arabia, western countries never supported the plight of women to gain their right to get behind the driving wheels just like men. Such a case if it had happened, in counties like Sudan or Morsi’s Egypt, could have created a big fuss from western countries, UN and their human rights’ organizations. In Bahrain, the state’s reaction to opposition of its Shia majority was very brutal and uncompromising, but few concerns were raised shyly by some organizations. In UAE, the clamp down and the onslaught over the opposition were very crystal clear. In overall, most GCC states have resorted to very heightened levels of repression to ensure the political survival of the ruling families. Moreover, they have sought to strengthen their authoritarian family rule by pumping massive amounts of money into the hands of other Middle East counties to ensure a non- Islamic revolutionary change as demanded by majorities of the population through an open democratic process. These GCC counties had maintained its power through a combination of promising to provide for the welfare of their citizens while creating an atmosphere of fear and intimidation. The least country to do this is Qatar where it tried recently to adopt a pro-Islamic line. That is why, Qatar was singled out to be the short wall for a failed Saudi maneuver that would create an everlasting unpatched rift within the GCC and its future relations.

The revolutionary upheaval within the Arab and Islamic world is inventible to happen sooner or later due to these unjust practices of suppressing the popular votes from asserting their say. These are the signs that lead to the Israelly and the west to shift focus of their emphasis towards Iran and its followers. The democratic process had shown an absolute popular support for the islamists. However, these temporary fake dealings to hault the islamic aspirations would have never stopped their struggle to gain their real freedom aspirations. All the Saudis royals are trying to do, is to prolong their family rule over the Arab Peninsula with the collabration with the master to delay the real democratic process but this approach of silencing and demonizing others would hasten the inevitable pace of change. The application of dictated policies of the USA will never materialize at the end. It serves the real coming threat of the shiites which would escalate further and further within the sunnis countries. It is really absurd to ban the sunnis movement while keeping a deaf ear to the bloody emerging of the Alawis in Syria, the Houtis of Yemen and the shiites of Bahrain. The religious sectarian struggle is the next American plight in the region and by the time, the stake holders would absorb the new situation, it would be too late to bridge the widening gap of the two major sects of Islam... !!!

(Edited by إبراهيم عبد العزيز عثمان on 03-21-2014, 07:45 AM)
(Edited by إبراهيم عبد العزيز عثمان on 03-21-2014, 03:55 PM)
(Edited by إبراهيم عبد العزيز عثمان on 03-21-2014, 04:26 PM)

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