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Saudi Arabia is in talks with Pakistan to provide anti-aircraft and anti-tank rockets to Syrian rebels to try to tip the balance in the war to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, a Saudi source said Sunday.
The United States has long opposed arming the rebels with such weapons, fearing they might end up in the hands of extremists, but Syrian opposition figures say the failure of Geneva peace talks seems to have led Washington to soften its opposition.
Pakistan makes its own version of Chinese shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles, known as Anza, and anti-tank rockets — both of which Riyadh is trying to get for the rebels, said the source, who is close to Saudi decision-makers, requesting anonymity.
Saudi Arabia, the brutal authoritarian theocracy that the democracy-promoting Washington claims as one of its closest allies, has a bit of a history of pressuring the U.S. into Middle East wars. The 1991 First Gulf War to oust Saddam Hussein from Kuwait was fought largely in defense of Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom also encouraged the Bush administration to invade Iraq in 2003. And the Saudi king has repeatedly urged Washington to attack Iran to secure Saudi interests in the Sunni-Shia regional divide.
Saudi Arabia also has a rather incriminating and duplicitous history of harboring Islamic extremists of the al-Qaeda, jihadist type. They helped the U.S. fund the mujahideen in Afghanistan. Most of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudis (and they were directed by a Saudi, named Osama bin Laden). There is even a classified record that members of Congress have claimed indicates the Saudi government’s role in the 9/11 attacks.
Since the start of Syria’s civil war, foreign jihadists have been flooding the country – many of them coming from Saudi Arabia. Al Monitor reports:
Estimates of the number of Saudis fighting in Syria range as high as 2,500. Some are hardened veterans of earlier jihads in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Iraq. A few are compatriots of Osama bin Laden. Others traveled to Syria from the kingdom, despite individual travel bans imposed for dissident activities at home. Some traveled directly through major Saudi airports, leading many observers to conclude they were encouraged by the authorities to leave the kingdom and go fight Assad. For over two years, the Saudi government seemed to turn a blind eye to travel by its citizens — even political dissidents — to Syria.
Kuwait, which has close ties to the Saudi government, “is a major source of private funding for Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda’s official arm in Syria,” Al Monitor reports.
Interesting enough, but that is not the big piece of news from this Al Monitor report. The big news is this: “King Abdullah will make a major push for a more vigorous American effort to oust Assad when he hosts Obama [late next month]. The Saudis have been openly disappointed that Obama has not used force to get rid of Assad or provided more assistance to training and arming the Syrian opposition.” Now, the report says, the Saudis are trying to persuade Obama to impose regime change in Syria by promising to cut back on its support for jihadists.
To sum up, Saudi Arabia’s policy on Syria amounts to funding groups considered by Washington to be terrorists and to lobbying the President of the United States to destroy the Damascus government. The two initiatives are deeply intertwined given that a collapse of the regime in Syria would mean chaos and huge ungoverned spaces, which foreign funded jihadists could thrive in.
I’ve been hammering away on the issue of entangling alliance for months now, but where is the outrage on Saudi Arabia? The U.S. government continues to help prop up and arm the Saudi government and yet it supports terrorism and is trying to suck the U.S. into another dangerous and endless military quagmire in the Middle East. Where are the belligerent members of Congress, the Peter Kings and Charles Schumers, condemning Saudi Arabia? They condemn other countries for much less.
(Reuters) – President Barack Obama plans to travel to Saudi Arabia in March on a mission to smooth tensions with Washington’s main Arab ally over U.S. policy on Iran’s nuclear program and the civil war in Syria, a newspaper reported.
(Reuters) – President Barack Obama plans to travel to Saudi Arabia in March on a mission to smooth tensions with Washington’s main Arab ally over U.S. policy on Iran’s nuclear program and the civil war in Syria, a newspaper reported.
(Reuters) – President Barack Obama plans to travel to Saudi Arabia in March on a mission to smooth tensions with Washington’s main Arab ally over U.S. policy on Iran’s nuclear program and the civil war in Syria, a newspaper reported.
(Reuters) – President Barack Obama plans to travel to Saudi Arabia in March on a mission to smooth tensions with Washington’s main Arab ally over U.S. policy on Iran’s nuclear program and the civil war in Syria, a newspaper reported.
All the key players were at the table in Switzerland as the Syria peace conference began in Montreux on Wednesday.
All except one.
The peace talks, dubbed Geneva II, nearly fell apart before they began, when United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon extended an invitation to Iran on Sunday.
Ban issued the last-minute invite after he was assured by Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif that the country would “play a very positive and constructive role.”
By Monday evening, with the Syrian opposition threatening to withdraw from Geneva II, and the United States and other Western powers urging the UN to rescind its invitation, Iran had lost its spot at the Syria peace talks.
The United States and other western powers opposed Iran’s attendance based on its refusal to accept a communique — adopted at the first Geneva talks on June 30, 2012 — calling for a transitional government in Syria.
But perhaps no one was more enraged at the idea of sharing a table with Iran than regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia, which is a major supporter of the Syrian opposition and a historic foe of Iran.
Then Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad greeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Tehran on October 02, 2010. (Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images)
Riyadh’s response should come as no surprise. Oil-rich Saudi Arabia and Iran are not only divided by the Persian Gulf, but also along religious lines.
Saudi Arabia has a predominantly Sunni Muslim population, while Iran is mostly Shiite (Shia).
Both countries have been locked in a cold war for decades as they battle for religious, political and economic dominance in the region.
To better understand this rivalry, GlobalPost selected four articles explaining the complex relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iran in the context of the United States, Syria, the Arab Spring and the recent nuclear deal with Tehran.
Milani wrote: “Iran and Saudi Arabia are neither natural allies nor natural enemies but natural rivals who have long competed as major oil producers and self-proclaimed defenders of Shia (Shiite) and Sunni Islam, respectively. Until the Iranian revolution in 1979, their rivalry was managed and controlled by the United States, with whom they were both strategic allies.
“But after the Shah was overthrown, Saudi Arabia’s leadership became frightened by the Ayatollah Khomenei’s denunciation of the Saudi monarchy as antithetical to Islam and his ambition to export to the revolution to the Arab world. Saudi Arabia remained an ally of the United States; Iran became an implacable foe. Thereafter, the rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia became defined by the new US strategy – ally with Saudi Arabia to offset Iran.”
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (R) meets then Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah ibn Abdel Aziz in 1997. (AFP/Getty Images)
Boucek (who died of a heart attack two months after the article was published) made this point: “The challenge is that both countries view power and influence in the region as a zero-sum game. If Iran gains, Saudi Arabia loses — and vice versa. In Saudi Arabia there is not just a fear that Iran wants a greater role in the region, there is alarm that Iran wants to control the region. Saudi Arabia often seems to view the region through sectarian lenses and wants to unite people under the sectarian umbrella of Sunnis. Riyadh therefore views the ascendency of Shias and the war in the region in zero-sum terms.”
Gause wrote that Iran’s nuclear ambitions were not the Saudis’ only concern: “They have a more profound fear: that geopolitical trends in the Middle East are aligning against them, threatening both their regional stature and their domestic security. The Saudis see an Iran that is dominant in Iraq and Lebanon, holding onto its ally in Syria, and now forging a new relationship with Washington — a rival, in short, without any obstacles to regional dominance, and one further emboldened to encourage Shiite populations in the Gulf monarchies, including Saudi Arabia, to oppose their Sunni rulers.”
Iranian clerics holding up anti-Saudi King Abdullah posters during a protest in Tehran in 2011. (Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images)
Soltani talked about the importance of a détente between the rivals: “During the 1960s and 1970s the two countries were in a strategic alliance with considerable political, military and security interactions. The West, and the US in particular, used these two states to deter the influence of Soviet communism in the Middle East.
“The change following the Islamic Revolution in 1979 dealt a heavy blow to the interests and ambitions of the West and the US in the Middle East, and also took some allies, including Saudi Arabia, by surprise. Tehran-Riyadh relations then entered a new stage fraught with mistrust and hostility.”
Saudi says doubles number of citizens in private sector jobs http://pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-89EKCgBk8MZdE.gif
By Angus McDowall
RIYADHSun Jan 19, 2014 2:13pm EST
RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia has doubled the number of its citizens working for private companies in the 30 months since it introduced wide-ranging reforms to tackle long-term unemployment, Labour Minister Adel al-Fakeih said on Sunday.
Policy makers fear a failure to create a productive local workforce will leave the kingdom vulnerable to any future fall in oil revenue.
Despite the lack of any significant protests during the 2011 Arab uprisings, they were uncomfortably aware that unemployment contributed to unrest in neighbouring countries and worry about the long-term risk of political instability.
“At this point in time the employment in the private sector is about 1.5 million. This is 101 percent more than it was 30 months ago,” the minister said at a conference in Riyadh.
Although the official employment rate is around 12 percent, economists estimate only 30-40 percent of working-age Saudis hold jobs or actively seek work.
Most Saudis in jobs are employed by the government, but it cannot support such a large wage bill in the long term, and the International Monetary Fund has warned that the private sector must meet future job demand.
Most private-sector jobs are held by the 10 million expatriates in the kingdom.
In 2011, after decades of ineffective localization policies, Riyadh imposed stricter penalties for failing to meet quotas for hiring Saudi citizens.
In 2012 it also introduced a levy of 2,400 riyals ($ 640) a year on every foreigner a company employed over the number of its Saudi workers.
Fakeih later told reporters that the increase of 750,000 jobs over the past 30 months only included those who had remained in the workforce, but that around 500,000 others had taken jobs and then left.
He added that since the reforms were introduced, the average starting salary for Saudis had risen and that graduates of technical training colleges now found a job on average five months after qualifying, as opposed to 13 months in 2011.
EXPATRIATE CRACKDOWN
Some companies, particularly in labour-intensive industries such as construction, have complained that the reforms have caused bottlenecks in important projects and cut profits by increasing the wage bill. Expatriates are typically paid less than Saudis.
Others have said they struggle to find qualified Saudis to replace expatriates despite high government spending on university scholarship programs and technical training colleges. They have also complained that employment rules make it too hard to fire Saudis.
Young Saudi job-seekers often say they are reluctant to look for work in private companies, because government agencies offer better pay, benefits and job security.
Last week Riyadh announced it was introducing unemployment insurance for Saudis who lost their jobs for “reasons beyond their control” and who had been in work for more than a year. The policy was designed to encourage more young Saudis to look for jobs in the private sector.
On Sunday Fakeih said the introduction of unemployment insurance was also designed to “make it easier” for the government to relax employment rules and give companies more flexibility to fire workers who did not perform well.
Fakeih also said a crackdown last year on foreigners breaking visa regulations by working for companies that did not sponsor their work permit was necessary to close loopholes that allowed employers to dodge hiring quotas.
Previous attempts to localize the Saudi labour market have foundered because companies could hire lower-cost foreigners who were registered to other sponsors.
But more than 1 million expatriates left the kingdom between March and November during an amnesty for foreign workers to leave without paying fines for visa violations or to switch their sponsorship to a new employer.
(Reporting By Angus McDowall; Additional reporting by Marwa Rashad; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
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The comments come as Syria opposition officials report that Western diplomats have privately said that next month’s peace talks may not lead to the removal of President Bashar al-Assad from power. At a summit of opposition backers in London last week, the opposition was told that the transistional arrangements must preserve key parts of the current regime.
“Our Western friends made it clear in London that Assad cannot be allowed to go now because they think chaos and an Islamist militant takeover would ensue,” said one senior member of the opposition said.
High level warnings from Saudi royals over the West’s betrayal of previously shared foreign policy goals have also included demands for the Gulf countries to have a seat at negotiations with Iran over its nuclear programme.
Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former head of Saudi intelligence, said Riyadh felt the US and its allies had worked behind its back to achieve a diplomatic accord with Iran.
“It is important for us to sit down at the same table,” he said. “We have been absent.”
Prince Turki added that the US had “given the impression” it would take actions against Syria but had subsequently not delivered.
Saudi Arabia still expects its allies to challenge the two regimes over the bloodshed in Syria but is finding that West is refused to take action, Prince Mohammad added. As a result Saudi Arabia would take its own approach to the conflict, and orchestrate its own financial and miltary strategy of support to the Syrian rebels.
“To do otherwise is to walk on by, while a humanitarian disaster and strategic failure continue to fester,” Prince Mohammad wrote.
Julian Barnes-Dacey, a Syria expert at the European Council for Foreign Relations, said the Saudi leadership viewed support for the Syrian rebels and overthrow of the Iranian-aligned Syrian regime as vital for its own security. “There is broad consensus on the need to push hard on Syria because they don’t want the Iranians to gain the upper hand,” he said. “Saudi Arabia is upping its game to help the rebels on the ground. This is not just empty talk but is an appeal to the West to stand alongside them as they look to change the end game.”
Nawaf Obaid, an advisor to Prince Mohammad, accused America of dishonesty late last month as Riyadh reacted furiously in the wake of the Geneva agreement with Iran to negotiate over nuclear weapons. “We were lied to, things were hidden from us,” he said. “The problem is not with the deal struck in Geneva, but how it was done.” Mr Obaid said the country was adopting a new “defence doctrine” that to pursue its foreign policy goals.
“Our strategic posture is moving from reactive to proactive, we have a new defence policy,” he said.
The American rush to embrace detente with Tehran resulted in a landmark interim deal last month that put the country’s nuclear programme on hold in return for some easing of sanctions.
Mohammad Javid, Iran’s foreign minister, has said the new diplomatic opening raise the prospect that the 30-year breach in diplomatic relations with Washington could be healed by talks.
The nervous Gulf states have warned that Iran remains a destructive force in the Middle East and will use a thaw as cover for its support for terrorist groups and militias across the region.
An aerial view of the Pentagon building in Washington, June 15, 2005.
Credit: Reuters/Jason Reed
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Pentagon has approved the sale of more than 15,000 Raytheon Co anti-tank missiles to Saudi Arabia under two separate deals valued at nearly $ 1.1 billion.
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which oversees foreign military sales, notified Congress on Thursday that it had approved Saudi Arabia’s request for nearly 14,000 tube-launched, optically tracked wire-guided (TOW) missiles for its national guard, and more than 1,700 similar missiles for the Royal Saudi Land Forces.
The potential sales were announced during Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s current visit to the Gulf, aimed at underscoring the U.S. commitment to Middle East security.
Lawmakers have 30 days to block the proposed sales, although such action is rare.
“The proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a critical partner who has been, and continues to be, an important force for political stability in the Middle East,” DSCA said on its website.
The agency said Saudi Arabia would use the missiles to support defense and counterterrorism missions, strengthen its homeland defense and provide a deterrent to regional threats.
Adding the missiles to the Royal Saudi Land Forces’ arsenal would also improve the compatibility of those forces with U.S. forces, and demonstrates the U.S. government’s continued commitment to Saudi military modernization efforts, DSCA said.
Raytheon’s website describes the TOW weapon system as the “premier long-range, precision anti-armor, anti-fortification and anti-amphibious landing weapon system” used around the world. It said the system is in use in nations around the world.
Raytheon shares were little changed at $ 85.99 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
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NOVO-OGARYOVO, December 3 (RIA Novosti) – Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Saudi intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan near Moscow, the Kremlin said Tuesday.
Putin and Prince Bandar, who also heads the Saudi National Security Council, discussed the situation in the Middle East and in North Africa, it said in a statement.
The sides noted positive dynamics in dealing with the Iranian nuclear problem and exchanged opinions on Syria ahead of a planned international conference aimed at finding a peaceful solution to the civil war there, in which Russia and Saudi Arabia have supported opposing sides.
Iran and six international negotiators struck a deal in late November to slow the Islamic republic’s nuclear program. Tehran will get some $ 7 billion in relief from sanctions. The deal also stipulates that international observers will monitor nuclear sites in the country.
The long-delayed Geneva-2 international peace conference, dedicated to ending the conflict in Syria, is expected to be held on January 22 in Geneva. Russia has supported the Syrian government during the civil war, while Saudi Arabia has backed the opposition.
More than 100,000 people have been killed and 9 million people displaced since fighting broke out in Syria in 2011, according to the UN.
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Mossad worked closely with Saudi royals on war preparations
Kurt Nimmo Infowars.com November 24, 2013
Israel and Saudi Arabia may cooperate in an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities following the announcement of a six-month interim agreement between the P5+1 and Iran on Sunday in Geneva. Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, characterized the agreement as a major success. He said Iran will cooperate with the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Iran’s recently elected president, Hassan Rouhani, said the agreement is evidence the world now recognizes Iran has nuclear rights.
“While today’s announcement is just a first step, it achieves a great deal,” the Obama administration said in a statement. “For the first time in nearly a decade, we have halted the progress of the Iranian nuclear program, and key parts of the program will be rolled back.” Obama added a caveat. He said the United States will “ratchet up” sanctions if Iran fails to follow the agreement. Secretary of State John Kerry, who represented the United States at the conference in Geneva, said Iran has yet to demonstrate that it is not seeking to build a nuclear weapon.
The agreement stipulates that Iran will stop enriching uranium over 5% and dismantle its stockpile of 20% enriched uranium. A nuclear weapon requires uranium enriched over 90%. In addition to IAEA inspections, Iran has also agreed to stop construction on its heavy water reactor at Arak.
Officials in Israel reacted predictably after the deal was reached. “What was concluded in Geneva last night is not a historic agreement, it’s a historic mistake,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned. “It’s not made the world a safer place. Like the agreement with North Korea in 2005, this agreement has made the world a much more dangerous place.” The Saudi royals also expressed outrage.
Israel Working With Saudis On Attack Plan
Earlier this month, the Sunday Times reported that Saudi Arabia agreed to allow Israel use of its air space. The Saudis said they would provide drones, tanker planes and helicopters for an Israeli attack on Iran. The newspaper said Mossad was working closely with Saudi intelligence and they were making preparations in the event a deal was reached in Switzerland. “Once the Geneva agreement is signed, the military option will be back on the table. The Saudis are furious and are willing to give Israel all the help it needs,” a source said.
Netanyahu and Israeli officials attempted to persuade the United States to reject a compromise. The Israeli president said any agreement would directly threaten the existence of his country.
“It is highly unlikely that the Saudis and Israelis would want to attack Iran because at the end of the day both countries would be losers, they would be seen as aggressors and obviously the Iranians would retaliate,” Iranian political analyst Seyed Mohammad Marandi said after the Sunday Times published its report. “It would create an economic catastrophe for the world and only the Saudis and the Israelis would be to blame.”
Egyptian officials, according to WorldNetDaily reporter and blogger Aaron Klein, confirmed that Israeli personnel recently visited Saudi Arabia and inspected military bases. “The officials said Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan and other Arab and Persian Gulf countries have been discussing the next steps toward possible strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites,” Klein writes today.
Klein also notes the United States told Israel and the Saudis it controls radar capabilities over Iran and that no strike should be launched without permission from the Obama administration.
Hezbollah May Respond If Attack Unfolds
In October, it was reported that Israel was considering attacking Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon to take out its missile capability. The Shia military organization has “more than 200,000 missiles capable of hitting any house in Israel,” according to Israeli Home Front Minister Gilad Erdan. Military experts, however, put the number closer to 45,000 missiles and rockets. IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Yair Naveh claims Hezbollah has at around 60,000 rockets and missiles in its arsenal, or about ten times the number it had during Israel’s 34-day invasion of Lebanon in 2006.
Hezbollah Secretary-General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah met with Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian last week after the Iranian embassy was attacked in Beirut. Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Ghazanfar Roknabadi told Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV station “the Zionist entity” was responsible for the attack.
The Abdullah Azzam brigades, an al-Qaeda-linked group, claimed responsibility for the blast that killed at least 23 people and wounded more than 150 others.
This article was posted: Sunday, November 24, 2013 at 12:48 pm
Lockheed sees more clarity on Saudi naval buy in next months http://currenteconomictrendsandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/4badc__p-89EKCgBk8MZdE.gif
DUBAI (Reuters) – Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) expects news about a multibillion dollar program to modernize the Saudi Arabian Navy in the next several months, senior company executives told Reuters at the Dubai Airshow on Wednesday after meetings with Saudi officials.
“We’re hopeful in the next several months that some clarity will present itself on how they want to go forward on what hull, what design, and what mission equipment,” said Patrick Dewar, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin International.
Lockheed Chief Executive Marillyn Hewson discussed the naval modernization program and other issues during the air show with Prince Salman bin Sultan, the Saudi deputy defense minister, who was appointed in August, Dewar said.
“We understand the new Saudi deputy defense minister is doing his own assessment on how they should go forward,” Dewar said. “We’ve had good meetings with them here at the show as well as in the (Saudi) kingdom over the last couple of months.”
U.S. executives and government delegates said they had not seen any signs of a chill in U.S. ties to Saudi military officials after Saudi intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan, last month said the kingdom was hoping to make a major shift away from the United States.
Saudi Arabia is continuing to evaluate a range of options for the naval modernization program, including purchases of up to 12 of Lockheed’s steel monohull Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) or the larger DDG-51 destroyer built by General Dynamics Corp (GD.N), executives said.
The number of ships would depend on whether Saudi Arabia opted for the smaller or larger of the hull forms, they said.
The Saudi Naval Expansion Program II, or SNEP program, has been under discussion for years, but U.S. industry and government officials say the effort picked up some fresh momentum in recent months. Earlier estimates had put the value of the program at around $ 20 billion.
Dewar said proposals submitted to Saudi officials by the U.S. government also included Lockheed’s Aegis combat system, an MH-60R helicopter it builds with Sikorsky Aircraft, a unit of United Technologies Corp (UTX.N), and a fast missile craft it designed with VT Halter Marine, a unit of ST Engineering.
He said no decisions had been made on the program.
Paul Lemmo, Lockheed senior vice president for corporate strategy and business development, told Reuters in a separate interview at the air show that the LCS ship was one of the options still being evaluated by Saudi Arabia.
The U.S. Navy had planned to buy 52 of the faster, more agile warships, but may scale back that order due to mounting budget pressures, which makes any possible foreign orders that much more important for Lockheed.
Australia’s Austal (ASB.AX) builds a different aluminum-hulled trimaran version of the LCS ship, but the Saudi government is not looking at possible purchases of that model at this time, U.S. officials said.
The U.S. LCS ships were designed to carry interchangeable mission packages or “modules” for the Navy, but Lemmo said Saudi Arabia and other potential foreign buyers all wanted permanent weapons capabilities built into the ship.
He said Lockheed had proposed outfitting the ship with a lighter version of the Aegis combat system that would carry vertical missile launchers and the Aegis SPY-1F radar that Norway installed on five frigates for Norway.
That is a smaller radar with less range than Lockheed’s SPY-3 radar that is installed on the DDG-51 destroyers built by General Dynamics.
Lemmo said Saudi was still evaluating if it needed larger ships that could carry the large missile defense system, or a larger number of smaller, multi-mission ships.
He said the smaller LCS ships could be outfitted with vertical launch systems that could fire smaller missiles, including the SM-2 missiles.
No comment was immediately available from the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which oversees major foreign arms sales.
A woman drives a car in Saudi Arabia October 22, 2013.
Credit: Reuters/Faisal Al Nasser
RIYADH | Sun Oct 27, 2013 11:38am EDT
RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi women demanding the right to drive said on Sunday they would keep up their campaign a day after government warnings and a heavy police presence thwarted their call for many women to get behind the wheel.
Activists are asking Saudi women to go on driving in public and posting online photographs or films of themselves doing so, after putting dozens of such videos on YouTube in recent weeks.
A video posted online on Sunday showed a woman in the black headscarf typically worn by Saudi women driving with her son to and from Kingdom Hospital in north Riyadh earlier in the day.
“The campaign continues, in order to normalize driving in our country, whose laws allow the practice of this right,” said a Tweet posted on the campaign’s Twitter feed.
The activists say no specific law in Saudi Arabia bans women from driving, although women cannot apply for driving licenses. Government officials say a ban is in effect because it accords with the wishes of society in the conservative kingdom.
Activists posted 12 films on YouTube said to be of women driving on Saturday, and said some other women had also driven but without recording their exploits on video or in photographs.
Those who did drive were defying government admonitions backed up by a hefty police presence in the capital Riyadh. Interior Ministry employees had also contacted leaders of the campaign individually to tell them not to drive on Saturday.
“Yesterday there were lots of police cars so I didn’t take the risk. I only took the wheel for a few minutes. Today I drove and nobody stopped me. For sure I will drive every day doing my normal tasks,” Azza al-Shamasi, the woman who filmed herself driving to the hospital on Sunday, told Reuters.
In Riyadh, police erected impromptu roadblocks on Saturday and peered through car windows to ensure women were not driving. Many traffic patrols were also in evidence as the authorities tried to foil any defiance of the men-only road rules.
A report on Sabq.org, a Saudi news website, late on Saturday said six women had been stopped for driving by Riyadh police.
DRIVING PLEDGE
In Jeddah, Samia el-Moslimany, a half-Egyptian half-American woman married to a Saudi for 27 years, said she was briefly held and made to sign a pledge that she would not drive again.
“I drove around the neighborhood in Jeddah,” she said.
When she drove in the kingdom’s second city earlier in the evening, several cars followed with young men waving at her. Minutes after she relinquish the wheel to her driver, police surrounded her car and took her into detention, she said.
Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam and a U.S. ally, is an absolute monarchy that forbids political protests.
The al-Saud family, which has ruled with the aid of clerics from Sunni Islam’s strict Wahhabi school, finances the religious establishment and allows it significant control over Saudi law.
Saudi Arabia is the only country on earth to bar women from driving. It also forbids them from travelling abroad, opening a bank account or working without permission from a male relative.
King Abdullah has pushed some cautious reforms to give women more employment opportunities and a greater public voice in Saudi Arabia, but has often faced resistance from senior clergy.
Last week some ultra-conservative clerics staged a protest outside the royal court against the campaign for women to drive.
A YouTube film made by male Saudi comedians went viral on Saturday, parodying the Bob Marley song ‘No Woman No Cry’ as ‘No Woman No Drive’, to support the women’s driving campaign.
In the short film, comedian Hisham Fageeh sang, whistled and danced with lyrics that included “I remember when you used to sit in the family car but backseat… in this bright future you can’t forget your past, so put your car key away”.
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Editor’s Note: Israel and Saudi Arabia are joining together simply because they have a common enemy in Iran. That is basically how alliances are formed. They want to eliminate Assad because he is Iran’s major ally. The US supports the Saudi monarchy for geostrategic and economic reasons—it provides necessary oil to the West. On the other hand, it supports Israel for domestic political reasons—the political power of the Israel lobby. The former serves to enhance US global imperial power, the latter detracts from it—although since US support for Israel is a political given, policy makers sometimes try to make use of Israel to advance American interests .
Israel and Saudi Arabia are rogue states writ large. They’re two of the world’s worst. They deplore democratic values. They spurn rule of law principles. They commit horrendous human and civil rights abuses. They’re responsible for daily crimes against humanity.
They partner with Washington’s imperial wars. They’re an odd couple. They’re strange bedfellows. Perhaps they’re joining forces. Formal relations aren’t maintained. Back channel secret ones substitute.
On October 2, Israel’s Channel 2 TV news said senior Israeli security officials met with a high-level Gulf state counterpart. They did so in Jerusalem.
The Arab official’s name wasn’t mentioned. It’s believed to be Saudi Prince Bandar ibn Sultan. Representing his government, he’s very much involved in Washington’s war on Syria. So is Israel.
Bandar’s visit broke a decades long taboo. It marks the first known time a Saudi official visited Israel. It’s believed no others did so earlier.
Bandar did it covertly, not openly. He came to discuss interests both countries share. They include toppling Assad and confronting Iran.
Doing so involves forming a dark alliance. Including America, it’s hard imagining a darker one. It’s an axis of evil writ large.
Saudi money allied with US/Israeli warmaking reflect sinister/lethal trouble. On October 8, UPI headlined “Saudis bankroll new rebel force to fight own war on Assad.”
They’re recruiting, funding and arming Salafist extremists. A “pro-Saudi warlord” is involved.
Riyadh wants “to foment an Iraq-style ‘Sunni Awakening.” It wants to do so by toppling Assad. According to Middle East analyst Michael Weiss:
Saudi officials have “taken substantive measures to circumvent Washington altogether on Syria by activating a cadre of new clients in the form of hard-line Salafist rebels who are now united under the umbrella of the army of Islam.”
They “enlisted ’50 brigades’ and some thousands of fighters under a new structure (led) by Zahran Alloush.” He “heads Liwa al-Islam, the new group’s most powerful Salafist brigade.”
A previous article discussed him. His father, Abdullah Mohammed Alloush, is a Salafist cleric. Aharan conducts joint operations with Jabhat al-Nusra. He rejects peaceful conflict resolution. He won’t negotiate with Assad.
In July 2012, Liva al-Islam was responsible for killing Syrian Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha, his deputy Asef Shawkat and Assistant Vice President Hassan Turkmani.
UPI quoted pro-regime Saudi analyst Jamal Khashoggi saying:
“For us in Saudi Arabia, the worst scenario is to let (Assad) survive. He has to go.”
Prince Bandar heads Riyadh’s General Intelligence Directorate. Earlier he was Saudi’s US ambassador. He served for 22 years. He’s a master of regional intrigue.
The Prince who scaled the Kremlin Walls
In July, he tried bribing Vladimir Putin. In return for billions of dollars in Russian arms purchases and other economic incentives, he wanted him to stop supporting Assad.
He chose the wrong leader. Putin isn’t for sale. He won’t abandon Syria for blood money. He diplomatically told Bandar no deal.
Apparently what he’s selling Israel is buying. Together with America they comprise an alliance from hell. Other Gulf states and Jordan are believed to be involved.
Israel and Saudi Arabia are strange bedfellows. Israel is a predominantly secular Jewish state. The House of Saud is an fundamentalist Sunni Islam Wahhabi one. Fanaticism defines it.
It’s extremely hostile to Shia Islam and secular Arab states. Assad’s Alawite rule makes him especially unacceptable. Wahhabis want him toppled.
They want their version of Islam replacing Iran’s predominantly Shia government. Israel wants regional rivals removed.
Rogue states operate that way. They employ extreme measures to achieve goals. War is common strategy to do so.
Israel and Saudi Arabia both oppose responsible governance. They deplore treating everyone equitably and fairly. They want Arab spring eruptions contained. They want them kept from blooming.
They fear them spreading and affecting their rule. They backed Egypt’s military coup against Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi.
They want Sunni/Shia divisions exploited advantageously. They believe confrontations and instability work best. They think conflict resolutions, peace, and stability defeat them strategically.
They perhaps believe allying creates greater mutually beneficial opportunities.
Neocons — Paul Wolfowitz, William Kristol, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, Scooter Libby, John Bolton, Michael Ledeen
Incoming Likud Prime Minister Netanyahu requested “a new set of ideas” ahead of his first term. Neocon hardliners recommended jettisoning notions of peace.
They advocated replacing “land for peace” with “peace for peace.” They proposed challenging Syria confrontationally. They wanted Iraq “redefine(d).”
They urged “wean(ing) the south Lebanese Shia from Hezbollah, Iran and Syria.” They wrote:
“Israel can shape its strategic environment, in cooperation with Turkey and Jordan, by weakening, containing, and even rolling back Syria.”
“This effort can focus on removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq – an important Israeli objective in its own right.”
“Given the nature of the regime in Damascus (much the same today), it is both natural and moral that Israel abandon the slogan comprehensive peace and move to contain Syria, drawing attention to its weapons of mass destruction programs, and rejecting land for peace deals on the Golan Heights.”
Perle et al’s report was a destabilization/regime change manifesto. It was implemented in Iraq and Libya. Neither effort turned out as planned.
Shia Iraq replaced Saddam’s Sunni governance. Local militia gangs control most parts of Libya. Both countries are out-of-control cauldrons of violence.
Bordering countries are affected. Contagion spreads easily. Doing so cross border continues. The phrase be careful what you wish for applies. Best laid plans this time went awry.
Clean break strategy targets Syria, Iran, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Palestine’s Hamas. Tactics includes managed news misinformation, backing internal and external dissident groups, and other belligerent/destabilizing initiatives.
At issue is replacing independent governments/Israeli-Saudi rivals with controllable vassals. It aims to benefit Sunni Islam at the expense of Shias.
It bears repeating. Pursuing this agenda risks embroiling the entire region in conflict. It risks global war.
It risks what no responsible leaders would chance. Stopping what’s potentially catastrophic is top priority. Doing it in time matters most.
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