[ad_1]
ISTANBUL (WASHINGTON POST) – Some brutal humor is circulating in the Arab world.
One popular meme on Twitter, emanating from North Africa's Maghreb region and captioned "Saudi diplomatic pouch", shows a wooden box stuffed with saws, drills and chisels.
Another, a video of lumberjacks using chains and axes, is labeled "Competition for best Saudi ambassador".
In the upper echelons of regional governments, however, few are laughing in Saudi Arabia and its crown prince, Muhammad bin Salman, face what may be the most serious threat to the kingdom's power and stability in a generation.
Many have long worried about the prince's ambition and perceived arrogance. Others resent Saudi dominance and wealth. Nearly all are shocked at what has been officially sanctioned and dismembered by Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Turkey.
But what are the Arabs most concerned about, regional officials and experts say, they are looking at their own stability and security should Saudi Arabia's status – and its close ties with the United States – be seriously undermined.
"The situation is a dilemma for the region because of the uncertainty of how it will affect the relationship with the US long-term," said a senior official of the Persian Gulf country, one of the following: sensitive issue.
As the Trump administration compiles what Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday (Oct. 23) called his own "data set" on what, exactly, happened to Mr Khashoggi, and weighs how to fully respond, regional concern is mounting.
If the administration decides – or is pressured by Congress and public opinion – to seriously step back from its alliance with Riyadh, "our security is at risk," the gulf official said. "Iran might see another opportunity to destabilize."
Not every Arab country is happy with every aspect of President Donald Trump's policies towards the Arab world. Most, but not all, share the antipathy towards the Muslim Brotherhood, the region's leading purveyor of political Islam. Some are more unhappy than others in the administration's pro-Israel, and its up-and-down relationship with non-Arab Turkey is closely watched.
But with few exceptions, Mr Trump's determination to crack down on Iran, after what was seen in the Obama administration's stance towards their regional rival, has been greeted with relief. And for better or worse, Mr Trump has chosen Saudi Arabia as its main interlocutor and leading Arab ally in confronting Teheran.
However, they do feel about the crown prince, under the current administration, Saudi Arabia is the "pillar" around which the Arab relationship with the US is anchored.
"Who else (in the region) is going to lead?" this official asked.
The United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia's closest Persian Gulf partner, has the most reliable US military partner, and privately disdained Saudi tactics in the Yemen against Iran-backed rebels that both are fighting.
Last week, Mr Anwar Gargash, the UAE's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, posted a reminder that Saudi Arabia, the location of some of Islam's holiest sites and a substantial portion of the world's oil, is important to all of them.
"From the perspective of the sounds of the Arab Gulf and the region," he wrote on Oct. 16, "The Saudi presence is vital for stability and development in a troubled and difficult atmosphere.
Three days later, Mr Gargash tweeted that the region "depends on Saudi Arabia (and) all that it represents politically, economically and religiously".
There was a difference, he said, between the importance of getting the truth about Mr Khashoggi, "and targeting Riyadh and its role".
Even in the Maghreb, where tensions with the Saudis have spread since his death, he is apparently "outraged" about the Khashoggi situation, "the question is, will the US try to save the relationship to Saudi without MBS, or will they try to save the relationship to the Saudis and MBS ", a North African official said, referring to the crown prince by his initials.
Since Mr Khashoggi failed to come back to the consulate in Istanbul on Oct 2, the story has been updated. What started with complete denial – and insistence that he left the consulate under his own steam – became, in a statement from Riyadh last Saturday, an admission that he was killed in a "fight fist" at the consulate during a "rogue" operation that Prince Mohammed knew nothing about. Arrests had been made, the statement said, and investigations were continuing.
The statement brought new expressions of support from the region.
Bahrain, the tiny island nation in the Persian Gulf whose sovereignty of the Saudi Arabian defended during the Arab Spring, praised the "wise directives and sound and prompt decisions" of Saudi leaders.
"Bahrain reiterates its strong solidarity with Saudi Arabia in all its stances and measures and utterly rejects any attempt that targets its security, sovereignty and stability," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The Kuwaiti government commends the "transparent" and "international" announcement of the international community to the understanding of the "sensitive case to completion of the investigation and facts are revealed". It praised Saudi Arabia's role in maintaining regional peace and stability.
Egypt and Jordan, both of which depend on Saudi economic support, issued statements of support. Jordan's King Abdullah II sat at the crown prince's side of the world.
Among the gulf countries, only Qatar – locked in a bitter dispute with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, who is responsible for other things that it is too close to both Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood – has spoken out against Riyadh.
Ms Lolway al-Khatar, spokesman for the Qatari foreign ministry, said that the Khashoggi should be a wake-up call for the world.
Noting that Prince Muhammad, the author of the book, and the author of a book on the subject what we have been going through ".
But Khashoggi crisis is Iran. From the start, they are noticeably reticent, apparently content to stand back and watch the unravel position.
It was only on Monday, after the official statement of Mr. Khashoggi's death, that a senior Iranian official broke the silence.
"This case of murder is more serious than the murder of innocent people," Iranian judiciary chief Sadegh Amoli Larijani said in an apparent reference to the crown prince, according to Agence France-Presse in Teheran.
The world, he said, must understand the gravity of "Saudi state terrorism".
[ad_2]
Source link
