Saudi Arabia is seeking security guarantees from the United States, help with developing a civilian nuclear program and fewer restrictions on U.S. arms sales as its price for normalizing relations with Israel, people familiar with the exchanges say.
Why in the everlasting fuck should the United States be on the hook for bribing Saudi Arabia into having diplomatic relations with Israel? Martin Indyk, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel in the Clinton administration, explains the proposal:
Mr. Netanyahu “wants it badly, and he can only get it with Biden’s help,” Mr. Indyk said. “That creates a situation where Biden has leverage over Netanyahu to persuade him that nothing good can happen with Saudi Arabia if he allows the situation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem to explode.”
He added that Mr. Biden would also see full normalization between the countries as being in the United States’ interest, particularly as a means of countering Iranian influence. Biden officials have long said it is their goal to build on the Trump-era accords.
Does Indyk think we're all idiots? Netanyahu isn't going to "allow" the West Bank and East Jerusalem to explode. He and his ultra pals want the West Bank and East Jerusalem to explode. That way they have an excuse to continue killing and expelling as many Palestinians as possible. Come on.
If Israel and Saudi Arabia want to normalize relations because they both hate Iran, they should go right ahead. But leave us out of it. The prospect of forming a Triple Alliance of Doom with those two fills me with nothing but existential dread. They'd be slavering for us to turn Iran into a glassy plain before the ink was dry, and then they'd want us to provide a million troops for occupation and a few trillion dollars to rebuild the place. In return, we'd get a heaping helping of barely concealed contempt. But we already get that for free.
Thanks but no thanks.
What are the odds Biden has already greenlighted a covert Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear program?
100%. The U.S. undoubtedly has various plans already drafted, periodically updated, and ready to propose to Biden if and when the pertinent trigger point is reached, at which time he will or will not order implementation.
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I used to worry a lot about this possibility. But with Iran actively in league with Russia to support the Russian war against Ukraine, I am less concerned. Iran today is more or less just as bad of a nation-state as is Israel is.
Fine with me as long as it's not US jets or pilots.
China, incidentally, is apparently brokering a deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Washington isn't going to like that one little bit.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/10/middleeast/saudi-iran-resume-ties-intl/index.html
I don’t care what the issue is, building on anything from the Trump era is building on a rotten foundation. And have Netanyahu or MBS even bothered to conceal their contempt for Democratic Presidents? Screw-um.
Thanks Kevin...the unvarnished and nauseating truth...however upsetting that truth must be.
I agree. I think it was well-stated, with the level of drama and hyperbole that I enjoy.
Why should MbS and Bibi require US incentives to get up close & personal? They're both trying to run autocratic theocracies. So much in common!
On days like this, I'm with Dr. Juan Cole. A better "partner" for the United States in the Middle East would be Iran.
Iran or Venezuela and out goes Saudi oil blackmail. None of the three has leaders that pass the smell test but the former two have populations that are not entirely cowed. For the life of me I don't understand why the US and Europe keep kissing MBS's feet. There are TWO alternatives and both are better than Saudi Arabia, and potentially future democracies too.
How would that work? The US and Iran are on opposite sides in the Russian imperialist war in Ukraine.
The right seems to enjoy moralistic, blunt foreign policy rules. So let's make a new one, the "Divest from Murderous Tyrants Act" or some such.
For every dollar in concessions, aid, bribes or (especially) weapons to SA, a dollar must be invested in domestic green energy.
And as for PR brinksmanship games, starting to talk forthrightly about SA the same way we talk about, say, China is pretty easy to start doing. Congresscritters could spend a lot of time on talking heads shows making the next (R) president very uncomfortable. The detente on that issue isn't sacred, and a lot of the younger Dems seem to be fine with being less, ah, polite about such things.
Good points, all.
Since Iran is funding Russian terrorism, nuking Iran is ok with me now. I have little regard for Israel, Iran, or Saudi. Let them fight each other.
Sadly, there is little doubt that the Biden administration will do this deal. They have an unnecessary and unnatural attachment to these religious fanatics.
You may be right, but I have more doubt than just a little that Joe Biden would make this mistake. He's pretty smart on the international stage.
And he doesn’t have to deal with a sector of his party that wants to bring on Armageddon.
Yes, it's really astounding how many Republicans think they won't be the ones "Left Behind."
I can't remember the last time I saw Kevin this salty! He dropped an F-bomb!
But yeah, fuck Saudi Arabia and their journalist-murdering prince.
Ditto. I did not see that saltiness coming. Every bit of it, though, felt right on n the money. Let Saudi Arabia and Israel work out their own problems if they want to.
Likewise Netanyahu and his apartheid regime: https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/editorial/2023-02-26/ty-article/.premium/israels-cabinet-just-advanced-full-fledged-apartheid-in-the-west-bank/00000186-8a7e-d525-a9ef-9efe63060000
Like +10. Israel has worn out its welcome. And it needs to do quite a bit to get back into (my) good graces. Now, to convince Congress...
Murdering our journalists and getting a fist bump in return is not enough for them it seems.
Meanwhile: https://news.google.com/articles/CBMibGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNuYmMuY29tLzIwMjMvMDMvMTAvYXJjaC1yaXZhbHMtaXJhbi1hbmQtc2F1ZGktYXJhYmlhLWFncmVlLXRvLXJldml2ZS10aWVzLXJlb3Blbi1lbWJhc3NpZXMuaHRtbNIBcGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNuYmMuY29tL2FtcC8yMDIzLzAzLzEwL2FyY2gtcml2YWxzLWlyYW4tYW5kLXNhdWRpLWFyYWJpYS1hZ3JlZS10by1yZXZpdmUtdGllcy1yZW9wZW4tZW1iYXNzaWVzLmh0bWw?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen
“ Arch-rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia agree to revive ties, reopen embassies in China-brokered deal”
Yeah....
It is so terribly sad that Bibi was re elected. Like t-Rump, he is the scum of the bottom of the pond.
Well, like they say, the scum always rises to the top.
Why bribe Saudia Arabia to normalize relations with Israel? Because it turns out the alternative was China bribes them to normalize relations with Iran instead.