Will Mideast Allies Drag Us Into War?
Submitted by Patrick Buchanan via Buchanan.org,
The New Year’s execution by Saudi Arabia of the Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr was a deliberate provocation.
Its first purpose: Signal the new ruthlessness and resolve of the Saudi monarchy where the power behind the throne is the octogenarian King Salman’s son, the 30-year-old Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman.
Second, crystallize, widen and deepen a national-religious divide between Sunni and Shiite, Arab and Persian, Riyadh and Tehran.
Third, rupture the rapprochement between Iran and the United States and abort the Iranian nuclear deal.
The provocation succeeded in its near-term goal. An Iranian mob gutted and burned the Saudi embassy, causing diplomats to flee, and Riyadh to sever diplomatic ties.
From Baghdad to Bahrain, Shiites protested the execution of a cleric who, while a severe critic of Saudi despotism and a champion of Shiite rights, was not convicted of inciting revolution or terror.
In America, the reaction has been divided.
The Wall Street Journal rushed, sword in hand, to the side of the Saudi royals: “The U.S. should make clear to Iran and Russia that it will defend the Kingdom from Iranian attempts to destabilize or invade.”
The Washington Post was disgusted. In an editorial, “A Reckless Regime,” it called the execution risky, ruthless and unjustified.
Yet there is a lesson here.
Like every regime in the Middle East, the Saudis look out for their own national interests first. And their goals here are to first force us to choose between them and Iran, and then to conscript U.S. power on their side in the coming wars of the Middle East.
Thus the Saudis went AWOL from the battle against ISIS and al-Qaida in Iraq and Syria. Yet they persuaded us to help them crush the Houthi rebels in Yemen, though the Houthis never attacked us and would have exterminated al-Qaida.
Now that a Saudi coalition has driven the Houthis back toward their northern basecamp, ISIS and al-Qaida have moved into some of the vacated terrain. What kind of victory is that — for us?
In the economic realm, also, the Saudis are doing us no favors.
While Riyadh is keeping up oil production and steadily bringing down the world price on which Iranian and Russian prosperity hangs, the Saudis are also crippling the U.S. fracking industry they fear.
The Turks, too, look out for number one. The Turkish shoot-down of that Russian fighter-bomber, which may have intruded into its airspace for 17 seconds, was both a case in point and a dangerous and provocative act.
Had Vladimir Putin chosen to respond militarily against Turkey, a NATO ally, his justified retaliation could have produced demands from Ankara for the United States to come to its defense against Russia.
A military clash with our former Cold War adversary, which half a dozen U.S. presidents skillfully avoided, might well have been at hand.
These incidents raise some long-dormant but overdue questions.
What exactly is our vital interest in a permanent military alliance that obligates us to go to war on behalf of an autocratic ally as erratic and rash as Turkey’s Tayyip Recep Erdogan?
Do U.S.-Turkish interests really coincide today?
While Turkey’s half-million-man army could easily seal the Syrian border and keep ISIS fighters from entering or leaving, it has failed to do so. Instead, Turkey is using its army to crush the Kurdish PKK and threaten the Syrian Kurds who are helping us battle ISIS.
In Syria’s civil war — with the army of Bashar Assad battling ISIS and al-Qaida — it is Russia and Iran and even Hezbollah that seem to be more allies of the moment than the Turks, Saudis or Gulf Arabs.
“We have no permanent allies … no permanent enemies … only permanent interests” is a loose translation of the dictum of the 19th century British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston.
Turkey’s shoot-down of a Russian jet and the Saudi execution of a revered Shiite cleric, who threatened no one in prison, should cause the United States to undertake a cost-benefit analysis of the alliances and war guarantees we have outstanding, many of them dating back half a century.
Do all, do any, still serve U.S. vital national interests?
In the Middle East, where the crucial Western interest is oil, and every nation — Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Libya — has to sell it to survive — no nation should be able drag us into a war not of our own choosing.
In cases where we share a common enemy, we should follow the wise counsel of the Founding Fathers and entrust our security, if need be, to “temporary,” but not “permanent” or “entangling alliances.”
Moreover, given the myriad religious, national and tribal divisions between the nations of the Middle East, and within many of them, we should continue in the footsteps of our fathers, who kept us out of such wars when they bedeviled the European continent of the 19th century.
This hubristic Saudi blunder should be a wake-up call for us all.
(13 votes)
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Pat, "allies"? Really?
Watch the "Other" hand....
Drag us?
really?
We planned it all.
No but the little fuck in North Korea might drag us into one...
01.05 21:05 ET – BREAKING NEWS – 5.1 Earthquake Near N. Korea Nuke Test SiteIf the dept is 0km, then that might be a problem.
Edit: The depth is 10km, just a small natural quake...
http://ds.iris.edu/seismon/eventlist/index.phtml?region=Central_Asia&lon...
CNES (China) reports 0km, USGS has not updated yet.
Ouch!
China Xinhua News ?@XHNews
#BREAKING: #NorthKorea expected to make major announcement at 0330 GMT Wednesday: Xinhua
Embedded image
108
32
China Xinhua News
14m14 minutes ago
China Xinhua News ?@XHNews
#BREAKING: Earthquake in #NorthKorea "presumed to be artificial": #SouthKorea media
Embedded image
Uuhh.....I think it's the other way around.
China Xinhua News ?@XHNews
#BREAKING: China's earthquake network center says depth of M4.9 quake in #NorthKorea 0 km, USGS says 10 km
Someones modern day science isnt working too good. 10Km is a sizeable difference.
Not 'we'. Israeli-Neocons treasonous criminals in charge of the US executive branch, supported by AIPAC-owned Congress.
I know, seriously right? Without those Israeli-neocons, the Saudis would never have beheaded a prominent Shiite cleric and set off a major international dispute. Those damned Israeli-neocons! *shakes fist*
Who is this US people keep referring to? And what does national interest mean? I'm not joking because I'm completely in the dark. What I'm not in the dark about are the arguments predicated on lies - 911, Sandy hook Boston bombing, Wmds , equal justice for all except bankers and the wealthy and connected
sandy hook made o cry, which started the whole world laughing...
so very sad
yeah, it would break its fucking heart to oversee another false flag terror event.
ck out the crying game O video. pure bullshit.
I really want to know if anyone actually believes that crap.
tears, check/emotion, nada
frickin amazing sideshow
yeah, Zionist media seemingly gobbles that shit up.
The "National Interest" is in getting some profits booked early for the MIC and their congressional minions.
FORWARD SOVIET!
http://rense.com/general96/nobodydied.html
With "allies" like the Saudis & the Turks who needs enemies? ;-)
And Israelis, don't forget the 'allies' who own Congress.
we are already there.
Wasn't it the US who drew the Mideast into war with the invasion of Iraq, Libya, Syria and so on and so forth?
The wake-up calls are going to a disconnected number.....
Do any serve our national interest? Uh, like NO.... But the real question is do they serve the interests of the guys running the show..,
Ride to the sound of the goons.
Pretty sure Merica created this cluster fuck in the 1970's. Nearly 5 decades of funding terrorist organisations and framing Shi'ite dominate nations for the bullshit YOUVE CREATED....yeah....this reakky cany end well. America is a fucking joke. And an empty shell of its former self. Whatever that even means.
Nobody is "choosing" Pat, you fucking dolt! If we stopped your statist-in-crime President Redline once, we can stop him again.
Doddering old fools who's time is way past to hang up their cleats don't impress me.
Amen to the final paragraph. been dealing with this crap since the beginning
Most of America doesn't seem to bothered that we have perpetual war. They may care when they start the draft. If they do that it will go down so hard and fast nobody will know what the hell is going on. It seems empires are quite vulnerable while in the process of trying to acquire people for their meat grinders. If they can't show that they raise large armies at a moments notice they look weak. So they are absolutely ruthless and quick moving about these thing.
Just like after that crappy day in Sept when laws were past before people even knew what was going on.
Saudi Arabia and Turkey are the worst "allies" we could have. Obama bows and scrapes to them.
No, Obama answers strictly to the international banking mafia.
No ,Obama is to complete his plan to help Turkey become the head of the new Caliphate and fulfill his fathers dreams.
any treaty that commits the United States to war is unconstitutional. The President and the Senate make treaties. only the House of Representatives can declare war.
I agree but unfortunately there is a big pile of dead bodies that say otherwise.
The House to declare or Mr. O to attack using the War Powers Act ... But again, who would he attack, real mixed feelings for him now and besides he is really busy making war on American gun ownership
I'm afraid that Saudi Arabia and Israel will do anything to get us into a war with Iran. If the obvious taunt that SA just pulled with the execution doesn't work, then they'll frame Iran with a false flag. It wouldn't suprise me if a nuke went off in the region in order to pass it off as an "Iranian attack". Saudi Arabia is getting desperate to stop Shiite influence in the region. If they're willing to support Sunni extremists, then they wouldn't even blink at setting off a nuke.
You read about the Korean H-bomb going off, right?
For the right price, Iran buys it from them and claims they developed it themselves. After that, SA/Riyadh takes it up the Hershey Hwy.
Nato membership should require responsibilities. Given Turkey is irresponsible it should be suspended from NATO until it can show some responsibility.
Barbaric Saudi should be sanctioned. Oh but we dont do that to bloody human rigts abusers who oppose democracy!
Wahington - the home of the hypocrates.
If you can get someone to ask the wrong question, you don't have to worry about the answer. The real question is why does the US have any "allies" at all?
i'm shocked pat didn't include israel and the zionazis in any of this analysis.
That's because Buchanan's criticism of Israel has always been rational and fact-based, rather than the knee-jerk blaming everything on them which is so popular here nowadays. And when the Saudis following their own fucked-up theofascist doctrine deliberately piss off the Iranians, it is not rational to fixate on Israel, which has absolutely nothing to do with it.
oops
they are allies with saudi, therefore, supporting their cause. they are involved. they may or may not be principles but they should never be excluded from any of these discussions.
It doesn't occur to you that dragging a particular party into every situation no matter how tangentially they may be related to it might be just a little on the mentally disturbed side?
This has gotten silly. Saudis behead a prominent Shiite, Turks shoot down a Russian jet, Muslim invaders run rampant in Hungary and Germany and Sweden and people here scream about Israel over these things... this is not rational or reasonable behavior, which is why you won't find someone who is rational and reasonable like Pat Buchanan engaging in it.
Feels like talking to the evangelical types around here - anything you say is an excuse for them to push Jesus on you. Comment on the rain, Jesus. Talk about your bowel movements, Jesus. Traffic sucks? Jesus. Traffic pretty good? More Jesus.
Too many ZH commenters are just like that. Sauds chop heads and Turks down jets and columns of Muslim men overrun Europe and anything else that happens in the world, they have one answer, they always go to it, and they act as if utterly convinced that there can be no cause of anything that doesn't lead back to Israel, just like the Jesus freaks act as if utterly convinced that there is nothing that can't be a reason to talk about Jesus.
Jesus Christ people, give it a rest already. It's not interesting nor informative nor true that everything in the world stems from a Zionist plot. This world has a great many actors all acting on their own behalf and not spending their entire existence dancing like puppets for some Jewish master in Tel Aviv. I know it's more complicated than the stupidly simple blame-Israel routine, and actually requires independent thought to work things out for yourself in a world full of disinformation and misinformation and half-truths and outright lies, but if you have any interest in figuring out what is actually going on in the world rather than requiring a simplistic one-villain mental crutch, it's worth it.
Here's a radical thought: When the Saudis chop heads, blame the Saudis. When the Turks shoot down Russian planes, blame the Turks. These other countries have plenty of independent agency and are making their own decisions and are the ones properly held responsible for those decisions.
they are much more than tangentially involved. that is just a stupid statement and false.
I'm sure many agree SanityBear. It's to the point where it cast a pall over this website. As a recent poster I had to decide if that kind of childish behavior was worth the distraction of ignoring to get to the good stuff. Yes, Jews and "Michelle Obama's dick?" What the hell. I thought you had to at least be over 13 to contribute here.
You are probably correct in saying Israel is not the one to blame in this case.
And I see in several threads you appear to be trying to add a rational argument in Israeli's behalf.
What you fail to see is that it doesn't matter whether they are wrong in a specific instance. They have been wrong so many times, and continue to this day to act evil. Their goal is to take, take, and take more. They will commit any crime to achieve their goal. They will infilitrate and influence other countries governments, and get these other countries to help them in their evil goals.
So it doesn't matter whether they are guilty of every evil thing committed. The fact is, they are bullies and liars, and thieves. They are fair game to be attacked every chance possible.
They are evil.
I am not "speaking up on Israel's behalf". I am not partial to Israel in any way.
I am speaking up on rationality's behalf. This world is way too complex for one simple response to be the answer to all questions, yet people are in all seriousness asserting that it can be so.
Your complaint about Israel's activities is valid, however it can also be applied to many many many other parties, not the least of which is the US government. That complaint can also be fairly directed at the Saudis and the Chinese and many other countries.
Heck, that complaint can be fairly lodged against human beings in general.