The situation on the ground in the Middle East is much more complicated then most people would realize….
While thousand in Iraq march against America?
Other’s are happy to see an American President go after Iran directly…
Many in the region hate Iran for what they see as its efforts to build Shiite militias to advance its interests and undermine Arab states in a majority-Sunni region. That left many pleased, privately at least, that the United States had killed General Suleimani, the most visible face of that project.
Khalid al-Dakhil, a political sociologist in Saudi Arabia, criticized Iran for selling itself to the Arabs as the head of “the resistance” — the regional struggle against the United States and Israel — when it has expended more effort in recent years amassing power in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
“What kind of a resistance is this?” he said. “It is a resistance meant to cover the sectarian substance of Iran’s policy in the region.”
While many gulf leaders agree, they have not publicly praised General Suleimani’s killing for fear of attracting Iran’s ire.
“Saudi Arabia and all the gulf countries are just quiet,” Dr. al-Dakhil said. “They don’t want to antagonize the Iranians, because the situation in the region is so delicate, so divided, so sensitive, that you don’t want to stir it up further.”
Prince Khalid bin Salman, the Saudi deputy defense minister and a younger brother of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, flew to Washington this weekend for consultations with United States officials. And on Saturday, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, the foreign minister of Qatar, met with his Iranian counterpart in Tehran.
Exacerbating the nervousness in the gulf are questions about the extent of the support countries can expect from Mr. Trump should they become the target of Iranian retaliation, be it military action, a cyberattack or sabotage, said Barbara Leaf, a former United States ambassador to the United Arab Emirates who is now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Gulf leaders, she said, want to know “what is the U.S. planning next?”
And still more important, Ms. Leaf said: “What is it willing to do for its highly vulnerable gulf partners, who are seen by Tehran as partners in the economic warfare being waged by the U.S. on Iran?”
The situation is also complex for American allies in countries where the United States competes for influence with Iran…..
The Kurds (though they might not get on well with Arabs or Turks) could reassure them about how strongly, steadfastly, and loyally the U.S. backs up it allies. :–0
Exactly, and of course Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been silent, they have the most to lose and have actual business dealings with the Trump family. Shades of grey right.
This is actually a bullshit story. Get back to me when they engage troops in any potential conflict.
Saudi Arabia of course might welcome a war with its regional adversary.
Politically, it will be difficult for the government of Iran NOT to respond to the assassination. If this ends well, we really, really lucked out.
The folks who financed 9/11 don’t like to put their own people in harms way. But they are good at dismembering journalists.
They will expect Trump to do their fighting for them.
In other news Joe Walsh couldn’t even qualify for the Illinois primary ballot. Odd that he didn’t have any professional help. Those never Trumpers sure are getting the shit kicked out of them. But they are essentially nonexistent anyway.
When did American intelligence agencies cease being part of the “deep state?”
I’m sure ISIS is thrilled that we got rid of what is arguably its #1 enemy Suleimani.
Its getting difficult to determine who exactly are our “friends” in the Middle East or what that term even means in this part of the world.
Sulemani was not our friend. That one was simple.
(Israel is our friend. Also very simple)
Yes The United State and Israel have been allies for years.
I’m though talking about where the present “action” seems to be.Syria, Iraq ,Iran…
Who is our “friend.”
You can look at the leadership of those countries and quickly determine that Iran and Syria are not.
Iraq should be, but that’s largely going to be up to them.
Of course..
And therein is the point.
This weekend the Iraqi Parliament invited us to leave.
Was that mostly for show though? Is that what they REALLY want in private conversations?
Maybe ,maybe not, and thus the original point…
Who are our friends?
You are right that it’s complicated and our confusing foreign policies of the last several years have contributed to that. (Supposed “red lines” that meant nothing for example.)
One thing that should be for certain and that we have recently had a huge issue with is remembering that the Kurds are our friend.
After 9/11 though, we set a doctrine that stated that any state that harbored or assisted terrorists would be treated the same way as terrorists. In that region, it would probably be better to be respected than liked.
Iraq was signaling to Iran,…
Anyone think Iraq can stand on its own two feet is dreaming…
This isn’t about Iraq …
It’s about Iran…
And it shouldn’t done on tweeter ….
No Suleimani is definitely NOT our friend. But he is also the enemy of ISIS.
And he was killing Americans (and had far more effective means to do so), so that makes him just as bad as ISIS. I don’ think we would find him fighting ISIS.
It is my understanding that ISIS would not have been driven out of Iraq without the help of Iran – and Suleimani.
Yes – it is my understanding that he killed hundreds of Americans too when the US was in Iraq.
The USA and Iran have been involved in a covert war for decades. But you already know that.
Can we agree that this is an extremely volatile situation in which the US and Iranian governments might be unable to fully control? The Iranian government is already worried about being overthrown. This doesn’t help.
It would be a good thing if the government is overthrown.
One of the arguments against the recent strike is that it will cause the people to rally around the government, which had been teetering.
I agree – on both statements.
by country over thrown leadership u ARE talking about Iran?