Wednesday, June 09, 2004
Kerry's Future Saudi Problem?
The Asia Times analyzes Kerry's Saudi bashing and the trouble it could get him in.
I'm all for bashing the hypocritical Saudis and exposing their ties to most of the Washington establishment (for more on that read Bob Baer's great
Sleeping with the Devil), but i'm not sure what the alternative is there. If we got rid of the royal family, is there anyone moderate that could step in? Probably not right now. There's a good chance we'd be stuck with a theocracy more brutal than Iran's. For now, we may have to work on trying to change the existing regime, because our alternative may be sending in the Marines...
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"There is only one problem with Kerry's strategy: he may actually win the election. And on his first day in office reality is going to take a hefty bite out of his rhetoric as he grapples with the strategic necessity of the longstanding US-Saudi alliance and the complexity of the situation inside the kingdom, which is presently reeling from attacks on foreigners and its security services. These realizations could force some embarrassing backtracking."
I'm all for bashing the hypocritical Saudis and exposing their ties to most of the Washington establishment (for more on that read Bob Baer's great
Sleeping with the Devil), but i'm not sure what the alternative is there. If we got rid of the royal family, is there anyone moderate that could step in? Probably not right now. There's a good chance we'd be stuck with a theocracy more brutal than Iran's. For now, we may have to work on trying to change the existing regime, because our alternative may be sending in the Marines...
