Testimony to KSA’s significance

PRESIDENT Barack Obama’s high-profile, bi-partisan delegation to Riyadh this week marked a shift in the United States’ relationship with Saudi Arabia. The delegation remained on the ground It was clear to Saudis that Obama wanted to make an impression on Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman to ensure the Kingdom remains a close, if not favored, ally. But events over the past two years have altered that relationship.

Perhaps the most significant development is Saudi Arabia’s continuing stability as other Arab nations falter. The Yemeni government is the latest to fall and Egypt remains volatile. While Egypt, at least in the eyes of the West, was the de facto leader of the Arab world, it is Saudi Arabia that has emerged stronger, more stable and possess the financial resources to protect its neighbors.

At the top of Obama’s to-do list is to snuff out the self-ascribed Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq. Saudi Arabia’s air power is already allied with Western nations by staging air strikes, but that is only a small measure of what the United States needs to get the region under control. And that control will be taken through Saudi Arabia’s diplomacy and a more aggressive foreign policy.

The Obama administration and the Saudi government also must come to terms with the growing anti-immigration sentiment growing in the West, particularly in Europe following the Charlie Hebdo attack, while at the same time agreeing on counterterrorism measures that doesn’t indict all Muslims

The Saudis also must disabuse the Americans that Iran can be trusted in its nuclear negotiations, a mistake of monumental proportions that could have grave consequences in the region and pose a threat nations with a Sunni-

for less than five hours. majority population.

Saudi Arabia is in a position of strength. The conventional wisdom among western Middle East analysts that the Arab Spring would destabilize the Kingdom never occurred. Instead, the Saudi government provided financial resources to Egypt in its time of need and brought a measure of security to its citizens. While Egypt is far from returning to a stable and productive economy, as well as revitalizing its severely damaged tourism industry, Saudi Arabia stood by it while the West stubbornly clung to the fantasy that democracy under the Muslim Brotherhood was better than the rule under Hosni Mubarak. Egypt hasn’t forgotten Saudi Arabia’s support and has given its thanks by declaring seven days of mourning for King Abdullah. The government’s unwavering mission under King Abdullah and now King Salman to support Egypt, aid Syrian refugees, bring to an end IS’ thuggish rule and oust Bashar Assad has made Saudi Arabia the primary resource for other Arab nations threatened by terrorists to receive support. The United States, as well intentioned as it is, could not and cannot deliver such support. The window of opportunity closed once the Obama administration decided to seek Congressional approval to strike Syria in August 2013. The United Nations and Great Britain were complicit in losing the opportunity when it refused to support Obama’s initial decision to strike Syria. Congress’ Republicans also refused to lend their support, citing that Syria posed no threat to the United States. It turns out that everybody got it wrong despite urging from Saudi Arabia that Assad had to go. If Assad’s regime had been toppled, heavy recruiting of foreign fighters would have stopped and the IS would not have become the jihadi powerhouse it is today.

Saudi Arabia would never betray its allies or make a dramatic move without consultation, but it also sees no need to sit passively while the West squanders chance after chance to end militant threats.