Obama and Al Saud

According to A report, citing the Los Angeles Times newspaper, concerns have arisen in the Arabian Peninsula in the Al Saud regime. The king of Saudi Arabia is now witnessing that the instability in the Arab world is slowly approaching Saudi Arabia. In Yemen, the situation is not according to Murad Ali Abdullah Saleh, an ally of America, and this is in the interest of Al-Qaeda in Yemen. A complicated situation is happening in Bahrain with the cooperation of Saudi Arabia.

One of the consequences of these unrest in the Arab world has been the changes in Washington-Riyadh relations. At this critical juncture  Due to the recent positions of the Obama administration, instead of referring to Obama as an ally and supporter of Riyadh, the Saudi king sees the American president as a threat to the internal security of Saudi Arabia. The king of Saudi Arabia is worried that in the midst of unrest in the Arab world, Obama will ask him to step down like Hosni Mubarak. There have even been reports that the King of Saudi Arabia, fearing an increase in protests in his country, has taken the necessary measures for the presence of Pakistani forces in the full-scale suppression of the protesters. This issue has caused Obama to practically face a bottleneck regarding his position as well as relations with Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest oil exporter and one of the influential factors in oil prices. Some officials of the American government have pointed out that instability in Saudi Arabia will cause a significant increase in the price of oil, and this will cause a new shock to the world economy, which will have a negative impact on the recovery process of the American economy. In private circles, these officials have told Obama to make an exception for Saudi Arabia when it comes to supporting revolutions in Arab countries. This is why the Obama administration has taken a soft stance on Bahrain’s crackdowns with the help of Saudi Arabia.

Of course, these American officials should know that building a wall to prevent the storm in the Arab world is not a long-term solution, and sooner or later, the wave of these unrest will cover Saudi Arabia as well. Authoritarian governments in the Arab world should know that currently it seems that no weapon can resist the will of the people. The Saudi authorities should remember that just by raising wages or creating jobs, the Saudi people will not fall short of their other demands. These people want political and media freedom. It must be accepted that the Al Saud political system is unstable. The power is in the hands of the king and his brothers, who are all old and sick.

The Obama administration cannot take two-sided positions towards Al Saud for some reasons. First of all, the Saudi authorities are not only taking steps to suppress the popular movements in their soil, but also helping the government of this country in suppressing the revolutionaries in Bahrain. Al Saud even tries to help the King of Jordan in not carrying out the reforms promised to the people of this country. In other words, Arabia is completely in the opposite direction of popular movements in the Arab world  And it acts like a dictator empire in Arab countries. But isn’t this fragile? Can Obama easily bypass these Al Saud policies?

For many reasons, the Obama administration should clarify its duties regarding its policies towards Saudi Arabia as soon as possible. Obama should tell the Saudi authorities that either they should support the will of the people or else he should wait for the consequences of supporting the suppression of protesters in the Arab world. The predicament that Obama is facing with regard to the relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia has worried some officials in Washington and it may even cost him his defeat in the next round of the American presidential elections if he adopts wrong policies.