After horrendous failure of “forever war” policy in America now it is Saudi Arabia’s turn to taste the grapes of wrath. It was the mirror image of the American policy KSA wished to implement from way back June 8, 1974 when Henry Kissinger and Deputy Premier Prince Fahd Ibn Abdel Aziz signed wide-ranging military and economic agreement emboldening the kingdom.
Though Initially it appeared as a purely business agreement wherein America providing security and KSA proving oil, it later morphed into a vital strategic salience where America began to provide cover for KSA in international forums for the latter’s flawed policy of “forever war”. KSA feared any hint of revolution be it is in religion, politics and business strategy in and around Saudi Arabia. The oil crisis of 1973 brought unexpected wealth that need to be preserved or used for the purposes of keeping KSA out of trouble but placing her neighbours as well as other enemies lurking far and wide in continuous turmoil.
Chief amongst these threats was Muslim Brotherhood, founded in 1928 by Hassan Al-Banna that preached political Islam which is anathema to the Kingdom. To keep this particular enemy at bay KSA commenced to spread their own brand of regressive Salafi Islam globally that requires untrimmed loyalty to monarchy as a pillar of authority. Then came the Iranian Revolution of 1979 whose leader Ayathullah Khomeini called for the overthrowing of pro-American monarchies in the Gulf, including Saudi Arabia. At the end, KSA found herself in splitting the Muslim world into several camps.
Further fillip came in May 2011 when President Obama made a speech in Cairo endorsing the Arab Spring where a series of anti-government protests, uprisings and armed rebellions spreading across much of the Arab world that was unfriendly to American hegemon. Moreover, KSA was terrified when things boiled in Syria and she took it as a cardinal duty to overthrow President Assad.
In quick succession KSA found Yemeni Houthis rebelling against Sanaa based government supported by the kingdom. In addition to pouring money & weapons KSA sent her army along with UAE. Lebanan also got into turmoil as Saudi supported Saad Hariri regime was facing multi-pronged attack.
After draining men & money and facing repeated missile attacks by Houthis over Saudi oil infra-structure the Kingdom realised that forever war as business strategy is not taking the country anywhere but to hell.
Qatar blockade was another hapless adventure. The Saudi-led coalition cited Qatar's alleged support for terrorism as the main reason and especially supporting among other things Muslim Brotherhood. Beginning in June 2017 the blockade miserably failed and KSA orchestrated its end in January 2021 marking the first time an ignominious defeat for KSA.
On top of all, the Kingdom found herself as an unwilling participant if and when war breaks out over Iran by either America, Israel or both. The murder of Qasem Soleimani strengthened the resolve by Iran for a revenge attack that would not spare KSA.
Prince Mohamed bin Salman (MBS) who took helms in 2015 gradually became the de facto ruler by acting for his ailing father Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud. Despite the fact he was chiefly responsible for Yemen fiasco and Qatar debacle, MBS finally found enough is enough and started winding down the forever war policy that had messed-up business strategy of Saudi being leader of gulf monarchies!
Cheers!
Muthu Ashraff Rajulu
Business Strategist
Mobile: + 94 777 265677
E-mail: cosmicgems@gmail.com
Blog: Business Strategist
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