Op-Ed
Commentary
Ian
Welsh : Pouring
oil on the Middle East Fire
The Bush administration is preparing to ask Congress to approve
an arms sale package for Saudi Arabia and its neighbors that
is expected to total $20 billion over the next decade at a time
when some United States officials contend that the Saudis are
playing a counterproductive role in Iraq.
The proposed package of advanced weaponry for Saudi Arabia,
which includes advanced satellite-guided bombs, upgrades to its
fighters and new naval vessels, has made Israel and some of its
supporters in Congress nervous. Senior officials who described
the package on Friday said they believed that the administration
had resolved those concerns, in part by promising Israel $30.4
billion in military aid over the next decade, a significant increase
over what Israel has received in the past 10 years.
Oh yes. That'll make the Middle East more stable - more money
and weapons to the Saudis and the Israelis. What a thrill.
Points:
1) Saudi Arabia isn't a threat to Israel. Their army is an absolute
joke. Israeli whining is just an attempt to get more aid. Sadly
for them, the existential threat to Israel can't be defeated
with fancy high tech war toys.
2) The rest of the world will notice this hypocrisy. This sort
of thing (much like preferential treatment for India with regards
to nuclear proliferation) makes people believe there's no point
in playing by the rules - the Ref plays favourites, after all.
3) Odds are Saudi Arabia's contributions to the insurgency are
actually more dangerous than Iran's. Iran's primary allies in
Iraq have mostly not attacked US forces in large numbers.
Ian
Welsh is a Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff
University, is the managin editor of The Agonist. Petroleumworld
does not necessarily share these views.
Editor's
note: This commentary was originally published by agonist.org,
on 07/27/2007. Petroleumworld reprint this article in the interest
of our readers.
All comments posted and published on Petroleumworld,
do not reflect either for or against the opinion expressed in
the comment as an endorsement of Petroleumworld. All comments
expressed are private comments and do not necessary reflect the
view of this website. All comments are posted and published without
liability to Petroleumworld.
Fair use Notice: This site contains copyrighted material the
use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the
copyright owner. We are making such material available in our
efforts to advance understanding of issues of environmental and
humanitarian significance. We believe this constitutes a 'fair
use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section
107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C.
Section 107. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml.
All works published by Petroleumworld are in accordance with
Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without
profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving
the included information for research and educational purposes.
Petroleumworld has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator
of this article nor is Petroleumworld endorsed or sponsored by
the originator.
Petroleumworld encourages persons to reproduce, reprint, or
broadcast Petroleumworld articles provided that any such reproduction
identify the original source, http://www.petroleumworld.com or
else and it is done within the fair use as provided for in section
107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use copyrighted material
from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair
use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Internet web links to http://www.petroleumworld.com are appreciated
Petroleumworld News 08/01/07
Copyright© 2007
agonist.org. All rights reserved.
Send
this story to a friend
Your
feedback is important to us!
We invite all our readers to share with us
their views and comments about this article.
Write
to editor@petroleumworld.com
Any
question or suggestions, please write to:
editor@petroleumworld.com
Best
Viewed with IE 5.01+
Windows NT 4.0, '95, '98 and ME +/ 800x600 pixels
