Thursday, October 12, 2017

Pepe Escobar: The House of Saud bows to the House of Putin

Saudi Arabia pivots to Russia, the new sheriff in town


What a difference a year – an eternity in geopolitics – makes. No one could see this coming; the ideological matrix of all strands of Salafi-jihadi terror – which Russia fights no holds barred, from ISIS/Daesh to the Caucasus Emirate – beating a path to the Kremlin and about to embrace Russia as a strategic ally.

The House of Saud was horrified by Russia’s successful campaign to prevent regime change in Syria. Moscow was solidifying its alliance with Tehran. Hawks in the Obama administration were imposing on Saudi Arabia a strategy of keeping oil prices down to hurt the Russian economy.

Now, losing all its battles from Syria to Yemen, losing regional influence to both Iran and Turkey, indebted, vulnerable and paranoid, the House of Saud has also to confront the ghost of a possible coup in Riyadh against Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, a.k.a. MBS, as Asia Times reported. Under so much pressure, who’re you gonna call?

The ultimate ghostbuster; Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Essentially, the House of Saud is obsessed by three main vectors; low oil prices; Iran and Shi’ism; and what to make of US foreign policy under Trump. Let’s take them one by one.

2 comments:

Matt Franko said...

"obsessed by three main vectors; low oil prices; Iran and Shi’ism; "

Low oil prices are here to stay for quite a while.... they better figure it out..

Tom Hickey said...

Low oil prices are here to stay for quite a while.... they better figure it out.

Influenced by global population growth and the speed of economic development of emerging nations. China is the largest consumer of oil, and India and Indonesia are developing, too.

The goal of just about everyone is to match and surpass the standard of living of the developed world.

That's going to put a lot of pressure on real resources from increasing demand. Can technological innovation stay ahead?