Saudi king agrees in call with Trump to support Syria, Yemen safe zones -White House
- Thread starter Locutus
- Start date
you're mad and you're stressed.
you need a soak.
You obviously do not appreciate the intricacies of Alien geometry and design.
King Salmon ... did he divide the sushi in half?
Salmon Arm Salute
I have been to that very spot by the CPR siding in Salmon Arm many, many times and I often thought that there should be a bronze statue of PET with his finger up beside the track.
Yes Trump indicated no more American Middle East muddling after 70 years of doing so. And so not a beat is skipped in favour of the Military Industrial Complex…….
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates voiced support for President Donald Trump’s idea to establish safe zones in Syria, which comes as no surprise given it would boost Sunni extremists who want to topple President Bashar Assad’s secular regime. The White House, for its part, wants to bottle up refugees inside Syria to prevent Muslim blockade runners from reaching U.S. shores. However, instituting safe zones would require a costly military intervention and risks empowering the very jihadist forces Trump has vowed to defeat.
On Sunday, Saudi Arabian King Salman and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Muhammad in separate phone calls with Trump agreed to support safe zones in Syria and Yemen to help refugees “displaced by the ongoing conflicts,” the White House said in a press release.
Yet the final version of said executive order excluded the safe zone provision, probably to the chagrin of Al Qaeda in Syria and like-minded militants. But now it appears Trump only suspended the decision, perhaps calculating that he better get buy-in from stakeholders in the region before embarking on the initiative.
Consequences not too difficult to foresee inimical to U.S. national security interests far outweigh any conceivable benefits of instituting in Syria a single so-called safe zone, a euphemism for a no-fly zone - itself a de facto declaration of war. The Pentagon estimates it would require 30,000 boots on the ground and cost $1 billion per month to implement. Moreover, a no-fly zone, which entails establishing air supremacy over the safe areas, risks sparking a direct confrontation with Syrian and Russian forces operating in the region.
It also runs counter to candidate Trump’s vows to oppose U.S. military adventurism, such as the oft-cited intervention to topple Gaddafi, which drove Libya into a destabilizing tailspin and afforded the Islamic State the chance to gain a foothold in the country.
Trump appealed to many voters for eschewing such unnecessary excursions while Clinton was framed as the imperialist nation-building candidate, as some observers have noted.
“Whatever Trump voters thought they were getting by supporting him, I’m reasonably sure sending tens of thousands of Americans to occupy parts of Syria for years to come wasn’t it,” Daniel Larsen wrote in the American Conservative.
Safe zones also tend to attract jihadists who can target swarms of enclosed refugees, akin to shooting fish in a barrel. In fact, these types of arrangements, studies have shown, often become terrorist breeding grounds, as Joshua Hampson from the Niskanen Center think tank argued, especially if the camps are not adequately supported or are poorly run.
Because of squalid conditions and lack of economic prospects, safe zone residents are often susceptible to radicalization and upon returning home “may carry the seeds of the next generation of terrorists.” They could also serve as willing recruits for extremist groups to join the jihad against the Assad regime.
Trump would ironically adopt the exact same no-fly zone policy Hillary Clinton was rightly ridiculed for during one of their debates, and would align himself with liberal humanitarian interventionists who want to save Syrian civilians by bombing them.
Saudis, UAE Predictably Back Trump Syria Safe Zone Scheme | The Huffington Post
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates voiced support for President Donald Trump’s idea to establish safe zones in Syria, which comes as no surprise given it would boost Sunni extremists who want to topple President Bashar Assad’s secular regime. The White House, for its part, wants to bottle up refugees inside Syria to prevent Muslim blockade runners from reaching U.S. shores. However, instituting safe zones would require a costly military intervention and risks empowering the very jihadist forces Trump has vowed to defeat.
On Sunday, Saudi Arabian King Salman and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Muhammad in separate phone calls with Trump agreed to support safe zones in Syria and Yemen to help refugees “displaced by the ongoing conflicts,” the White House said in a press release.
Yet the final version of said executive order excluded the safe zone provision, probably to the chagrin of Al Qaeda in Syria and like-minded militants. But now it appears Trump only suspended the decision, perhaps calculating that he better get buy-in from stakeholders in the region before embarking on the initiative.
Consequences not too difficult to foresee inimical to U.S. national security interests far outweigh any conceivable benefits of instituting in Syria a single so-called safe zone, a euphemism for a no-fly zone - itself a de facto declaration of war. The Pentagon estimates it would require 30,000 boots on the ground and cost $1 billion per month to implement. Moreover, a no-fly zone, which entails establishing air supremacy over the safe areas, risks sparking a direct confrontation with Syrian and Russian forces operating in the region.
It also runs counter to candidate Trump’s vows to oppose U.S. military adventurism, such as the oft-cited intervention to topple Gaddafi, which drove Libya into a destabilizing tailspin and afforded the Islamic State the chance to gain a foothold in the country.
Trump appealed to many voters for eschewing such unnecessary excursions while Clinton was framed as the imperialist nation-building candidate, as some observers have noted.
“Whatever Trump voters thought they were getting by supporting him, I’m reasonably sure sending tens of thousands of Americans to occupy parts of Syria for years to come wasn’t it,” Daniel Larsen wrote in the American Conservative.
Safe zones also tend to attract jihadists who can target swarms of enclosed refugees, akin to shooting fish in a barrel. In fact, these types of arrangements, studies have shown, often become terrorist breeding grounds, as Joshua Hampson from the Niskanen Center think tank argued, especially if the camps are not adequately supported or are poorly run.
Because of squalid conditions and lack of economic prospects, safe zone residents are often susceptible to radicalization and upon returning home “may carry the seeds of the next generation of terrorists.” They could also serve as willing recruits for extremist groups to join the jihad against the Assad regime.
Trump would ironically adopt the exact same no-fly zone policy Hillary Clinton was rightly ridiculed for during one of their debates, and would align himself with liberal humanitarian interventionists who want to save Syrian civilians by bombing them.
Saudis, UAE Predictably Back Trump Syria Safe Zone Scheme | The Huffington Post
They should just take in refugees displaced by the conflicts. Didnt Saudi Arabia sign that part of the geneva convention to accept people displaced by war?
Saudi Arabia is a hideous police state. Perhaps, the refugees don't want to move to something worse than what they are escaping from.
Yes.......
No kidding.....
But they shouldn't fret, America is coming to help .........
Before the 2011 war, Syria used to be a vibrant, growing nation with beautiful old cities and a rich, ancient culture going back over 2,500 years. Damascus is believed to be the oldest continually inhabited city in the world.
Syria was always regarded as the beating heart of the Arab world and its intellectual epicenter. It was also the progenitor of Arab nationalism, a long-time defender of the Palestinians, and a determined foe of Israel – though in recent years the Israeli-Syrian border has been very quiet. Damascus, two generations behind Israel in military strength, dared not confront the powerful Jewish state directly.
For the past four decades, Syria has been ruled by its Alawi minority, an offshoot of Islam’s Shia faith. Alawi, like their fellow Shia in Lebanon, were the nation’s poorest, most marginalized people. The only work many could get was in the military. Eventually, an iron-fisted Alawi air force general, Hafez al-Assad, seized power. After Assad’s death, his second son Bashar took charge of the regime, backed by a strong army and ruthless security organs.
The Bush administration, prompted by Israel, toyed with the idea of toppling Syria’s Assad regime but it backed down when a few smart minds in Washington asked who would the US get to replace the existing government? Syria’s main opposition came from the outlawed, underground Muslim Brotherhood that spoke for Syria’s long-repressed Sunni majority. Washington wanted no part of the Muslim Brothers. Better the Assads, who quietly cooperated with Washington in spite of being backed by Iran.
But in 2009-2010, Washington changed policy. As anti-Iranian war fever in the US mounted, the White House demanded that Damascus renounce its alliance with Iran, or else. The plan was to isolate Iran prior to its being attacked. But Syria refused to cut its vital ties to Tehran.
So Syria was marked for regime change. Washington was fed up with Arab leaders who defied the writ of the American Raj. The Assads would meet the same grisly fate as Saddam Hussein and Muammar Khadaffi.
In spring, 2011, anti-Assad guerillas, armed and trained in Jordan by CIA, infiltrated from Lebanon into southern Syria at Deraa. This was the squalid little town in which Lawrence of Arabia was captured by the Turks. Deraa was a hotbed of anti-government agitation. Soon, more US proxy rebels infiltrated across the Lebanese border. British and French special forces joined the rebels. Saudi Arabia provided the financing.
France, former colonial ruler of Syria and Lebanon, was particularly interested in re-asserting its influence in the Levant and the oil-rich Gulf states. Israel was convinced that overthrowing the Assad regime in Damascus would isolate its two main enemies, Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbullah movement, leaving the latter vulnerable to a new Israel attack.
http://ericmargolis.com/2015/07/destroying-syria-to-make-it-safe-for-american-values/
www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7APmRkatEU
Saudi Arabia pumping millions to promote Wahhabism in India
“To counter the increasing Shia influence, a certain section in the Saudi establishment has been propagating Wahhabism in India,” says an MHA official in an interview to Sunday Guardian.
In the last three-four years there has been a steady rise in Wahhabi preachers coming to India to conduct seminars.
“There is no doubt that Wahhabism is getting stronger in the country, especially in Kerala, mainly because of the radicalisation of a large number of local youth who are going to Saudi Arabia in search of employment. Kerala has been showing signs of sharp radicalisation. This was the only state where posters mourning the death of Osama Bin Laden had come up and a prayer for Ajmal Kasab was also held after he was hanged,” warned the official.
Donations from Saudi are pouring in and playing a key role in this process, which is being repeated across other parts of the country as well.
https://themuslimissue.wordpress.co...mping-millions-to-promote-wahhabism-in-india/
“To counter the increasing Shia influence, a certain section in the Saudi establishment has been propagating Wahhabism in India,” says an MHA official in an interview to Sunday Guardian.
In the last three-four years there has been a steady rise in Wahhabi preachers coming to India to conduct seminars.
“There is no doubt that Wahhabism is getting stronger in the country, especially in Kerala, mainly because of the radicalisation of a large number of local youth who are going to Saudi Arabia in search of employment. Kerala has been showing signs of sharp radicalisation. This was the only state where posters mourning the death of Osama Bin Laden had come up and a prayer for Ajmal Kasab was also held after he was hanged,” warned the official.
Donations from Saudi are pouring in and playing a key role in this process, which is being repeated across other parts of the country as well.
https://themuslimissue.wordpress.co...mping-millions-to-promote-wahhabism-in-india/
The U.S. military released a compendium of jihadi video Friday that it said showed “the sort of intelligence information” Navy SEALs seized in a deadly Jan. 29 raid in Yemen. There was just one problem: The clip included 10-year-old footage.
The video was released to the media midday as U.S. military officials said it was obtained in the search of a compound operated by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), a terrorist group that has previously planned attacks in Western nations.
Air Force Col. John J. Thomas, a U.S. Central Command spokesman, said the video was taken down based on the reaction it received through social media. One clip in particular was previously published in 2007. The Pentagon had scheduled a 2 p.m. news briefing to discuss the raid, but canceled it after realizing the problem with the video, which already had aired on cable television news broadcasts and circulated online.
“I didn’t want it to appear like we were passing out old-as-new information,” Thomas said. “We’re not trying to get into a political discussion or influence anyone’s thinking. We’re just trying to [do] due diligence and help explain the kind of data we exploit at sites like this.”
The videos were released after questions about the raid’s planning — the first of the Trump administration — were raised in the media. U.S. military officials have denied that the mission was compromised.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer provided an unusually detailed timeline of how the mission was approved in a news conference Thursday, saying the operation had been under consideration for months and discussed at the White House before Trump took over. Former officials who worked for former president Barack Obama disputed his account afterward. The Pentagon proposed carrying out raids against AQAP in Yemen, they said, but never discussed the specific mission carried out Jan. 29.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-show-its-yemen-raid-was-a-success/?tid=sm_tw
The video was released to the media midday as U.S. military officials said it was obtained in the search of a compound operated by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), a terrorist group that has previously planned attacks in Western nations.
Air Force Col. John J. Thomas, a U.S. Central Command spokesman, said the video was taken down based on the reaction it received through social media. One clip in particular was previously published in 2007. The Pentagon had scheduled a 2 p.m. news briefing to discuss the raid, but canceled it after realizing the problem with the video, which already had aired on cable television news broadcasts and circulated online.
“I didn’t want it to appear like we were passing out old-as-new information,” Thomas said. “We’re not trying to get into a political discussion or influence anyone’s thinking. We’re just trying to [do] due diligence and help explain the kind of data we exploit at sites like this.”
The videos were released after questions about the raid’s planning — the first of the Trump administration — were raised in the media. U.S. military officials have denied that the mission was compromised.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer provided an unusually detailed timeline of how the mission was approved in a news conference Thursday, saying the operation had been under consideration for months and discussed at the White House before Trump took over. Former officials who worked for former president Barack Obama disputed his account afterward. The Pentagon proposed carrying out raids against AQAP in Yemen, they said, but never discussed the specific mission carried out Jan. 29.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-show-its-yemen-raid-was-a-success/?tid=sm_tw
"63% of Yemen's crude production is being stolen by Saudi Arabia in cooperation with Mansour Hadi, the fugitive Yemeni president, and his mercenaries," Mohammad Abdolrahman Sharafeddin told FNA on Tuesday.
"Saudi Arabia has set up an oil base in collaboration with the French Total company in the Southern parts of Kharkhir region near the Saudi border province of Najran and is exploiting oil from the wells in the region," he added.
Sharafeddin said that Riyadh is purchasing arms and weapons with the petro dollars stolen from the Yemeni people and supplies them to its mercenaries to kill the Yemenis.
Late in last year, another economic expert said Washington and Riyadh had bribed the former Yemeni government to refrain from oil drilling and exploration activities, adding that Yemen has more oil reserves than the entire Persian Gulf region.
"Saudi Arabia has signed a secret agreement with the US to prevent Yemen from utilizing its oil reserves over the past 30 years," Hassan Ali al-Sanaeri told FNA.
He noted that a series of secret documents by Wikileaks disclosed that the Riyadh government had set up a committee presided by former Saudi Defense Minister Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdel Aziz. "Former Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal and the kingdom's intelligence chief were also the committee's members."
He reiterated that new oil reserves have been discovered in Yemen's al-Jawf province which can make Yemen as one of the biggest oil exporters in the region and the world.
Saudi Arabia Stealing 65% of Yemen's Oil in Collaboration with Total: Report - American Herald Tribune
"Saudi Arabia has set up an oil base in collaboration with the French Total company in the Southern parts of Kharkhir region near the Saudi border province of Najran and is exploiting oil from the wells in the region," he added.
Sharafeddin said that Riyadh is purchasing arms and weapons with the petro dollars stolen from the Yemeni people and supplies them to its mercenaries to kill the Yemenis.
Late in last year, another economic expert said Washington and Riyadh had bribed the former Yemeni government to refrain from oil drilling and exploration activities, adding that Yemen has more oil reserves than the entire Persian Gulf region.
"Saudi Arabia has signed a secret agreement with the US to prevent Yemen from utilizing its oil reserves over the past 30 years," Hassan Ali al-Sanaeri told FNA.
He noted that a series of secret documents by Wikileaks disclosed that the Riyadh government had set up a committee presided by former Saudi Defense Minister Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdel Aziz. "Former Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal and the kingdom's intelligence chief were also the committee's members."
He reiterated that new oil reserves have been discovered in Yemen's al-Jawf province which can make Yemen as one of the biggest oil exporters in the region and the world.
Saudi Arabia Stealing 65% of Yemen's Oil in Collaboration with Total: Report - American Herald Tribune
'US-Saudi Arabia talks over billions in arms sales before Trump visit to kingdom'
US laser-guided bombs may be bought by Saudis in sale which was suspended by Obama amid concerns about Yemen civilian casualties.
More than $1bn worth of munitions including armour-piercing Penetrator Warheads and Paveway laser-guided bombs made by Raytheon are among the contracts being negotiated, said Reuters.
The Obama administration had suspended the planned Raytheon sale because of concerns over civilian casualties in the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen.
However, the US has been the main supplier for most Saudi military needs in recent years, from F-15 fighter jets to command-and-control systems.
President Trump has vowed to stimulate the American economy by boosting manufacturing jobs.
Reuters said among the other proposed deals were:
:: A Lockheed Martin-built missile defence system like the one that recently became operational in South Korea.
:: A Lockheed Martin software system for battle command-and-control and communications, as well as a package of satellite capabilities.
:: Combat vehicles made by UK company BAE Systems, including the Bradley Fighting Vehicle and M109 artillery vehicle.
Also under negotiation is an $11.5bn package of four multi-mission surface combatant ships, approved by the US state department in 2015 but which never went to final contract.
If a deal goes through, it would be the first sale of a new small surface warship to a foreign power in decades.
A US-Saudi working group reportedly met at the White House on Monday and Tuesday to negotiate Mr Trump's trip to the kingdom this month, as well as financing for military equipment sales and stopping terrorist financing.
'US-Saudi Arabia talks over billions in arms sales before Trump visit to kingdom'
US laser-guided bombs may be bought by Saudis in sale which was suspended by Obama amid concerns about Yemen civilian casualties.
More than $1bn worth of munitions including armour-piercing Penetrator Warheads and Paveway laser-guided bombs made by Raytheon are among the contracts being negotiated, said Reuters.
The Obama administration had suspended the planned Raytheon sale because of concerns over civilian casualties in the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen.
However, the US has been the main supplier for most Saudi military needs in recent years, from F-15 fighter jets to command-and-control systems.
President Trump has vowed to stimulate the American economy by boosting manufacturing jobs.
Reuters said among the other proposed deals were:
:: A Lockheed Martin-built missile defence system like the one that recently became operational in South Korea.
:: A Lockheed Martin software system for battle command-and-control and communications, as well as a package of satellite capabilities.
:: Combat vehicles made by UK company BAE Systems, including the Bradley Fighting Vehicle and M109 artillery vehicle.
Also under negotiation is an $11.5bn package of four multi-mission surface combatant ships, approved by the US state department in 2015 but which never went to final contract.
If a deal goes through, it would be the first sale of a new small surface warship to a foreign power in decades.
A US-Saudi working group reportedly met at the White House on Monday and Tuesday to negotiate Mr Trump's trip to the kingdom this month, as well as financing for military equipment sales and stopping terrorist financing.
'US-Saudi Arabia talks over billions in arms sales before Trump visit to kingdom'
Saudi Arabia is Destabilizing the World
Just a few months ago, the governor of Indonesia’s largest city, Jakarta, seemed headed for easy re-election despite the fact that he is a Christian in a mostly Muslim country. Suddenly everything went violently wrong. Using the pretext of an offhand remark the governor made about the Koran, masses of enraged Muslims took to the streets to denounce him. In short order he lost the election, was arrested, charged with blasphemy, and sentenced to two years in prison.
This episode is especially alarming because Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim country, has long been one of its most tolerant. Indonesian Islam, like most belief systems on that vast archipelago, is syncretic, gentle, and open-minded. The stunning fall of Jakarta’s governor reflects the opposite: intolerance, sectarian hatred, and contempt for democracy. Fundamentalism is surging in Indonesia. This did not happen naturally.
Saudi Arabia has been working for decades to pull Indonesia away from moderate Islam and toward the austere Wahhabi form that is state religion in Saudi Arabia. The Saudis’ campaign has been patient, multi-faceted, and lavishly financed. It mirrors others they have waged in Muslim countries across Asia and Africa.
Successive American presidents have assured us that Saudi Arabia is our friend and wishes us well. Yet we know that Osama bin Laden and most of his 9/11 hijackers were Saudis, and that, as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote in a diplomatic cable eight years ago, “Donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide.”
Recent events in Indonesia shine a light on a Saudi project that is even more pernicious than financing terrorists. Saudi Arabia has used its wealth, much of which comes from the United States, to turn entire nations into hotbeds of radical Islam. By refusing to protest or even officially acknowledge this far-reaching project, we finance our own assassins — and global terror.
The center of Saudi Arabia’s campaign to convert Indonesians to Wahhabi Islam is a tuition-free university in Jakarta known by the acronym LIPIA. All instruction is in Arabic, given mainly by preachers from Saudi Arabia and nearby countries. Genders are kept apart; strict dress codes are enforced; and music, television, and “loud laughter” are forbidden. Students learn an ultra-conservative form of Islam that favors hand amputation for thieves, stoning for adulterers, and death for gays and blasphemers.
Many of the students come from the more than 100 boarding schools Saudi Arabia supports in Indonesia, or have attended one of the 150 mosques that Saudis have built there. The most promising are given scholarships to study in Saudi Arabia, from which they return fully prepared to wreak social, political, and religious havoc in their homeland. Some promote terror groups like Hamas Indonesia and the Islamic Defenders Front, which did not exist before the Saudis arrived.
Eager to press his advantage, King Salman of Saudi Arabia made a nine-day trip to Indonesia in March, accompanied by an entourage of 1,500. The Saudis agreed to allow more than 200,000 Indonesians to make the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca each year — more than come from any other country — and sought permission to open new branches of their LIPIA university. Some Indonesians are pushing back against the Saudi assault on their traditional values, but it is difficult to deny permission for new religious schools when the state is not able to provide decent secular alternatives. In Indonesia, as in other countries where the Saudis are actively promoting Wahhabism — including Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bosnia — the weakness and corruption of central governments create pools of rootless unemployed who are easily seduced by the promises of free food and a place in God’s army.
The surging fundamentalism that is transforming Indonesia teaches several lessons. First is one that we should already have learned, about the nature of the Saudi government. It is an absolute monarchy supported by one of the world’s most reactionary religious sects. It gives clerics large sums to promote their anti-Western, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic brand of religious militancy abroad. In exchange, the clerics refrain from criticizing the Saudi monarchy or its thousands of high-living princes. Saudis with close ties to the ruling family give crucial support to groups like Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and ISIS. This fact should be at the front of our minds whenever we consider our policy toward the Middle East — including when we decide whether to side with the Saudis in their new dispute with neighboring Qatar.
Saudi Arabia’s success in reshaping Indonesia shows the importance of the global battle over ideas. Many in Washington consider spending for cultural and other “soft power” projects to be wasteful. The Saudis feel differently. They pour money and resources into promoting their world view. We should do the same.
The third lesson is........
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/06/11/saudi-arabia-destabilizing-world
Just a few months ago, the governor of Indonesia’s largest city, Jakarta, seemed headed for easy re-election despite the fact that he is a Christian in a mostly Muslim country. Suddenly everything went violently wrong. Using the pretext of an offhand remark the governor made about the Koran, masses of enraged Muslims took to the streets to denounce him. In short order he lost the election, was arrested, charged with blasphemy, and sentenced to two years in prison.
This episode is especially alarming because Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim country, has long been one of its most tolerant. Indonesian Islam, like most belief systems on that vast archipelago, is syncretic, gentle, and open-minded. The stunning fall of Jakarta’s governor reflects the opposite: intolerance, sectarian hatred, and contempt for democracy. Fundamentalism is surging in Indonesia. This did not happen naturally.
Saudi Arabia has been working for decades to pull Indonesia away from moderate Islam and toward the austere Wahhabi form that is state religion in Saudi Arabia. The Saudis’ campaign has been patient, multi-faceted, and lavishly financed. It mirrors others they have waged in Muslim countries across Asia and Africa.
Successive American presidents have assured us that Saudi Arabia is our friend and wishes us well. Yet we know that Osama bin Laden and most of his 9/11 hijackers were Saudis, and that, as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote in a diplomatic cable eight years ago, “Donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide.”
Recent events in Indonesia shine a light on a Saudi project that is even more pernicious than financing terrorists. Saudi Arabia has used its wealth, much of which comes from the United States, to turn entire nations into hotbeds of radical Islam. By refusing to protest or even officially acknowledge this far-reaching project, we finance our own assassins — and global terror.
The center of Saudi Arabia’s campaign to convert Indonesians to Wahhabi Islam is a tuition-free university in Jakarta known by the acronym LIPIA. All instruction is in Arabic, given mainly by preachers from Saudi Arabia and nearby countries. Genders are kept apart; strict dress codes are enforced; and music, television, and “loud laughter” are forbidden. Students learn an ultra-conservative form of Islam that favors hand amputation for thieves, stoning for adulterers, and death for gays and blasphemers.
Many of the students come from the more than 100 boarding schools Saudi Arabia supports in Indonesia, or have attended one of the 150 mosques that Saudis have built there. The most promising are given scholarships to study in Saudi Arabia, from which they return fully prepared to wreak social, political, and religious havoc in their homeland. Some promote terror groups like Hamas Indonesia and the Islamic Defenders Front, which did not exist before the Saudis arrived.
Eager to press his advantage, King Salman of Saudi Arabia made a nine-day trip to Indonesia in March, accompanied by an entourage of 1,500. The Saudis agreed to allow more than 200,000 Indonesians to make the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca each year — more than come from any other country — and sought permission to open new branches of their LIPIA university. Some Indonesians are pushing back against the Saudi assault on their traditional values, but it is difficult to deny permission for new religious schools when the state is not able to provide decent secular alternatives. In Indonesia, as in other countries where the Saudis are actively promoting Wahhabism — including Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bosnia — the weakness and corruption of central governments create pools of rootless unemployed who are easily seduced by the promises of free food and a place in God’s army.
The surging fundamentalism that is transforming Indonesia teaches several lessons. First is one that we should already have learned, about the nature of the Saudi government. It is an absolute monarchy supported by one of the world’s most reactionary religious sects. It gives clerics large sums to promote their anti-Western, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic brand of religious militancy abroad. In exchange, the clerics refrain from criticizing the Saudi monarchy or its thousands of high-living princes. Saudis with close ties to the ruling family give crucial support to groups like Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and ISIS. This fact should be at the front of our minds whenever we consider our policy toward the Middle East — including when we decide whether to side with the Saudis in their new dispute with neighboring Qatar.
Saudi Arabia’s success in reshaping Indonesia shows the importance of the global battle over ideas. Many in Washington consider spending for cultural and other “soft power” projects to be wasteful. The Saudis feel differently. They pour money and resources into promoting their world view. We should do the same.
The third lesson is........
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/06/11/saudi-arabia-destabilizing-world