[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] While hosting the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Washington and at Camp David this week, President Barack ObamaIf you like your coverage you can keep it...
faces a hard sell: assuring the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates...
and Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
that the United States has an Iran policy that encompasses their security needs. He must also encourage the six countries to work together for their own collective security, but in a way that dovetails with American strategic goals.
But doing so won't be easy. Only three of the six GCC nations are sending heads of state. The leaders of Oman and the United Arab Emirates pleaded health issues as their excuses to stay home; Saudi Arabia says its ruler, King Salman
...either the largest species of Pacific salmon or the current Sheikh of the Burnin' Sands, Cutodian of the Two Holy Mosquesand Lord of Most of the Arabians....
, won't be traveling due to humanitarian commitments to Yemen. The Saudi snub in particular reflects the concern, among America's Sunni Arab allies, that the United States isn't taking a hard enough stance toward Iran and its proxies.
The Saudis' commitment to ensuring that the United States is ready to oppose Iranian-proxy forces even as rapprochement moves forward is clearly seen in Yemen. After tamping down the Arab Spring in Sana'a and easing a sympathetic government into power with Saudi support, America militarized Yemen. This approach was intended to be a model for a new "small footprint" strategy, where a compliant local government would be paired with drones and Special Forces to conduct joint strikes against Islamic holy warriors fueled by intelligence from the United States. Obama cited Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
as a successful example of this strategy as recently as September 2014. Yet the dissolution of that country, and the chaos that followed a tail-between-the-legs evacuation of American diplomats and Special Forces, instead planted an Iranian-supported rebellion on Saudi Arabia's border.