Obama's Foreign Policy

Hussein Obama is getting some bad press.  This article, in Foreign Affairs, is supportive of Obama’s unusual and effective approach to foreign policy, and I am happy to see it, especially because the parent organization that publishes  Foreign Affairs, The Council on Foreign Relations, has become of  late noeconic (my word, and I like it), angry at anything Russian and eager to war with Russia.

A summary of the article:

Obama's WayThe President in PracticeBy Fred KaplanBarack Obama has been besieged by foreign policy crises, constrained by diminished American power, and pressured by opponents at home and allies abroad to take action and show leadership, even when dealing with intractable problems. Yet his caution about embarking on unnecessary military adventures seems wise, and he has managed to keep sight of the big picture as others have gotten lost in the shrubs.

We would all do well to study Obama’s foreign policy style.  It is the style best suited for the confusion inWest Asia, where most of the action is today.  An aggressive, muscular style such as is promoted by many politicians in this Election Season, would be as bd as bad as the nemonic Invasion of rIraq.

Saud kingdom at risk: II

King Salman's short rule may be cut shout by any one of five easily predicted events, and Salman seems not to protect against them.

The Saud Kingdom's slaughter of Yemeni who are defenseless and who pose it no harm is damaging the willingness of the World Community to protect the kingdom when it comes under attack.

A second danger to the Kingdom is ISIS and its own clergy, which is more Wahhabist that the Kingdom has been; more dedicated to enforcing Literal Sharia that is the Kingdom itself.

Thee danger is the take-over of Makkah and and Madinah, the heart of the Muslim world, by ISIS from Anbar Province in Iraq or by its clergy or by the two working in collusion.

Here are authoritative words about that danger:

Several speakers at the Atlantic Council event warned that Saudi Arabia was risking its own security by overreacting to the Houthi advance in Yemen and seeking to bomb that country into submission. 

Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said that “the potential for blowback in the kingdom is significant.” He warned that IS would seek to seize control of the holiest sites of Islam, which are located in Saudi Arabia. 

“If you call yourself a caliphate, you cannot accept a country that controls Mecca and Medina,” Haass said. “It’s a question of when, not if” IS attacks.
Saab said that the Saudis were well aware of the internal threat posed by IS but face other challenges. 

In his report, he wrote that “until the Arab world charts a path forward and starts addressing its rampant political decay, religious hubris, and economic mismanagement, regional security will remain scarce, and challenges such as [IS], Iran’s destabilizing behavior in the region and the growth of violent extremism — to just name a few — will continue to present themselves and possibly worsen with time.”

From al Monitor

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The border between Iraq's Anbar Province and the Arabia:

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The Grand  Mosque of Makkah -- the holiest of holy Muslim places -- was seized by Wahhabists in 1979.  The House of Saud was able to reclaim it, with much killing.  See, e.g., Grand Mosque seizure - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Saudi soldiers fighting their way into the Qaboo Underground beneath the Grand Mosque of Mecca, 1979

The surviving insurgents under custody of Saudi Authorities. c. 1979.