From the New York Times:
…So far, oil-rich Saudi Arabia has successfully stifled public protests with a combination of billions of dollars in new jobs programs and an overwhelming police presence, backed by warnings last week from the foreign minister to “cut any finger that crosses into the kingdom.”
Monday’s action, in which more than 2,000 Saudi-led troops from gulf states crossed the narrow causeway into Bahrain, demonstrated that the Saudis were willing to back their threats with firepower.
The move created another quandary for the Obama administration, which obliquely criticized the Saudi action without explicitly condemning the kingdom, its most important Arab ally. The criticism was another sign of strains in the historically close relationship with Riyadh, as the United States pushes the country to make greater reforms to avert unrest…
I don’t think we’re going to get anywhere with urging Saudi reforms – the fact that they are furious with us for not backing Mubarak plus the fact that they are sending their goons in to suppress dissent in neighboring Bahrain is a clear indicator of Saudi intentions: no change; not now, not ever. The Ruling Class of Saudi Arabia is holding firm in defense of its largely un-earned privileges (they get their wealth, after all, because westerners drill for their oil and then they pamper themselves by importing other foreigners to do the hard labor in Arabia). If there was ever a good moment for a shift in US policy, this is it – we don’t want to be seen as tied to the Saudi regime any longer.
I realize that breaking with the Saudi’s is a gigantic shift with unknown consequences, but the brute fact is that we should never have made common cause with them. The Saudi government is really no more than a gang which gained control of a State which turned out to float on oil. They represent no one but themselves – if a different gang gets in it might prove difficult for us, but the new gang also might be easier to work with. And good or bad, having no ties to the past or commitments to the future in Arabia will at least allow us to develope policy entirely in line with what is best for us. In the end, whoever runs that corner of the world will want to sell oil and as we control the seas, we control the major part of that traffic at will (we always think of the Saudis having us over a barrel – no pun intended – but the fact of the matter is that they are at our mercy, should we merely choose to exercise our absolute command of the seas in that area).
The rule must be: no more tyrants. We are Americans; we hold to the self-evident truth that governments derive their powers from the consent of the governed. No nation governed otherwise should in any way, shape or form think of the United States as its friend. American policy should be supremely one of justice – and it can’t be as long as we’re tied to something as corrupt, cruel and incompetent as the Saudi regime.
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