Saudi Arabia’s Dream of Domination Has Gone Up in Flames
▻http://www.unz.com/pcockburn/saudi-arabias-dream-of-domination-has-gone-up-in-flames
Pour Patrick Cockburn les dirigeants des pays du #Golfe sont beaucoup plus d’énormes #bouffons disposant de moyens énormément indus que des disciples de Machiavel,
Critics of Saudi and Qatari policies often demonise them as cunning and effective, but their most striking characteristic is their extreme messiness and ignorance of real conditions on the ground. In 2011, Qatar believed that Assad could be quickly driven from power just like Muamar Gaddafi in Libya. When this did not happen they pumped in money and weapons willy-nilly while hoping that the US could be persuaded to intervene militarily to overthrow Assad as Nato had done in Libya.
Experts on in Syria argue about the extent to which the Saudis and the Qataris knowingly funded Islamic State and various #al-Qaeda clones. The answer seems to be that they did not know, and often did not care, exactly who they were funding and that, in any case, it often came from wealthy individuals and not from the Saudi government or intelligence services.
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The attempt by Saudi Arabia and Gulf oil states to achieve hegemony in the Arab and Sunni Muslim worlds has proved disastrous for almost everybody.