Barack Obama has nobody to blame but himself for alienating Saudi Arabia
Con Coughlin
19 April 2016 • 6:07pm
The fierce criticism President Barack Obama has attracted over suggestions he wants Britain to remain in the EU seems pretty tame when compared with the ear-bashing he is set to receive from Arab leaders when he arrives in Saudi Arabia today.
US officials have been at pains to stress it will be for the British people to decide whether they leave or remain in the EU in June’s referendum. But the fact the White House has indicated a preference for Britain’s continued membership has nevertheless prompted Brexit campaigners to accuse Mr Obama, who is visiting the UK this week, of hypocrisy and double standards.
Before Air Force One touches down in London tomorrow, though, Mr Obama will first travel to Saudi Arabia for a summit with Gulf leaders, where he is likely to face far stronger criticism than that voiced by disgruntled Brexiteers.
In common with his predecessors, Mr Obama is anxious to secure his foreign policy legacy as he enters the twilight of his presidency. Bill Clinton spent his final year in office trying to negotiate an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal (it failed), while George W. Bush sought to bring some semblance of order to war-torn Iraq by limiting the extent of the sectarian violence.
Mr Obama, too, would like to be remembered for making his mark on the treacherous politics of the Middle East. He did, after all, make the region one of his foreign policy priorities when, shortly after taking office, he delivered his ground-breaking Cairo speech in April 2009, in which he sought a “new beginning” between Washington and the Arab world.
Seven years later, and the naivety of those sentiments have been laid bare. For, far from enjoying a more constructive dialogue with Arab leaders, Washington now finds itself desperately trying to repair relations with them.
Con Coughlin
19 April 2016 • 6:07pm
The fierce criticism President Barack Obama has attracted over suggestions he wants Britain to remain in the EU seems pretty tame when compared with the ear-bashing he is set to receive from Arab leaders when he arrives in Saudi Arabia today.
US officials have been at pains to stress it will be for the British people to decide whether they leave or remain in the EU in June’s referendum. But the fact the White House has indicated a preference for Britain’s continued membership has nevertheless prompted Brexit campaigners to accuse Mr Obama, who is visiting the UK this week, of hypocrisy and double standards.
Before Air Force One touches down in London tomorrow, though, Mr Obama will first travel to Saudi Arabia for a summit with Gulf leaders, where he is likely to face far stronger criticism than that voiced by disgruntled Brexiteers.
In common with his predecessors, Mr Obama is anxious to secure his foreign policy legacy as he enters the twilight of his presidency. Bill Clinton spent his final year in office trying to negotiate an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal (it failed), while George W. Bush sought to bring some semblance of order to war-torn Iraq by limiting the extent of the sectarian violence.
Mr Obama, too, would like to be remembered for making his mark on the treacherous politics of the Middle East. He did, after all, make the region one of his foreign policy priorities when, shortly after taking office, he delivered his ground-breaking Cairo speech in April 2009, in which he sought a “new beginning” between Washington and the Arab world.
Seven years later, and the naivety of those sentiments have been laid bare. For, far from enjoying a more constructive dialogue with Arab leaders, Washington now finds itself desperately trying to repair relations with them.
Moreover, Mr Obama has no one but himself to blame for causing this dangerous rift. It
began when he gave his enthusiastic backing to pro-democracy
demonstrators at the start of the so-called Arab Spring in 2011, not
realising that by so doing he was supporting the removal of
long-standing Sunni Muslim allies such as Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak and Bahrain’s ruling family.
Much of the turmoil now afflicting the region, with Islamic State (Isil) fanatics seeking to establish fiefdoms in Iraq, Syria and Libya, has its origins in Mr Obama’s enthusiasm for overturning the Arab world’s status quo.
This has been further compounded by Mr Obama’s pursuit of a deal to end Iran’s long-standing obsession with acquiring nuclear weapons. The reason leaders of Iran’s Shia Muslim Islamic revolution sought to become a nuclear superpower in the first place was so that they could dominate their Sunni Muslim rivals in Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia.
Much of the turmoil now afflicting the region, with Islamic State (Isil) fanatics seeking to establish fiefdoms in Iraq, Syria and Libya, has its origins in Mr Obama’s enthusiasm for overturning the Arab world’s status quo.
This has been further compounded by Mr Obama’s pursuit of a deal to end Iran’s long-standing obsession with acquiring nuclear weapons. The reason leaders of Iran’s Shia Muslim Islamic revolution sought to become a nuclear superpower in the first place was so that they could dominate their Sunni Muslim rivals in Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia.
Mr Obama’s hopes of repairing
relations during what is likely to be his final presidential visit to
the kingdom will not have been helped by his recent comments in an interview for The Atlantic that the Saudis need to find a way “to share the neighbourhood” with Iran. Nothing
could be further from Saudi minds. On the contrary, everywhere you look
in the Middle East today, from Syria to Yemen, the Saudis are actively
resisting Iranian attempts to further extend their influence.
For what Mr Obama fails to understand is that, for all Tehran’s claims that, following the successful conclusion of the nuclear talks, it would seek better relations with the outside world, the deal appears to have had the opposite effect.
Buoyed by the knowledge it is set to receive a $150 billion bonanza with the removal of economic sanctions, as well as being able to recommence exporting its vast oil wealth, Iran is now seeking to intimidate, rather than reassure, its regional rivals.
For what Mr Obama fails to understand is that, for all Tehran’s claims that, following the successful conclusion of the nuclear talks, it would seek better relations with the outside world, the deal appears to have had the opposite effect.
Buoyed by the knowledge it is set to receive a $150 billion bonanza with the removal of economic sanctions, as well as being able to recommence exporting its vast oil wealth, Iran is now seeking to intimidate, rather than reassure, its regional rivals.
Apart from test-firing nuclear-capable ballistic missiles,
the ayatollahs have been caught red-handed shipping weapons to their
Shia allies in Bahrain and Yemen. In Syria, pro-Iranian militias are exploiting the ceasefire to consolidate President Bashar al-Assad’s position,
while in Iraq the Iranian-backed radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is
trying to overthrow the pro-Western government of Prime Minister Haider
al-Abadi. So much for Tehran’s promises of good behaviour.
In short, Mr Obama’s nuclear deal has encouraged more trouble-making by Iran, rather than ending it – a point his Saudi hosts will be keen to reiterate when they meet in Riyadh.
Furthermore, Mr Obama’s failure on the Iran issue should have a bearing on any thoughts he has on the EU campaign. For, if the leader of the free world can get it so wrong on a vital issue like Iran, then why would anyone in Britain take seriously any advice he has to offer on how we should vote in June’s referendum?
In short, Mr Obama’s nuclear deal has encouraged more trouble-making by Iran, rather than ending it – a point his Saudi hosts will be keen to reiterate when they meet in Riyadh.
Furthermore, Mr Obama’s failure on the Iran issue should have a bearing on any thoughts he has on the EU campaign. For, if the leader of the free world can get it so wrong on a vital issue like Iran, then why would anyone in Britain take seriously any advice he has to offer on how we should vote in June’s referendum?
Apart from test-firing nuclear-capable ballistic missiles,
the ayatollahs have been caught red-handed shipping weapons to their
Shia allies in Bahrain and Yemen. In Syria, pro-Iranian militias are exploiting the ceasefire to consolidate President Bashar al-Assad’s position,
while in Iraq the Iranian-backed radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is
trying to overthrow the pro-Western government of Prime Minister Haider
al-Abadi. So much for Tehran’s promises of good behaviour.
In short, Mr Obama’s nuclear deal has encouraged more trouble-making by Iran, rather than ending it – a point his Saudi hosts will be keen to reiterate when they meet in Riyadh.
Furthermore, Mr Obama’s failure on the Iran issue should have a bearing on any thoughts he has on the EU campaign. For, if the leader of the free world can get it so wrong on a vital issue like Iran, then why would anyone in Britain take seriously any advice he has to offer on how we should vote in June’s referendum?
In short, Mr Obama’s nuclear deal has encouraged more trouble-making by Iran, rather than ending it – a point his Saudi hosts will be keen to reiterate when they meet in Riyadh.
Furthermore, Mr Obama’s failure on the Iran issue should have a bearing on any thoughts he has on the EU campaign. For, if the leader of the free world can get it so wrong on a vital issue like Iran, then why would anyone in Britain take seriously any advice he has to offer on how we should vote in June’s referendum?
