Announcing a new 34-country counter-terrorism alliance, Saudi Arabia proved the Kingdom’s adroitness when it comes to propaganda. No nation spreads petrodollars around like Saudi Arabia, buying more influence in White House and Congress than any publicly-traded corporation. Funding more Non-Governmental Organizations [NGOs] to advance his political agenda and economic agenda, 79-year-old Saudi Arabian King Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud, the supreme leader, manages the Kingdom’s vast oil empire and holy shrines of Mecca and Medina. King Salman spends the Kingdom’s vast petrodollar wealth funding Sunni Wahhabi mosques and madrassas around the globe. When the House of Saud decides to take down a leader like Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, they wield unrivaled influence in governments around the world, especially in the White House and U.S. Congress.
Creating what the House of Saud calls an Islamic military counter-terrorism coalition takes British author George Orwell’s doublespeak to new heights. Salman’s petrodollars fund numerous terror groups seeking to topple the Shiite regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Meeting in Moscow Dec. 15 with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Secretary of State John Kerry hopes to persuade the Russians to dump their long-standing ally, al-Assad. With naval and air bases in Syria, it’s doubtful Kerry will prevail on Russian President Vladimir Putin to toss al-Assad under the bus. White House officials, especially president Barack Obama, can’t explain why the U.S. backs regime change in Damascus. Kerry’s tried and failed many times to convince the Russians to follow the Saudi-funded insurgency to dump al-Assad and install so-called “moderates” to replace him.
Putin warned the U.S. and world Sept. 28 in the U.N. General Assembly about regime change in Damascus. He told delegates that upending al-Assad would repeat the mistakes in Iraq and Libya that opened the floodgates of Islamic extremism, giving rise to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Kerry’s had a hard time explaining to the Russians why they should back a Saudi-funded proxy war to change governments in Damascus. Obama and Kerry haven’t explained to anyone what authority they have to call for regime change of a legitimate U.N.-member state. White House or Riyadh officials have no U.N. Security Council or General Assembly mandate to replace al-Assad. Kerry continues to beat a dead horse, trying to convince Moscow to sell out its long-term ally and friend in Damascus. Kerry won’t admit to Putin or Lavrov that King Salman dictates U.S. foreign policy.
Creating a 34-member counter-terrorism alliance essentially rubber-stamps the Saudi’s definition of terrorism. No one member of the alliance seeks to topple ISIS, only back the Saudi’s intent to topple the Shiite regime in Damascus. Leaving Iran, the Mideast’s biggest Shiite state, off the alliance proves that the alliance cherry-picks terrorist groups. Saudi Arabia branded Yemen’s Shiite Houthis terrorists, launching air strikes against the rebels May 8. Saudi air strikes proved worthless with the Kingdom announing a ceasefire to begin Dec. 15. Much better at funding proxy wars than fighting, the Saudis have no problem backing various terror groups that match their political and economic agenda. If their proxy war succeeds in toppling al-Assad, the Kingdom hopes to project its influence outside the Arabian Peninsula, encroaching on Iran’s sphere in Syria and Lebanon.
Neither Russia nor Iran will support any Saudi or U.S.-backed proposal to transition al-Assad out of Damascus. When Kerry meets with Putin and Lavrov today, he’ll need a more compelling argument for al-Assad’s ouster than al-Assad slaughtered his own people. World leaders know that al-Assad’s been battling a well-funded Sunni insurgency to topple his Shiite government since March 2011. No world leader, including Obama, can argue al-Assad has no right to defend his sovereignty against a Saudi-funded proxy war. Saudi Arabia’s decision to form a 34-member counter-terrorism coalition couldn’t be more ironic, given that they fund Wahhabi terrorists around the globe. Saudi’s Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman said the Kingdom would “coordinate” counter-terrorism activities but gave no specifics, including a concrete commitment to fight ISIS.
Telling the world they’ll fight terrorism wherever it occurs, Saudi officials couldn’t be more disingenuous when they’re funding Sunni terror groups trying to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Putin’s made a strong case that if you oust al-Assad the regime that follows could be far worse. Obama and Kerry have made the feeble case that you can’t end the Syrian civil war without placating various Saudi-funded terror groups seeking to oust al-Assad. Syria’s civil war would end quickly if the House of Saud pulled the funding of various Sunni terror groups trying to topple al-Assad. Saudi’s Defense Minister bin Salman calls for international legitimacy to a Saudi-funded Sunni insurgency to topple a sovereign state. Before Moscow would consider ousting al-Assad, they’d need to see concrete proof that the next regime would not repeat the same mistakes in Iraq and Libya.
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