A Turkish theater for World War III
This is an alarmist and far fetched speculation on Saudi efforts to "contain" Iran. Each country has its own interest at heart. The SaudiAmericans may want to export their brand of Wahaabi extremism around but who can tell if their own government will not fall in the next decades?
Terrrorism and extremism do not go hand in hand with peaceful world coexistence. And Chan Akya's thesis that the US is prepared to sell out the Turkish Generals is way far fetched.
[check the other links by the author listed at the bottom when you click on the headline]
*****
The age-old rivalry of the House of Saud with Turkey, which saw the overthrown of the Ottoman Empire from the lands of what is now Saudi territory, helps create enough energy and urgency for the latest Saudi enterprise. It is no mere coincidence that the Saudis need a functioning Sunni army to counter the likely expansionism of Iran, a matter that they simply cannot risk leaving to the putative next president of the United States, Democratic Senator Barrack Obama.
The House of Saud, in its bargain with the Wahhabi establishment, needs to use its fabulous oil wealth to further Islamic - and more pointedly Wahhabi - causes. That is why it bankrolled Pakistan's military and intelligence services in fighting their war in Afghanistan against the Russians, and it is precisely why it needs to create a large fighting force to contain Iran.
Neither the timing nor the direction of these events can be considered fortuitous. America has in effect sold Turkey's Kemalist generals down the river, in favor of keeping the avowedly-Islamic Justice and Development Party in power. The fact that Turkey's modern military represents the exact opposite vision of Islamic rule, compared with the feudal Saudi clan, represents the key flash point here, a particular grievance given the largely Sunni nature of Turkey's Muslim population.
Terrrorism and extremism do not go hand in hand with peaceful world coexistence. And Chan Akya's thesis that the US is prepared to sell out the Turkish Generals is way far fetched.
[check the other links by the author listed at the bottom when you click on the headline]
*****
The age-old rivalry of the House of Saud with Turkey, which saw the overthrown of the Ottoman Empire from the lands of what is now Saudi territory, helps create enough energy and urgency for the latest Saudi enterprise. It is no mere coincidence that the Saudis need a functioning Sunni army to counter the likely expansionism of Iran, a matter that they simply cannot risk leaving to the putative next president of the United States, Democratic Senator Barrack Obama.
The House of Saud, in its bargain with the Wahhabi establishment, needs to use its fabulous oil wealth to further Islamic - and more pointedly Wahhabi - causes. That is why it bankrolled Pakistan's military and intelligence services in fighting their war in Afghanistan against the Russians, and it is precisely why it needs to create a large fighting force to contain Iran.
Neither the timing nor the direction of these events can be considered fortuitous. America has in effect sold Turkey's Kemalist generals down the river, in favor of keeping the avowedly-Islamic Justice and Development Party in power. The fact that Turkey's modern military represents the exact opposite vision of Islamic rule, compared with the feudal Saudi clan, represents the key flash point here, a particular grievance given the largely Sunni nature of Turkey's Muslim population.
posted by temporal at 7/24/2008
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