Israeli Prime minister Netanyahu had a meeting with Saudi meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
There are also reports that Saudi Arabia is pressuring Pakistan to normalize relations with Israel.
The Brookings Institute believes there are three possibilities for the Israel-Saudi meeting.
1. Actually achieving some normalization deal would make it difficult for Biden to re-enter a nuclear deal with Iran. The current US administration can still place the Houthis on the terrorist list and place new sanctions on Iran.
2. The meeting itself is telling the Biden Administration that another US-Iran nuclear deal could force an Israel-Saudi deal without the involvement of the USA. Israel, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States could even a military campaign against Iran.
3. The meeting could be to coordinate a strike against Iran before the change in US administration
SOURCES – AP News, Haaretz, Brookings Institute
Written By Brian Wang, Nextbigfuture,com
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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Not half as much as I am going to enjoy it when you get the judgement you deserve kiddie diddler. I'll keep the fire warm for you!
You mean Hell? The place where the Islamist Hijackers flying the plane went? The place where communists and Persian Fascists go as well? The place kiddie diddlers like you are going?
Yes, I very much enjoyed that!
Are you ignorant? Modi is a very moderate progressive guy whose main focus is on development. Imran Khan, by contrast, has fired people from his cabinet for being from the wrong religious sect. The problem is that in a democracy like India, anyone not from the Left gets booed and hissed at, and compared to Hitler. Meanwhile, in a military-ruled banana republic like Pakistan, a guy like Imran Khan gets lauded as some saint, even though he's a mere figurehead serving at the pleasure of the military. Because I'm actually from the region, and not some ignorant western liberal, I know many Pakistanis who quietly fret over the state of their country's situation, due to its military-controlled puppet prime minister. What a ridiculous comment from you.
Awesome post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Funny thing is that now that OIL is dropping like a stone why are we so interested? What's not mentioned here is that Egypt remains the center of the Arab world and we have little control over it–reminds one of how we dealt with Iran in the 50-70s. We have done much better with authoritarian monarchies. It is the classic ME play of propping up smaller population monarchies to do our bidding while ignoring the masses. This will come back to bite us in the rear end.
Not really game changing, its still Shia versus Sunni, all you did was "officially" add Israel to the Sunni alliance, which has always been the case under the table anyway.
Iraq is ~60/40% Shiite/Sunni, similar to Bahrain, who recently signed an agreement with Israel. But after checking Wikipedia, I stand corrected on their relationship with Iran. Apparently, they've been improving those relations in the last few years.
Also, a slightly more positive attitude among some probably minority of the people makes little difference if the government is opposed. Some of the people of Iran have also expressed positive attitudes towards Israelis in recent years, but this makes no difference under the current regime. In Bahrain, it's the reverse: the government is in favor of relations, and at least some of the people oppose.
Netanyahu has been constantly trying to get the US to do his dirty work for him when it comes to Iran.
Biden needs to stick with the Obama nuclear deal with Iran that both Europe and Russia agreed with.
That's not likely since Iraq is predominantly Shiite. And Iraqi Shiites can't even get along with their own Sunni population. Plus Iran and Iraq are now major allies especially since both countries fought together against Sunni terrorist (ISIS).
This move by Saudi Arabia and Israel is more likely to push Iraq back into a stronger alliance with Iran and Syria and the Russian regional presence that protects the Syrian-Iranian alliance.
What are you talking about? Drag the US into a war with Iran? We are already at war with the regime. Have been for years. Do you even read the news? Earlier this year we killed General Soleimani, the commander of the Iranian Quds Force. He was attacking Amercians in Iraq.
Chris68
Since 1776 we've only had 15 years in total of not being in one or the other conflict/war. Why stop a winning formula?
Even more reason for the Europeans not to be concerned.
Though… actual invasion is not the only way to take control of another country. At least if there is a suitable subgroub within that country that can be financed and supported.
AKAIK the Europeans sell to the Sunni states too. Nothing to stop them doing that.
Under Iran, Shiism has become a tool of expansionism. No Sunni Country mentioned here does that.
I wonder if Biden will start any major wars? His cabinet is full of "NeoCons" and "Hawks".
True enough, but the Persians haven't really invaded anyplace since Ataxerxes III. Much more sinned against than sinning, when it comes to barging in uninvited.
So Netanyahu plotting with MBS to drag the US into a war they start with Iran is an example of Trump brilliantly making “peace”?
Sunni Islamofascism is a much bigger threat than shia islamofascism. Most of the islamoslime terrorist attacks around the world are of the sunni variety. Saudi money has fostered hard-line sunni theology in masjids around the world.
Sunni Arab states also buy all those products you listed. Any large scale Iranian invasion of a Sunni state can easily be dealt with by US air power. Iran isn't going away. The US greatly increased Iranian influence in their neighbourhood by deposing the Sunni Fascist government in Iraq and having a shia dominated government come to power in majority shia Iraq.
He despises America because America opposes pedophilia.
Assad is bottled-up in a small space. So a tiny fraction of Syra is pro-Iran. The rest isn't.
Two Points Mr. Kiddie Diddler.
41 years, 51 years, 101 years. Doesn't matter. Sooner or later the Ayatollah will be kaput!
The accusation has been some years now that Iran is:
1) Far enough away from Europe for them to not be a serious threat. If there is an Iranian invasion of somewhere, the Americans will deal with it, that's their job.
2) Big enough and with enough oil wealth to be a valuable trading partner.
Germany wants to sell them luxury cars. Italy wants to sell them fashion. France wants to sell them Cheese and more fashion and wine… err, ok, the wine sales aren't going to work. But other than that, all good.
The average Iranian could care less about the remarks of American politicians. They are mainly trying to feed their families as their economy collapses. The main reason the regime is still in power is its willingness to terrorize and murder its own citizens. That will keep the regime in power over the short term. In the long term though, the regime will become more and more hated and thus lose more and more support. Eventually, a tipping point will be reached and a revolution will occur. It's a scenario that's occurred in many countries in history. In fact, the Shah was overthrown in 1979 after viciously repressing the Iranian people for many years. Curious how history tends to repeat itself.
The functioning part of Syria is pro-Saudi. The bombed-out part is pro-Iran. The map is correct.
You have to wonder *why* Europe really cares about Iran at this point. The oil is no longer needed (and actually antithetical to their policy environmental policy goals) so what's the point?
The enemy of your enemy is your friend…. a fragile bond
But it might hold and bring, from an unexpected angle, peace in the region.
At least I hope and pray so
Fear of what happened in Libya happen to Syria is all the reason the assorted Sheiks of the gulf need to prop up Assad, as quietly as possible.
Bellicose American politicians are the Iranian Mullah's best friends. Otherwise they would be out on their ears, but fear of American attack gives them political strength.
That Orange man bad, literally Hitler president of ours is quite the peacemaker. Our previous wonderful politically correct president changed the most prosperous nation in Africa(Libya) into an anarchic hell hole complete with slavery, after winning the peace prize, but gets no blame.
Trump brings peace in the Balkans, the middle east, and maneuvered the Saudis into peace negotiations with Israel, is nominated multiple times for the Nobel prize, but gets no credit with the mainstream media. It's getting pretty obvious that actual Journalists need no longer apply for jobs with "authoritative news sources".
I think Biden is more concerned about getting along with his European allies (who are for the Iran deal) rather than with fascist Arab states that want to drag the US into the middle of a Sunni- Shiite conflict with Iran.
ahh, I see Lukkha is back with another one of his Ayatollah fantasies. The Mullahs' days are numbered no matter what Lukkha thinks or what the Chinese do. They are hated by their own people, mainly due to their corruption, support for terrorism, and autocratic ways. Both the US and Europe will continue to tighten the screws on the regime. Eventually, a popular uprising will cause its downfall.
What would be interesting to see, probably sometime after Saudi Arabia, is normalization with Iraq. That would give Israel a land bridge to Turkey and Europe around Syria, and also (at least theoretically) land access to Iran's border and better control on movements from Iran to Syria.
I don't know how realistic this is, but I heard that Iraqi attitudes towards Israel have warmed up a bit during the war on isis. As I recall, Iran-Iraq relations aren't very friendly, either.
It'll all probably work out fine, as long as Khan doesn't get bumped off and Pakistan doesn't get its own version of Modi.
The GCC provides Syrian military security. You may wish to get back up to speed before snarking too hard — your information is stale.
Because it would mean that the US had no seat at the table with regards to the largest alliance of states in the region. This is Diplomacy 101.
Didn't some B-52's redeploy to the middle east recently? If purely conventional strike equipped, that would be yet another footnote in the ongoing war-on-terror, but if they can be combat coded for nuclear, well…
Wild, wishful dreams. The true power of these agreements is in their potential to create an economic and political hub that will marginalize Iran in the region, shake the Shiite axis stretching Teheran to Beirut, put Iran further in the defensive, and will also affect other forms of regression in the region, Turkey and Russia included, that in itself is quite a lot.
Why would the USA care about a "Israel-Saudi deal without the involvement of the USA"? Is this one of those cases where trying to hurt someone's feelings is a viable strategy?
All that matters is a nuke deal with Iran. It's pointless having a trillion dollar military if it's impotent because the usual people you would menace all have nukes.