We have known for some time that American relations with Saudi Arabia are less than ideal. Despite Barack Obama’s promise back in 2008 that he would cause people the world over–especially those people located within the borders of nation-states allied with the United States–to like us once again (presuming that we were as hated as the current president of the United States and his political friends claim we were), the Obama administration’s charm offensive clearly has not worked when it comes to Saudi Arabia. And while it is bad enough that the Saudis no longer trust us as they once…
Pejman Yousefzadeh
Pejman Yousefzadeh
Scribbling, scribbling, scribbling on the Internet.
Tagged Saudi Arabia
The Decline and Fall of American Foreign Policy
American foreign policy is–to put matters bluntly–in free-fall. The United States is significantly less able to influence events around the world, it is not trusted or respected by allies, and it has undermined its negotiating position with Iran in the nuclear talks by making it abundantly clear that it is desperate for a deal. If you care about the state of American foreign policy, you should be very scared right now. Let’s start with the recently concluded Israeli elections. Benjamin Netanyahu won, and that made the Obama administration mad. So the administration decided to work to delegitimize Netanyahu’s election by…
More Links on the Israel-Gaza War
1. One of the criticisms most often leveled at Israel and her supporters is the claim that Israel’s actions in Gaza are costing it potential allies in the Arab world. Um . . . no. Battling Palestinian militants in Gaza two years ago, Israel found itself pressed from all sides by unfriendly Arab neighbors to end the fighting. Not this time. After the military ouster of the Islamist government in Cairo last year, Egypt has led a new coalition of Arab states — including Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — that has effectively lined up with Israel…
That Interim Deal with Iran Sure Didn’t Last Long!
Recall the following from my post on the nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 (excerpted from this site): Even with improvements, the interim agreement fails to bring Iran into compliance with its key international legal obligations as spelled out in United Nations Security Council resolutions. The agreement comes closest on compliance with the resolutions’ requirement that Iran “suspend” work on “all heavy water-related projects” including “construction” of the Arak reactor. While the Geneva agreement commits Iran to refrain from the most significant activities at Arak, it does not preclude Iran from general construction work at the site. Iran will easily…
Why the Deal with Iran Is Less than Good
By now, you have likely heard that the United States and five other countries (Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany–also known as “the P5+1 ,” with “P5” standing for the permanent five members of the United Nations Security Council), have entered into an interim nuclear deal with Iran. The deal’s provisions are supposed to expire in six months, at which point the P5+1 hope that they will be replaced with a permanent treaty dealing with Iran’s nuclear capability. This report does a good job in detailing the terms of the interim deal, which are as follows: To the extent that Iran…
The Obama Administration’s Foreign Policy Confirms Realist Expectations and Should Utterly Frustrate Obama Supporters
It is a fundamental tenet of realist theory (and I identify as a classical realist, though I have a healthy and pronounced respect for the notion that international anarchy also causes nation-states to place interests over ideological considerations) that while domestic considerations–such as a change in the nature of a nation-state’s government, or a change in the head of government or governing party–may play some role in determining the shape and nature of a nation-state’s foreign policy, the primary influence on a nation-state’s conduct of foreign affairs are the permanent interests of the nation-state in question, interests that persist regardless…
