Geopolitics of Saudi Arabia

**The Lawspeaker** · 02-05-2020, 06:12 PM

Known for its output of hydrocarbon resources and for its close proximity to some of the world’s busiest maritime traffic lanes, as well as the cradle of the Islamic faith, Saudi Arabia has a monumental impact on the political events in the Middle East. Yet, the kingdom also faces several inherent domestic and foreign complications that shape its geopolitical behaviour.

**Tooting Carmen** · 02-05-2020, 06:17 PM

Saudi Arabia is basically Iran with (slightly) better PR: it uses its oil money to spread Wahhabism around the world through funding mosques, imams and literature, and it is quite probable they have funded ISIS and other terror groups too. That Western governments consider these cruel theocrats as our 'friends' shows the sheer hypocrisy and cynicism of global diplomacy and politics.

**Synapsid** · 02-05-2020, 06:43 PM

Originally Posted by Tooting Carmen

Saudi Arabia is basically Iran with (slightly) better PR: it uses its oil money to spread Wahhabism around the world through funding mosques, imams and literature, and it is quite probable they have funded ISIS and other terror groups too. That Western governments consider these cruel theocrats as our 'friends' shows the sheer hypocrisy and cynicism of global diplomacy and politics.

Saudi Islam is more retrograde than Irans. Both are horrible, but look at the structure of hizbullah and their relations with Christians and other non-jews like the Druze and compare that with extremist salafist movements like ISIS, Al Qaeda etc. Shi'a islam is tamed by Persian rationality while Wahabism is derived from puritanical Sunni Islam of the Mongol era Levantine Ibn Taymiah combined with the 18th desert conservatism of Arabia on steroids.

**lameduck** · 02-05-2020, 06:49 PM

Originally Posted by Tooting Carmen

Saudi Arabia is basically Iran with (slightly) better PR: it uses its oil money to spread Wahhabism around the world through funding mosques, imams and literature, and it is quite probable they have funded ISIS and other terror groups too. That Western governments consider these cruel theocrats as our 'friends' shows the sheer hypocrisy and cynicism of global diplomacy and politics.

My uncle worked in aramco for some time recently , he says there is lots of realization is saudi think tanks to somehow break the status quo and atlest diversify the economy but the problem is that state of local skilled labour is terrible , all the professional sectors are dominated by Pakistanis/egyptians and indians. But as they say money buy every thing , they have attracted quite a bit good faculty for King Fahad uni and King Abdul Aziz , also lots of training programs with Texas A&M and UT Austin , so they are preparing local skilled force for atleast oil and gas sector.

**Tooting Carmen** · 02-05-2020, 06:55 PM

Originally Posted by lameduck

My uncle worked in aramco for some time recently , he says there is lots of realization is saudi think tanks to somehow break the status quo and atlest diversify the economy but the problem is that state of local skilled labour is terrible , all the professional sectors are dominated by Pakistanis/egyptians and indians. But as they say money buy every thing , they have attracted quite a bit good faculty for King Fahad uni and King Abdul Aziz , also lots of training programs with Texas A&M and UT Austin , so they are preparing local skilled force for atleast oil and gas sector.

But the problem is that Saudi Arabia's economic modernisation is not really being met with social and cultural modernisation. (Yes I know women have now been given the right to drive, but boo-hoo).

**Tooting Carmen** · 02-05-2020, 06:56 PM

Originally Posted by Synapsid

Saudi Islam is more retrograde than Irans. Both are horrible, but look at the structure of hizbullah and their relations with Christians and other non-jews like the Druze and compare that with extremist salafist movements like ISIS, Al Qaeda etc. Shi'a is tamed by Persian rationality while Wahabism is derived from puritanical Sunni Islam of the Mongol era Levantine Ibn Taymiah combined with the 18th desert conservatism of Arabia on steroids.

All true. Take the Khomeinist government out, and Iran would probably be one of the most secular and liberal Middle Eastern nations.

**tipirneni** · 02-05-2020, 06:59 PM

Saudi and its allies have vast influence in South Asia due to more than 17M employees earning petro dollars there. Iran used to have influence in Medieval time but since 1700s their influence has vanned down due to rise of Anglo-French and Russian influence in the area. Nowadays the Gulf countries due to their relations with US/UK/France have amassed huge modern infrastructure powered by these South Asian employees.

According to the UNDESA Migration Report 2017, out of the total 28 million foreign workers in the Gulf countries, 16.9 million (60 %) comprise workers from South Asia. In total, 31.5 % of migrants are from India, followed by Bangladesh (11 %), Pakistan (10.8 %), Sri Lanka, Nepal and Afghanistan. Other than these South Asian countries, the Philippines is another major source of foreign workers.

**The Lawspeaker** · 02-05-2020, 07:02 PM

In 2018 Saudi Arabia announced the Salwa Canal Project - a plan to build a 200m-wide, 70km-long canal along their border with Qatar. This comes after Qatar's closest neighbours, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE and others cut diplomatic ties with Qatar. Find out how Saudi Arabia might be able to make this canal along the border with Qatar happen, if it will make Qatar into an island, and what Qatar's response has been. The Salwa Canal explained. Learn about Qatar's geography now! Some news articles from the announcement: https://www.forbes.com/sites/dominicd... https://gulfnews.com/opinion/editoria... https://gulfnews.com/opinion/op-eds/s... https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/w... Nicaragua canal: https://www.ibtimes.com/nicaraguas-ca...