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The Saudi ultimatum
He made the statement in public, in an opinion piece published by the New York Times on 11th September. The article was entitled: ‘Veto a [Palestinian] State, Lose an Ally.’
Prince Turki al Faisal plainly threatened the United States that the Saudi regime will no longer be able to do America’s bidding in the Middle East without being seen as able to extract immediate concessions on behalf of the Palestinians, against the wishes of the Israeli occupiers.
Describing US influence over the region as lacking credibility, declining and increasingly toxic, the prince wrote:
The United States must support the Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations this month or risk losing the little credibility it has in the Arab world. If it does not, American influence will decline further, Israeli security will be undermined and Iran will be empowered, increasing the chances of another war in the region.
Moreover, Saudi Arabia would no longer be able to cooperate with America in the same way it historically has. With most of the Arab world in upheaval, the “special relationship” between Saudi Arabia and the United States would increasingly be seen as toxic by the vast majority of Arabs and Muslims, who demand justice for the Palestinian people.
Saudi leaders would be forced by domestic and regional pressures to adopt a far more independent and assertive foreign policy.
Prince Turki then declared that if the USA uses its veto against the proposal for a Palestinian state at the UN Security Council, the Saudis will end their co-operation with the USA in Iraq, and possibly also in Afghanistan and Yemen:
...Saudi Arabia would pursue other policies at odds with those of the United States, including opposing the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Iraq and refusing to open an embassy there despite American pressure to do so. The Saudi government might part ways with Washington in Afghanistan and Yemen as well.
As Time magazine correspondent Massimo Calabresi observed on 13th September:
...Turki’s clearly not freelancing, says Daniel Levy of the New America Foundation. “Someone in that position doesn’t just write a piece like that without approval,” Levy says. Levy and others believe a veto’s consequences will come on several fronts and most of them will be to the U.S. detriment. “The U.S. is the big loser,” if it goes ahead with a veto at the U.N., Levy says. Not only will the Saudis take a tougher line but the transitional countries, like Egypt and Tunisia, which have restive populations, may also be compelled to strike out against the U.S.
A warning from a man of Prince Turki’s special pedigree should not be taken lightly. Prince Turki had successfully implemented American foreign policy objectives in West Asia for 40 years. Having taken over Saudi intelligence operations in 1977, Prince Turki set out pioneering the anti-communist Jihad in Afghanistan, through generous financing, strong arm lobbying in the Muslim World and above all he helped to create and promote the international Jihadi Army brand, recruiting and training holy warriors from every Muslim country to fight the communists and their Soviet backers. This was a gigantic international effort that eventually sprang Al Qaida and the Taliban as two of its interesting side effects.
Prince Turki personally took charge of putting down the Iranian-sponsored insurrection in the holy city of Mecca in 1979. Following that successful endeavor he helped shape anti-Khomeini strategy in the region to contain the Iranian revolution. Prince Turki provided Saddam Hussein full logistical backing during the Iraqi war against Iran in the 1980s. He also coordinated with Osama Bin Laden, in formulating a strategy to undermine, subvert and then attempt to overthrow the only Marxist government in the Arabian Peninsula, in South Yemen.
Prince Turki al Faisal then served as Saudi ambassador to Britain, and later the USA.
But now, Prince Turki Al Faisal is a very worried man. The Arab Spring has unleashed the audacious self expression of the Arab public in the street, from the cities of the Arabian Peninsula to the Maghreb. Republican and Monarchic autocrats in the region are finding it increasingly difficult to peruse the usual Pro-Western and Zionist-friendly policies that have characterized Middle Eastern political discourse for half a century.
In Cairo, revolutionary mobs have attacked the Israeli Embassy in protest against the recent murder of five Egyptian soldiers by Israeli forces. The new Egyptian military junta, stuck between a rock and a harder place, lurches in between keeping its solemn promise of free democratic elections on the one hand, and threatening declare martial law to crush strikes and protests on the other.
Turkey, an erstwhile reliable NATO ally of Israel and its American paymasters is now forging ahead with an independent and a more assertive regional power policy. It is openly confronting Israel over the brutal murders of nine Turkish peace activists at the hands of the Israeli military during the Gaza flotilla. The Turks have also inserted themselves into Libya by masterminding a close relationship with the Benghazi rebel leadership, independently of the European and American forces.
Meanwhile, peninsular Arabia is in turmoil. Revolutionary upheaval has griped the Yemen for many months. Bahrain, the island home of the US Gulf fleet is attempting to hold its revolutionary masses at bay through a Saudi military intervention. In Saudi Arabia itself the unemployed and marginalized have taken to the street in increasing frequency.
Concluding his New York Times article, Turki al Faisal stated:
American support for Palestinian statehood is therefore crucial, and a veto will have profound negative consequences. In addition to causing substantial damage to American-Saudi relations and provoking uproar among Muslims worldwide, the United States would further undermine its relations with the Muslim world, empower Iran and threaten regional stability. Let us hope that the United States chooses the path of justice and peace.
In reality, there is no such hope. The consequences for US power in the Middle East region will be toxic.