"The Gulf States"

27 Elul 5773

I came across something interesting in my research into the Saudi Arabia connection to the Syrian civil war. I was trying to figure out who is really calling the shots.  Some information leans toward the US controlling Saudi Arabia while others tend towards Saudi Arabia controlling the US.  I was trying to find evidence one way or the other in order to understand better the dynamics behind what is happening in the world.  Of course, it is all Hashem, but even He operates according to a plan and I'd just like to be privy to what it is. I like to peak behind the curtain and see Him wink back, so to speak.

Anyway, it seems that in 1981, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and UAE formed what's known as the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (CCASG), "also known as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). [It is] a political and economic union of Arab states bordering the Persian Gulf,.... In 2011, Saudi Arabia proposed that the GCC deepen their integration to form a confederation."

Isn't it interesting that Iraq, Libya, Egypt and Syria are all a mess while these six sit calmly in the background. In fact, it appeared for a bit as if the Arab Spring might spread there as well...

The Arab Spring: A View from the Gulf

The eventful months of the Arab Spring shook the political foundations of states across the region and indicated the necessity of change even in the seemingly immune Gulf region. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) went as far as dispatching a military mission to Bahrain to preserve the legitimacy of the Gulf sheikhdoms.

A few points of special interest...

1. Bahrain: Bahrain’s government had begun contemplating the option of a constitutional monarchy, but the protestors demanding a regime change prompted Saudi military intervention, explained Abdulla.

2. Saudi Arabia: According to Abdulla, Saudi Arabia achieved a tripartite political victory in Bahrain by preventing the spread of the Arab Spring into the Gulf heartland, containing Iranian influence, and halting Washington’s call to establishing a constitutional monarchy in Bahrain.

3. Qatar: Qatar is a media and diplomatic giant that played a key role in the Arab Spring through the pan Arab news channel Al-Jazeera and through the diplomacy of its emir, Abdulla said.

4. UAE: The Arab Spring provided an economic stimulus to the UAE and Dubai in specific. Dubai today plays a major role as a hub for business, attracting Syrian and Egyptian businessmen fleeing uncertainty in their countries, added Abdulla.

5. Overall benefit: The GCC as a body benefited from the Arab Spring, Abdulla asserted. By sending forces into Bahrain, GCC countries sent a message to the world that whenever the Gulf seeks to protect its security it can and will coordinate independently from Washington.

Then there's this:

Analysis: Arab Spring diverts part of Gulf petrodollar flows

... a shift in the way Gulf Arab states are deploying the hundreds of billions of dollars which they earn annually through oil exports: More of the money is being used in their own countries and inside the region, rather than being invested automatically in Western markets.

...The six states in the Gulf Cooperation Council - Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman - posted a record surplus of about $350 billion last year, more than 80 percent larger than China's surplus, the International Monetary Fund estimates.

Who came to Kuwait's rescue in 1991?  (Not Saudi Arabia.) Who used 9/11 as an excuse to take out Saddam Hussein for good? (Did anyone ever connect him to it?)

The US is clearly behind all the regime-change in the Middle East, but it's equally clear that it is Saudi Arabia and its satellite states who are gaining the most from it.  (Surely, no one is going to suggest, let alone insist, that they become democratic as well.) Since these wars are also clearly not wanted by the American people and it is bankrupting them, too, the fact that they continue to do it says to me that the US answers to Saudi Arabia and not the other way around.

President Barack Obama has made it abundantly clear that he has no desire to extend the US military to Syria or to Iran.  If we knew the real story behind all of this, it would probably boggle our minds. But, the only thing we can know without any possible doubt is that Hashem is the ultimate power behind it all and it is all for the good of Am Yisrael. B"H!