Discontent is brewing in Saudi Arabia, that bastion of reaction on the
Arabian Peninsula, with the Saudi Royal Family seeing some of its
worst internal dissent in decades.
The new King has endowed his favorite son with command of the Saudi
military, amongst other major responsibilities, and now the Saudi
people find themselves in a Vietnam style quagmire in Yemen, something
new to the Saudi people, that has seen Saudi blood being spilled, with
another general, almost certainly from the royal family, killed whilst
waging war.
Coupled with the drastic fall in oil revenue, which has seen the
Kingdom forced to make a cash withdrawal from its foreign accounts of
up to $100 Billion in recent weeks, money needed to cover the
governments deficit, and it seems the strain is beginning to take its
toll.
How long the Saudi Kingdom can survive $40 (or maybe lower) a barrell
oil is the question, for the Family Saud may have spent above its
means and not put enough into the rainy day fund.
The big picture for Saudi Arabia has had storm clouds hanging over its
head since the Arab Spring started almost 5 years ago. The Shi’ite
minority, whose homeland in the east includes most of the major oil
fields, have been suppressed, and it seemed the storm clouds had
passed.
Then the aged monarch finally passed away and a new King was
coronated, an act complete absent from the Holy Koran. The King
anointed his favorite son to be his right hand and the disaster in
Yemen was launched. Saudi, and Emirate, troops have finally set foot
on Yemeni soil and the battle for the capital Sana’a seems to have
begun.
Already a well aimed rebel launched north korean scud missile hit an
ammunitions dump in Aden and dozens of sons of Wahabi were killed, and
now the Saudi news grows hesitant to tell the full story of the
mounting casualties.
And then the construction crane crashes in the heart of Islam crushing
over a hundred, and now the thousand or more trampled to death in the
latest stampede and wiser heads in the Saudi Royal family have begun
to speak out against the incompetence of their blood relations.
With the Iranian victory in the nuclear agreement with the USA, and
Putin forcing the USA into a very begrudging alliance over Syria, the
Saudi Royal family has good reason to be nervous, for the Iranian
“snakes” are riding high all the while the Wahabists find themselves
hemorrhaging cash and Saudi blood.
With the mass starvation beginning to rage in Yemen, international
opinion, until now ignorant of this fact due to a news white out by
the western media, will inevitably turn against the Saudi invasion and
Obama and the next in line to the Pax Americana throne will be stuck
in a very tricky spot.
Its bad enough trying to defend, and justify, a regime that has
beheaded more people then ISIS this year, let alone the damaging
images of starving Yemeni children on television screens around the
world, starvation entirely due to the Saudi aid blockade, and the US
Empire will find its own people pressuring it to end its indispensable
role in the War on the Yemeni People.
The house of Saud has been a conservative one and avoided disastrous
foreign interventions until now. The War in Yemen will only sour Saudi
public opinion of the regime and has the potential, if gone bad
enough, to spark a coup d’etat by the non royal military leadership,
something the Family Saud has long feared the most.
It seems the crashing price of oil could do the most damage to the
regime, especially if they don't have enough liquidity to meet the
Kingdom’s massive budget deficit, something only expected to worsen.
If the regime has to make significant domestic cuts, which have to be
inevitable, grumbling will increase and the bought and paid for
obedience of the Saudi people may no longer be taken for granted.
Again, the major threat to the regime is a military mutiny, something
the incompetence of the Kings Defense Minister/son could eventually
trigger.
Lets face it, the Houthi’s are not about to lay down their arms and
accept Saudi conquest, and being a battle hardened lot going back a
decade or more, the fight for the Yemeni capital Sana'a is going to be
brutal. And even when Sana’a falls, the Houthi's will retreat back
into their tribal lands, some of the ruggedist terrain in the world,
and wage a very debilitating guerilla war against the occupying Wahabi
army. They call it a quagmire for good reason, for as the Egyptian
Army learned so painfully back over 50 years ago, getting in the
middle of Yemen's tribes will only bring disaster.
Whether a palace coup is being organized in Saudi Arabia is still only
conjecture, but the rumblings of discontent are being heard, rumblings
which could turn into serious problems for one of Pax Americana's most
important vassals in one of the most critical regions on the planet.
Thomas C. Mountain is an independent journalist living and reporting
from Eritrea since 2006. He can be reached via twitter
_at_thomascmountain, thomascmountain on Facebook or at thomascmountain at
g mail dot com
Received on Wed Sep 30 2015 - 03:06:26 EDT