The world has indeed changed.
Blogpal Lt. Commander J.E. Dyer reports in Hot Air that the Iranian Vosper Mark V-class frigate Alvand and supply ship Kharg ( which is helicopter capable) called at the Saudi port of Jeddah on the Red Sea, something that would have been unthinkable a short time ago:
Warships of the Islamic Revolutionary Iranian Navy have never visited a Saudi port until this week. Jeddah is on the Red Sea, where Iranian warships have occasionally ventured since they were first dispatched in late 2008 for anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden. Regional reporting has indicated that Iranian patrol ships have made port calls in the Red Sea port of Assab, Eritrea (where other unconfirmed reports have it that Iran has deployed missiles – of unknown type – and a contingent of troops).
But until now, there has been no port call in Saudi Arabia and no hint of one. Indeed, Saudi reporting from November 2009 registered grave concern over Iranian activities in the Red Sea.
{...)The current regime engages in a lot of bluster, but putting warships in the Red Sea port of America’s long-time partner Saudi Arabia is genuine action. For no navy on earth – not even ours – is a naval deployment undertaken easily or lightly. This is a big deal for them. It’s also a big deal for Saudi Arabia. The Saudis have been alarmed about revolutionary Iran’s activities for a long time; the chill between the two nations has meant precisely that things like naval port visits don’t happen. The Saudis wouldn’t have accepted this visit if they didn’t perceive their US-backed position as vulnerable and exposed.
Read the whole thing here.
The Saudis simply see which way the wind is blowing, have taken note of who's in the White House and are making accommodations accordingly.As Commander Dyer notes, this is no small event.
1 comment:
As I've pointed out before, while the Saudis may not like the Iranians, they like the Americans less. As such, the Saudis and the Iranians will unite to vanquish a common enemy, in this case America. There will be plenty of time to resume the fight against each other at a later time once the common enemy is vanquished. At least this is their thinking. This is just as true today as it was the first time I wrote it.
Now having said this, the fact that America is weak now means they are being much more open about their intentions than they may have been before. It is not simply a matter of who is in the White House.
Essentially whose in the White House makes no difference. America is a weak country right now. Its military is worn down from continuing operations to the point that basic national defense is problematic, its economy is in the toilet, and its national debt is massive. Keep in mind these problems were already readily apparent even before Mr. Obama was elected. Unfortunately he's done nothing to address them.
To reverse America's fortunes will require more than a change in the White House or Congress. The notion that there is any real possibility of competeing with the major world powers right now is very likely unrealistic.
We should probably start by withdrawing all military assets from the Middle East and elsewhere, redeploying them to defensible positions along the US borders, and develop all of our own natural resources. At least this way we might actually have a fighting chance.
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