Over the past several weeks, we've had a very instructive lesson in how Washington's Middle East alliances work.
During the Cold War, the U.S. sought allies to advance American interests -- the containment of Soviet power and continued access to oil. Today, however, the equation is being turned on its head: American power is expected to advance the interests of its allies.
Exhibit A: Saudi Arabia.
The Saudis are in the midst of a Diva-like temper tantrum over the fact that the U.S. won't take a more active role in overthrowing Assad. Given the very clear American interest in not getting sucked into another Iraq-style nation building quagmire, you would think the U.S. reaction to the Saudis would range along the lines of a polite apology to the diplomatic equivalent of a middle finger.
You would be wrong:
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday tried to reassure America's Arab friends that the United States will not allow them to be attacked "from outside," in an apparent warning to Iran.He specifically mentioned Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan and Egypt as nations, alongside unspecified "others," that the U.S. will defend. Those others likely would include Israel, the strongest U.S. ally in the region.
"The United States will be there for the defense of our friends and our allies," Kerry told reporters in Cairo. "We will not allow those countries to be attacked from outside. We will stand with them."
The U.S. has already waged a war to defend Saudi Arabia from an external predator and has showered its regional clients with more than enough weapons to handle most conceivable contingencies. And yet, it's the U.S. that's expected to reassure its "friends" that if push came to shove we'd send our sons and daughters to die for their regimes.
Thanks to a combination of new energy resources and advances in alternative technologies, the Saudis have arguably passed the apex of their geopolitical relevance. It's frankly perverse that Washington is the one groveling to stay in their good graces and not vice versa.
