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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group
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To: JohnM who wrote (36173)8/6/2002 8:24:17 PM
From: Hawkmoon  Read Replies (1) of 281500
 
I read the Saudi Arabian situation as very, very complicated right now.

Life is complicated.

But it doesn't get less complicated when leaders put off important policy decisions until they become untenable.

Nor should we permit the Saudis to continue to waffle between actively opposing their fundamentalist elements, or actively supporting them. The demographics of the Muslim world are CLEAR... there are 400 million muslim youths approaching the age of 18 within the next 10 years.

Permitting the Wahabbis to finance the brainwashing of them in Madrassas may take the short term pressure off the Saudi royal family, but in the long run they will be forced to align their interests with the extremists more and more merely to remain in power.

Long term demographic trends will win out everytime over short-term "don't rock the boat", "head in the sand" policy formulation.

It will require STRONG AMERICAN, AND INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE to make the Saudi leadership understand just how serious the US is with regard to squelching these extremists movements. Our pressure has to be greater than the internal pressure being exerted by extremists towards expanding their Islamic Jihad.

They are the ones declaring Jihad against the west and threatening this clash of civilizations. And we're providing them the financial support (through purchasing oil) that permits them to expand their influence.

If we deal with them in a limp-wristed manner, they will come back even stronger the next time, recoginizing that the West doesn't have the backbone to defend their values.

Hawk
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