When King Abdullah in Riyadh nixed the Saudi Kingdom from taking a UN Security Council seat after intensive lobbying, the message communicated by Intelligence chief and former Washington Ambassador Prince Bandar was high dudgeon over Obama Administration policy failures. Failures to protect their back over Syria and most ominously, looming nuclear breakout in Iran. That pique and rupture in the long term relationship between Washington under Obama and Saudi Arabia and the cluster of Persian Gulf Sunni Emirates must have vaulted to a new level of paranoia- perhaps like the theme of the 1977 Mel Brooks film High Anxiety. That may have been triggered by report from Washington -based, Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), headed by former Nuclear inspector Dr. David Albright . ISIS reported that Iran may be able to achieve nuclear breakout within the month with available fissile material in hand.. Couple that with White House national security officials holding meetings on Capitol Hill endeavoring to convince key Senate proponents of tougher sanctions to postpone them for the moment. Then you had Israeli PM Netanyahu warn Kerry and the Obama White House at a press conference in Rome that not to tighten sanctions would be tragic as the Islamic Republic may be on the ropes economically. He contends that sanctions may have brought about the current round of P5+1 discussions with Iranian negotiators in Geneva in mid-October with more coming up on November 7-8, 2013. Given today’s ISIS report, Israel has to look towards its own capabilities to demonstrate a credible military option. Against this background, former Israeli Ambassador, Yoram Ettinger has a column in today’s Israel Hayom . In it he provides evidence of the heightened level of Saudi and Emirate concerns over the Obama Administration’s failure to mount a credible military option . Thjis would complement what Netanyahu argued for in Rome this week, tighter sanctions against the Iranian nuclear program.
Posted on: Fri, 25 Oct 2013 15:05:48 +0000
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