28 Mar 2024
Wednesday 24 May 2017 - 11:17
Story Code : 262293

Trump's support of Saudi Arabia predicted to 'backfire' on US

Sputnik - US President Donald Trumps strong support for Saudi Arabia on his visit to Riyadh is likely to backfire, creating a backlash against the United States across the Middle East, analysts told Sputnik on Tuesday.





WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Trump expressed strong support forSaudi Arabia againstIran duringhis visit and repeatedly criticized Tehran despitethe landslide victory ofmoderate Hassan Rouhani onFriday.
"I suspect that this will backfire," philosopher, noted political commentator and University ofLouvain Professor Jean Bricmont said. "The Saudis are intensely hated inthe Arab [and] Muslim world and their open subservience tothe United States and Israel wont help."


Saudi Arabia is repressive and never held elections the way Iran did, Bricmont pointed out.


"As forthe United States siding asthey do withfeudal autocrats ina sectarian war againstShia Islam, and inparticular Iran and inalliance withIsrael, will only make them more unpopular," he said.

Bricmont also observed that Trump was incapable ofdistinguishing military resistance againstan armed occupation fromthe kind ofindiscriminate terrorism such asthat the bomb attack inManchester inthe United Kingdom onMonday.

"There are two different meaning tothe word "terrorism"; one is practised inManchester (probably), elsewhere inEurope and inSyria. This one kills civilians atrandom and is purely sectarian Then, there are resistance movements," he said.

Trump inRiyadh denounced resistance asterrorism ina country "which is well known forsponsoring the first sort of (real) terrorism," Bricmont explained.

Foreign affairs analyst and political commentator Dan Lazare agreed that that Trumps speech and policy statements inRiyadh would prove very damaging forUS interests inthe region.
"Trump's visit toSaudi Arabia is a disaster foreveryone excepta narrow elite ofpetro-sheiks and US arms manufacturers. With amazing accuracy, he has managed tozero inon the worst policy possible, one that ties the US hand and foot toa decrepit monarchy teetering onthe edge ofbankruptcy," Lazare said.


Trumps support would fail tosave Saudi Arabia fromits own internal problems, Lazare stated.


"Saudi Arabia is one ofthe most dysfunctional countries inhistory. Other thanoil, it produces nothing other thanQurans and jihadis. Its people do nothing other thanangle forno-show government job while remaining dependent onan army ofimmigrant laborers," he said.

While Trump denounced terrorism inRiyadh, the Saudis have encouraged it acrossthe Middle East, Lazare pointed out.
"The Saudis denounce terrorism while funding it atevery turn. They denounce sectarianism while funding sectarian warfare inSyria, Iraq and Yemen, and also imposing sectarian repression inBahrain and its own Eastern Province," he said.


The bottom line is Trump attempted toblame sectarianism onIran, while ignoring the Saudis role infomenting violence acrossthe region and beyond, Lazare concluded.

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