Obama Statesmanship: an oxymoron

By Sam Huntington

No one I know believes that statecraft is as easy as a walk in the park, but I do think that the United States of America has made it far more difficult than necessary. We should begin with our understanding that foreign relations are an interdisciplinary art and science. It involves a knowledge base in international law and policy, trade, history, culture, environment, and human rights. In the realm of diplomacy, I think there only two kinds of states: those that do negotiation well, and those that do not. It may be entirely fair to say that Thucydides would not be much impressed with Obama’s state department. I think this is true even if we ignore Obama’s initial apology tour in 2009, his speech in Cairo, and the disaster that we now refer to as the Arab Spring.

More recently, Prince Bandar bin Sultan (Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief) informed European diplomats that the kingdom will make a major shift in relations with the United States due to the incompetence and untrustworthiness of the Obama administration. Key to this turn of events is the manner in which Obama handled Syria, and his recent overtures to Iran. Not once did the Obama administration consult with its Middle Eastern partners before announcing a US policy shift. According to one Saudi source, “The kingdom does not want to find itself any longer in a situation where it is dependent on the United States.”

What this shift may suggest is a transition away from the US as a military defense partner to other possibilities. At the present time, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia spends 9.1% of its gross domestic product on defense, ranked fifth in the world in military spending. If the Saudis are not spending their money on F-15Es, to whom will they turn? There is already a robust spending program with European aerospace companies (British, Italian, and Pan-European), so it would not appear beyond the pale to imagine that they could also begin purchasing other weapon systems from the Europeans, as well.

Should I mention the impact on the cost of oil? Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest exporter of oil and invests much of its earnings into US assets. Most of the Saudi central bank’s net foreign assets of $690 billion are thought denominated in US dollars, and in US treasury bonds.

Needless to say, a Saudi shift away from the United States is a major one—one that we should anticipate will have enormous consequences. Prince Bandar claims that in his view, Washington has failed to act effectively on the Syrian crisis and in matters involving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The United States has had good diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Saud since 1932, but Prince bin Sultan says that Obama has negated this relationship in order to pursue a closer relationship with Tehran.

Note: the relationship between Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been strained since the collapse of the Shah of Iran in 1979. In the post-Islamic Revolution period, Iran has adopted a neo-Marxist view of Islamic socialism, denouncing the monarchy of Saudi Arabia as an anachronism having no place in Islam. The Iranians must define caliphate differently than the rest of us. Moreover, the Iranians have long regarded Saudi Arabia as a agent of US policy in the Persian Gulf, which is undeniably true. Thus, it would appear as though the Saudis do not believe they are being properly rewarded for the loyalty to the United States.

The fact is that Barack Obama has a very long history of tossing friends and allies under the bus, so to speak. Obama’s shift away from the Saudis toward Iran no doubt reflects his pro-Marxist tendencies and the advice he routinely receives from his Moslem Brotherhood lackeys. For their part, the Saudis aren’t having any of it. I have little doubt that the Israelis are shaking their heads and muttering, “We told you so.”

Not only are the Saudis irritated with Barack Obama, they are also not interested in a second year term on the UN’s coveted security council. The Saudis must have finally gotten around to reading the Global Communist Charter.

Now we may begin to understand the complexities of good statecraft, and realize how Barack Obama’s incompetence has placed the security of the United States in grave danger —perhaps even more than during the Cold War. Saudi Arabia backs Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s mostly Sunni rebel forces. Al-Assad, however, is derived from the Shi’ a sect of Islam, and therefore has the backing of Iran, Lebanon (Hezbollah). Al-Assad claims that the Sunni groups include Al-Qaeda, the Saudis deny any such relationship. No one in Washington DC understands the difference.

Now might be a good time to ask, which side of this tiff will Bahrain align itself, and how will the US maintain security of the Strait of Hormuz if the US Navy is asked to vacate its base in Bahrain? No one in Washington DC knows where the Strait of Hormuz is located.

And then finally, we have to note that this the likely result of a situation in which the American people, not understanding one-tenth of what they learned in high school world history, voted for a man who understands even less about being an effective chief executive.