By Tim Lister, CNN
As U.S. President Barack Obama seeks to reinvigorate his administration's policy in the Middle East, he will have to contend with several issues where U.S. influence is less than overwhelming.
Chief among them, according to Middle East analysts, is the growing assertiveness of Saudi Arabia as it confronts Iranian influence in the region and tilts away from its historic bargain with the U.S.: oil for security.
In recent months, the Saudis have essentially taken the gloves off - sending troops into Bahrain to prop up the island's Sunni monarchy against a rebellious Shiite majority; consolidating their relationship with Pakistan as a regional counterweight to Iran; and expanding the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to reinforce the club of Sunni monarchies.
Through the GCC Saudi Arabia has also moved to resolve the crisis in Yemen, its neighbor to the south, where al Qaeda is establishing a foothold and where the Saudis suspect Iranian meddling.
Their core mission, says Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group, "is to ensure stability in their neighborhood." Bremmer believes "the single most important long-term implication of the Arab Spring may be a consolidated GCC that is tacking away from the West."
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What these countries need to do is become more self assertative and quit taking orders from the West.
The growth of the Saudis' assertiveness, their determination to secure their influence in the region and last but not least their acrimony towards the U.S. are of great concern to the U.S. Obama knows how tacky it would be to tear a strip off Saudi Arabia, hence he deliberately avoid to mention this country in his speech. Everybody dreads to see that a barrel of crude might cost $200, if Saudi Arabia failed to deliver its oil one day. Let's hope that the royal family genuinely wants to reform their country and lets the citizens to shape Saudi Arabia's future. Otherwise, we will be forever dependent on their supply and be taken hostage by oil.
solution: drill baby drill, then tell Saudi to go eff themselves
If there was ever a time to start taxing gasoline and developing alternative sources of fuel and energy, it would definitely be now.
Ain't it a little too convenient that with everything going on in the middle east, Saudi Arabia seems untouched. Think about it cool