The curse of Riyadh and the effects of cheap oil

Up until now, the United States has guaranteed the stability of the Saudi monarchy. Keeping the ship afloat will be no easy task for the future president. The next president of the United States will inherit a solution and a problem among the many other issues in the Middle East portfolio. The solution is the nuclear accord with Iran. The problem is that same deal, combined with another problem, Saudi Arabia, which has represented a solution for the US in the past, though this resulted in frightening contradictions.

What has thus far been an unbreakable marriage between the West, Islam and petrodollars began 70 years ago and is going strong today, even though petrodollars are being used to fund terrorism. It is an inescapable dilemma and the crisis between Iran and Saudi Arabia, between Shiites and Sunnis is still there to prove it.

The bond between Washington and Riyadh has been one of strongest ties in international relations since World War II and may even weather the Iranian nuclear deal, the lifting of sanctions against Tehran, the new Gulf crisis and the 250,000 casualties in Syria. Indeed, an interesting underlying detail will have an impact on the future of the Levant and Mesopotamia: the powers involved in the Syraq war – the US, Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia – are all major oil and gas producers and clearly very much in competition. 

If you want to read it all, purchase the entire issue in pdf for just three euro