IIRC the Saudi Shia live where the oil is. I've argued off and on for a long time that we might do better with Iran than the Saudis, or at least keep contacts going to play one group off against another as needed.
Unfortunately, our current administration is not only no good at The Great Game, they seem to be trying to play checkers at a poker game--and everybody else is scooping up their chips.
Isn't it the Sunni Saudis who are lavishly funding wahabi mosques all over the world? I get this all very confused. For a while I had the impression that the Sunnis were the contemplative, secularized ones while the Shia were the raging fundamentalists. Apparently that was completely wrong. All I really see these days is Crips and Bloods. I just don't seem equipped to understand anything about Middle Eastern culture.
IIRC the Saudi Shia live where the oil is. I've argued off and on for a long time that we might do better with Iran than the Saudis, or at least keep contacts going to play one group off against another as needed.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, our current administration is not only no good at The Great Game, they seem to be trying to play checkers at a poker game--and everybody else is scooping up their chips.
Isn't it the Sunni Saudis who are lavishly funding wahabi mosques all over the world? I get this all very confused. For a while I had the impression that the Sunnis were the contemplative, secularized ones while the Shia were the raging fundamentalists. Apparently that was completely wrong. All I really see these days is Crips and Bloods. I just don't seem equipped to understand anything about Middle Eastern culture.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you understand it quite well.
ReplyDelete