Barak Obama is finding the world of the Middle East a bit challenging these days as his latest attempt to coax Arab petro dollars into the world economy was met with a chilly silence from Gulf State Finance Ministers. I’m sure astonishment and perplexity played a role too, as the Gulf ministers tried to reconcile the economic plea the administration was presenting with their recent abandonment of the moderate Gulf States in favor of the region’s dictator in waiting: Iran.
The entire Middle East has been watching in disbelief as Obama make one mistake after another in Middle East Politics and still has no idea the magnitude of his folly. Obama’s policy of new friendliness and cooperation with Iran has all the moderate Gulf States, and Egypt, essentially siding with Israel who is trying in vain to “speak truth to ideology.” Nothing can penetrate the neo socialist ideology that has come to characterize the moral bankruptcy and intellectual depravity of the American Baby Boom Generation. This blind adherence to a pie in the sky utopian socialist ideology was the brew that rendered Jimmy Carter a disaster as President and by all accounts Barak Obama is following suit. The ideology says that we should be able to have constructive engagement with Iran and settle our differences like peace loving people while the facts on the ground indicate that we better take military action to rein in Iran before they blow up the region and every economy on earth.
Obama era democrats don’t have a world view: they have a self image based on ideology rather than logic or basic pragmatism. Mr. Obama’s self image demands that he teach us a diversity lesson by making a friend of Iran while alienating all our real friends in the region who doubtless just “don’t get it.” Foreign Policy via diversity training seminars led by the President of the United States, for the benefit of mankind, and the salvation of planet Earth. If I were a cynic I might suggest to the President that if he needs to borrow money from moderate Arabs; its best that he not betray them and arrogantly ignore their contribution at least until he has the money in hand.
Consider this article from the Debka File:
Obama’s SOS to Gulf emirs: Invest in US and global economies
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
May 7, 2009, 9:33 PM (GMT+02:00)
A secret American delegation was sent by US President Barack Obama this week to solicit Saudi Arabian and other Gulf rulers for hundreds of billions of petro-dollars for investment in US and global economic stimulus plans, DEBKAfile‘s exclusive Gulf sources report. They came away empty-handed.
The chilly welcome received by the delegation, which met finance ministers and the heads of banks in Riyadh and the five emirates, was generated by wide disapproval of the US president’s policy of engagement with Iran. Two other US missions had just been and gone, headed by defense secretary Robert Gates and special adviser to the US secretary of state for South Asia and Gulf affairs, Dennis Ross. Both failed to allay Gulf anger and trepidation over this policy.
Our Gulf sources report that the third delegation, which unlike the first two was unannounced, argued that since US economic recovery was not expected to turn the corner before 2011, Gulf investors still had a unique opportunity to partner the US in helping the world economy out of its doldrums. The general message was that if they Gulf rulers fail to invest in US and international markets at this point, they would miss out on the rewards of the recovery.
Not all the data presented to the Gulf officials matched the figures published in Washington and other western countries. They were informed on the quiet that Federal Reserve Governor Ben Benanke had been “premature” in his optimistic forecast of “slightly positive” growth in the second half of this year, particularly in the fields of banking and construction, and a recovery that will “strengthen” next year – even though US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Wednesday, May 6, it was “a good, independent, credible forecast.”
The Gulf states were urged to help the global economic back on its feet because, according to US data, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) would by the year 2018 rank as the world’s fifth-largest economy after the US, China, Japan and the EU. “As major players in the world economy, you cannot stand on the sidelines,” they were told.
President Obama’s discreet approach figured in general terms at the GCC meeting of heads of state and finance ministers meeting in Riyadh Wednesday, May 6, which was convened to establish a regional central bank. But no decisions were taken.
According to our sources, the negative vibes between the Gulf and Washington over the Obama administration’s policy of favoring Tehran have made these Arab rulers doubly wary of responding to the US president’s appeal for a Gulf stake in US and global economic recovery
Last Days America 