06-09-2017, 01:56 AM
Good to see the Saudis are helping to challenge the simplistic notion that Sunnis are good and Shiites are bad. That notion is easy to accept as the Ayatollahs tend to wear black and the Saudis wear white. That makes it easy to figure out who are the good guys and who are the villains ...
But things aren't that simple. ISIS and al Qaeda are Sunni groups and the Saudis are devoted to Wahhabism. The Saudis are brutal. We are revolted by ISIS beheading westerners, yet beheading is the national sport in Saudi Arabia. Islamic fundamentalists are funded from within the Kingdom and the families of victims of 9/11 want to sue over Saudi Arabian support for the attack.
That's not to say the Iranians are saints. They fund terrorists too. But let's not be sucked in by the US painting this as a black and white situation. Trump going all in on Team Wahhabi shows he lacks any subtlety when it comes to geopolitics.
But things aren't that simple. ISIS and al Qaeda are Sunni groups and the Saudis are devoted to Wahhabism. The Saudis are brutal. We are revolted by ISIS beheading westerners, yet beheading is the national sport in Saudi Arabia. Islamic fundamentalists are funded from within the Kingdom and the families of victims of 9/11 want to sue over Saudi Arabian support for the attack.
That's not to say the Iranians are saints. They fund terrorists too. But let's not be sucked in by the US painting this as a black and white situation. Trump going all in on Team Wahhabi shows he lacks any subtlety when it comes to geopolitics.