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Honest question, what value would it have provided the Saudis to support the 9/11 bombings? The US has had a long, largely positive relationship with the Kingd
by badRNG 5y ago
Honest question, what value would it have provided the Saudis to support the 9/11 bombings?
The US has had a long, largely positive relationship with the Kingdom to include extensive economic investment as well as military support since at least the '50s (to sometimes an unconscionable degree considering some of the Saudi excesses in the war with Yemen.) It seems like maintaining this relationship with the US is in the best interests of both the Kingdom and its ruling class. The US seemingly continues to support Saudi Arabia at least in part as a check on the influence of Iran in the region.
There are some tensions and differences in ideology between the very religious rural areas and wealthy urban elites, so even the participation of individual Saudis doesn't seem to say much about the position of the Saudi government and the ideology of the state.
- darig 5y agoEveryone hates Isreal, bro.
- Lammy 5y ago> since at least the '50s Since at least 1944: https://archive.org/details/chi_00005 https://archive.org/details/chi_00005 (Seek to 12:28, sorry can't deep-link)
- sasaf5 5y agoNot all Saudis are happy with their authocratic government. Especially because it is allied with Israel's ally.
- colechristensen 5y agoInternal and regional politics for SA Weakening a very powerful ally to get more favorable treatment Surreptitiously convincing an ally to start wars with SA rivals Reenforcing SA’s necessity to the US as a ally in the region Ordinary corruption In general not “to attack” but for the various chains of effects expected from that attack
- ncphil 5y agoWhat? You think Dick Cheney was the only shareholder of the major military manufacturers and suppliers who would (literally) make a killing after 9/11?
- ethbr0 5y agoThe kingdom of Saudi Arabia is made up of Saudis. Saudis have a... "unique" economy. Disfunctional would probably be a better word. And when you're essentially paid by the state, and your job isn't really a job, you search for other meaning in your life. And if that meaning is religious fundamentalism, and the people you're hanging out with want money, and you have a lot of extra money...? Well, things happen.
- morpheos137 5y agoOil money has made saudi arabia less extreme not more so. Read up on the Ikhwan.
- ethbr0 5y agoOil money has made the leaders of Saudi Arabia less extreme. (Aside from the odd journalistic kidnapping, torture, and dismemberment...) And why should it not? They have money, respect, and as posh of a lifestyle as can be bought. But below the leaders, there's a lot of royal middle management with access to enough money to easily fund terrorism in the amounts we're talking about. And those people absolutely don't have the geopolitical pragmatism of their higher-ups.