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Its well worth looking at US <-> middle east foreign policy through the eyes of saudi arabia. Basically the Saudis have been waging a proxy war again Iran thro

Its well worth looking at US <-> middle east foreign policy through the eyes of saudi arabia. Basically the Saudis have been waging a proxy war again Iran through the US and various "terror" groups. There is a school of thought that IS were initially funded via the Saudis. The blood bath in Syria is also partly funded by the Saudis. (http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jan/18/john-mccain-senators-saudi-arabia-tour-syria-rebels http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jan/18/john-mccain-s... partial source.) I wish to steer clear of the whole conspiracy theory bollocks. Its much better to view the situation in the same way the previous Afghan war was waged against Russia.

rajacombinator 12y ago
Yep it always pays to follow the money, and the Saudis have a lot of it. Also useful to read the meta news behind the news, ie. why are we reading this headline today?
pyre 12y ago
> The blood bath in Syria is also partly funded by the Saudis. It's entirely possible that Saudis supported it before it became a case of full-blown ISIS.
- dmschulman 12y ago
  With ISIS it's important to look at Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his group, Al Qaeda in Iraq (ISI). He formally broke his affiliation with Al Qaeda when Ayman al-Zawahiri condemned ISI wanting to merge with groups in Syria (Jabhat al-Nusra in particular). A coalition of different groups from these regions make up ISIS. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Bakr_al-Baghdadi#Expansion_into_Syria_and_break_with_al-Qaeda http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Bakr_al-Baghdadi#Expansion_... The affiliations sound like they were achieved organically, though who knows what's really going on behind closed doors.
  - pyre 12y ago
    It seems like Saudi-support for "groups destabilizing Syria" seems the most likely reason for "Saudi support of ISIS." It's not like supporting these groups has ever come back to bite the hand that supports it. Look at Pakistan. They are finally realizing the turning a blind eye to the Taliban (because they destabilize Afghanistan which acts as a buffer against India) might actually harm them too.

rajacombinator 12y ago

Yep it always pays to follow the money, and the Saudis have a lot of it. Also useful to read the meta news behind the news, ie. why are we reading this headline today?

pyre 12y ago

> The blood bath in Syria is also partly funded by the Saudis. It's entirely possible that Saudis supported it before it became a case of full-blown ISIS.

dmschulman 12y ago
With ISIS it's important to look at Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his group, Al Qaeda in Iraq (ISI). He formally broke his affiliation with Al Qaeda when Ayman al-Zawahiri condemned ISI wanting to merge with groups in Syria (Jabhat al-Nusra in particular). A coalition of different groups from these regions make up ISIS. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Bakr_al-Baghdadi#Expansion_into_Syria_and_break_with_al-Qaeda http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Bakr_al-Baghdadi#Expansion_... The affiliations sound like they were achieved organically, though who knows what's really going on behind closed doors.
- pyre 12y ago
  It seems like Saudi-support for "groups destabilizing Syria" seems the most likely reason for "Saudi support of ISIS." It's not like supporting these groups has ever come back to bite the hand that supports it. Look at Pakistan. They are finally realizing the turning a blind eye to the Taliban (because they destabilize Afghanistan which acts as a buffer against India) might actually harm them too.