"The second Saudi kingdom... I will not live in my father's robes"

Immediately after the famous Yalta meeting, which included the victorious allies in World War II, Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill, which took place from 4 to 11 February 1945, in which it was agreed to share defeated Germany, US President Franklin Roosevelt went to Saudi Arabia to meet King Abdulaziz Al Saud, that meeting that took place on February 14 and which established the future relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia, in an agreement named after the battleship on which the meeting took place, "Quincy". The essence of the agreement boils down to the phrase "oil in exchange for protection". That is, the United States controls Saudi oil, in return for protecting the Saudi regime from any threat.

The Saudi American Aramco Oil Company was founded in 1933, one year after the establishment of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932, when the United States discovered the importance of Saudi oil, and the huge quantities of it in the Kingdom.

But oil, which constituted the most important strategic factor for the United States in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, was not the only one that America invested there. Saudi Arabia has great strategic assets that it placed at the disposal of the United States without limits. The important strategic location, where America established its first military base in the region, the Dhahran base, in 1951. And the religious importance of Muslims, as it used the "Wahhabi" ideology, to carry out major missions to serve the American strategy in the region and in the world, both in the struggle against communism and the Union The Soviet Union, or against Arab nationalism and Nasserist Egypt, or against the Iranian revolution and its allies.

With what Saudi Arabia provided of oil, debt, and petrodollars, with unparalleled willingness and generosity, to the United States, the latter was able to win the Cold War, defeat its “enemies” in the Soviet Union, Afghanistan, Iraq, and others, and monopolize control of the global system, and impose more hegemony on many countries of the world. including Saudi Arabia itself.

Saudi Arabia continued to be a loyal "vassal" of the United States. It implemented with unparalleled sincerity everything that serves American policies in the region and in the world, and developed over time its loyalty, devotion and services to the American “father”, but it failed in what it wished for all the time, which is to raise its value to the Americans, from the level that began with the first agreement between Roosevelt and Abdulaziz .

The American blackmail of Saudi Arabia continued, without any regard for the extent of the "loyalty" maintained by that "ally". From time to time, the United States greatly embarrassed the Saudi regime, not only because it tarnished the reputation of the Kingdom, but also, and perhaps more importantly, because it constituted interference in Saudi internal affairs, as Saudi political thought considers that as long as the actor and the object are subject to it They are Saudis, so it is "inappropriate" for anyone to interfere in this, no matter how high he is, and with this logic was the Saudi anger at all his critics, which accompanied the Khashoggi "incident".

The American “ally” failed with the new Saudi leadership, in the first and clearest test of the extent to which the United States played its role in protecting the Queen, according to the first American-Saudi agreement. When the Houthis attacked Saudi Arabia and Aramco in particular, Saudi Arabia expected America to intervene directly against them, but that did not happen, and the United States did not even put them on the list of terrorism as requested by Saudi Arabia.

At the beginning of the rule of King Salman and his crown prince, the kingdom went far in the same traditional direction adopted by its rulers, in search of a role commensurate with the aspirations of its new rulers. It took a sharply hostile stance towards Iran, the intensity of which is difficult to justify, even to the most sympathetic people to the Kingdom. It got involved in an "absurd" war in Yemen, and other "sister" countries took with it. It also took a negative and sharp stance towards Qatar, and almost entered into a war with the Gulf states against it. Saudi Arabia was also a "vanguard" in supporting terrorism in Syria, and quarreled with Turkey over the "Sunni" leadership.

And most of all, it got so close to Israel that it "pushed" countries like the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan to go far on the issue of normalization. However, this also did not gain the "appreciation" of the United States, which persisted in its "arrogant" position, which considers that this is only one of the duties of the "followers".

That American position towards Saudi Arabia has not changed since Roosevelt met Abdul Aziz seventy-eight years ago, and the United States’ lack of “awareness” of the changes that have taken place in Saudi Arabia since then, especially in terms of capabilities and strategic importance, and the continued American belittlement of Saudi Arabia and its rulers and the denial of the importance of their role and influence. The psychological effect of all this, in addition to the historical opportunity provided by the Ukrainian war, the growth of Chinese power, and the emergence of new international alliances that are not in harmony with the United States and its policies, the new Saudi rule pushed the trend, perhaps not to the extent that the peoples of the region wanted, but to a degree that was not Expected months from now.

The "ambitious" Prince Mohammed bin Salman began by rearranging the traditional pillars of the Saudi regime, so he took measures against prominent figures in the ruling family, curbed the great role played by the religious establishment, and opened the doors wide to individual freedoms, which earned him decisive support, especially among young people.

In the international dimension, the young prince came out, somewhat, from the American mantle, and the enemy of the United States is no longer necessarily an enemy of Saudi Arabia, and Saudi Arabia is no longer a "volunteer" soldier on the side of the "unjust or oppressed" America, and it has emerged in one way or another and "relatively" from blind dependence. To adopt interests as a basis for their relations.

Bin Salman also took steps that took the Kingdom to the east, not a small distance, and the trade relationship with China and Russia improved greatly, despite America’s dissatisfaction, and it followed an oil policy that America was not satisfied with, and strengthened its relations outside the American space, especially with China, after the latter “sponsored The Saudi-Iranian agreement.

All this is good and in the right direction, and it is necessary in order to put Saudi Arabia and its young leadership on the path that enables it to occupy a prominent position among the leading countries in the region, and candidates for its actual leadership.

However, the contemporary history of the region clearly shows us the conditions that must be met in the state and in the leadership that seeks to be in a position that leads the nation to achieve its "project".

The credibility of the Saudi government in advancing the nation's liberation project remains not convincing enough if Saudi Arabia does not renounce normalization with Israel and lead a serious and strong campaign to rid the countries that went for normalization of what they were involved in. In no way can a nation lead and have a close or ambiguous relationship with its worst enemies.

There are apparently important national advisers to the Saudi government, and the prince himself is highly intelligent, realizing that truce with the Zionist project that targets the entire nation will not lead to assuming leadership in the region, and he will not be able to present himself to the peoples of the region and the world as a true representative. for him.

Saudi Arabia must realize, and I think it realizes, that the real indication of the seriousness of its recent steps is not the extent to which it advances from Iran, but rather the extent to which it distances itself from Israel. And it, that is, Saudi Arabia, is supposed to invest in its rapprochement with Iran to confirm their radical position on Palestine, and not to meet with it halfway, because if that happens, Iran will not remain with Palestine, and Saudi Arabia will not be with it.

The new Saudi ruler was fed up with the "robes" of his father (America), so he decided to break free (the shy so far) from him. This is certainly not a simple matter, but it is worth trying if he wanted to rule, placing himself and his country in a position that only big countries and great leaders seek. At that time, all the Arab and Islamic peoples and the free people of the world will be with that position