David Ignatius is a smart guy who has a lot of intelligent things to say about the broad region covered by this blog. His most recent op-ed focuses on the Vice President's trip to Saudi Arabia to manage "the Abdullah account." Ignatius seems to suggest that the meeting will focus on the mutual desire of both parties to limit Iran's influence and that other issues such as disagreements over the Israeli-Palestinian dispute and Iraq can be put to one side. Respectfully, I am not sure if that analysis is correct because even if the Saudi moves were to be viewed through a lens of self-interested action to undercut Iran, by extension the disagreements between Saudi and the U.S. would need to be "on the table" in a Cheney/Abdullah meeting. Why? Well, it seems clear that these two disputes are tier one issues for Iran and are part of its regional strategy and therefore they must also be on the agenda for any country seeking to effectively hem Iran in. Another way to put it is that you sometimes have to meet your strategic opponent where he is. If the Saudis view Iran as their strategic opponent they must in turn consider Iranian policy towards the Israel-Palestine and Iraq....and consequently disagreements with the U.S. are a VERY big deal.

Finally let me be clear that SAI believes that there is a different approach that all parties in the region should consider - the interconnected agreements that comprise NEASFram. Such an approach will serve the U.S., Saudis and Iranians well if they give it a chance....but that will require moving away from "secret strategy councils with the hard-nosed Cheney."

# posted by Raj @ 5/09/2007 03:37:00 PM