Clinton: Yemen poses global risk
Clinton says situation in Yemen has global security implications
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U.S., British embassies in Yemen close on Qaeda threat
The United States and Britain closed their embassies in Yemen on Sunday over security concerns about possible militant attacks after the failed bombing of a U.S.-bound plane on Christmas Day.
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Sectarianism and Ideology in the Saudi-Iranian Relationship
As noted in Chapter One, the conventional narrative of Saudi-Iranian relations suggests that heightened Sunni-Shi’a tensions throughout the Middle East should be a significant factor in the policy calculus of each regime. Ideologies that emphasize the distinctions between Arabs and Persians, the East and the West, and ruling classes and the “street” are also thought to inform Saudi and Iranian threat perceptions. While these structural elements certainly affect relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, they are not the main drivers. Rather, sectarianism and ideology function both as calculated instruments of state policy and as a set of deeply held beliefs by certain key constituencies that decisionmakers must factor into their policy calculus.
Saudi Arabia and Iran-Between Confrontation and Cooperation
The fall of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in 2003 and the war in Iraq have affected sweeping changes to the strategic landscape of the Middle East, radically shifting the regional balance of power. Old security paradigms have been thrown into question, and local states appear to be reaffirming, renegotiating, or rethinking their relations with one another and with outside powers. Relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran have arguably been a central pivot around which this transformation has turned. The collapse of Iraq as the eastern flank of the Arab world and growing regional perceptions of U.S. immobility have encouraged Tehran’s ambitions for regional preeminence, amplified its existing influence, and provoked a Sunni Arab diplomatic counterreaction, spearheaded to a large degree by Saudi Arabia and tacitly endorsed by Washington.1 The dynamic relations between the two powers are unfolding in the Persian Gulf, Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine, with important implications for regional stability and U.S. interests.2
Saudi-Iranian Relations Since the Fall of Saddam: Rivalry, Cooperation, and Implications for U.S. Policy: Summary
The fall of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in 2003 and the war in Iraq have affected sweeping changes in the strategic landscape of the Middle East, radically shifting the regional balance of power. Old security paradigms have been thrown into question, and local states appear to be reaffirming, renegotiating, or rethinking their relations with one another and with outside powers. Saudi Arabia and Iran have in many respects been the central players in this unfolding transformation. The dynamic relations between the two powers have affected the Persian Gulf, Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine with important implications for regional stability and U.S. interests.
Saudi-Iranian Relations Since the Fall of Saddam: Rivalry, Cooperation, and Implications for U.S. Policy
Frederic Wehrey, Theodore W. Karasik, Alireza Nader, Jeremy Ghez, Lydia Hansell, Robert A. Guffey
National Security Research Division
RAND Corporation 2009
Sponsored by the Smith Richardson Foundation NATIONAL SECURITY RESEARCH DIVISION
The research described in this report was sponsored by the Smith Richardson Foundation and was conducted under the auspices of the International Security and Defense Policy Center within the RAND National Security Research Division (NSRD). NSRD conducts research and analysis for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the Unified Commands, the defense agencies, the Department of the Navy, the Marine Corps, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Intelligence Community, allied foreign governments, and foundations.
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