Saudi Arabia. New challenges to the kingdom

Abstract

The deployment of armed forces of the US and its allies on the territory of Saudi Arabia in 1990 and their war against Iraq in 1991 strengthened American dominance in the region and at the same time revealed previously concealed internal contradictions in Saudi society. A divide between the pro-monarchy and anti-Saudi movements became evident. It resulted in an ideological struggle between former allies - the Wahhabis and the Muslim Brothers - inside and outside the kingdom. The Islamist discourse of the Brothers and Sahwa movement (a sort of hybrid of Wahhabism and Muslim Brotherhood ideology) manifested itself in questioning the legitimacy of the Saudi rule and promoting a general anti-American attitude. Those contradictions gave birth to Al-Qaeda, which declared a global jihad against the West and the monarchies of the Persian Gulf. The September 11, 2001 attacks in New York gave Washington an excuse to invade Afghanistan and then, after a successful blitzkrieg there, encouraged the US to begin a war in Iraq under the fake pretext of Iraqi plans to develop all kinds of weapons of mass destruction. Consequences for the Saudi government included the strengthening of Sunni - Shiite contradictions inside the kingdom and in the region as well as an explosion of terrorism inside Saudi Arabia. After the establishment of the Shiite majority government in Iraq, the Sunni - Shiite contradictions have turned into a cold war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. This situation aggravated the instability in the Middle East and precluded potential compromises.