The message Saudi Arabia is sending is that they are the main backers of ISIS and sectarian Islamic terror in general.
While the Royal family try to distance themselves the stench is still on them.
The west and in particular the USA is in full head in sand mode trying to defend Saudi Arabia and Turkey for that matter.

I think the too rich and too powerful Saudis are sending an unmistakable strong man, I can do as you do message, that those in her region actually respect, hands off and thus far and no farther or else?
Rhrosty.

Alon, what a shame that you have not been Obama's adviser over the last several years. His lack of understanding of, and preference for disengagement from, the Middle East have contributed to a much more dangerous situation than seemed likely before his 2009 Cairo speech sold the pass.

Well, if they are so busy getting at each other they will have less
time to devote to getting at the "west".
Let them have a go, it will clear the air and hopefully impoverish them.
Saudi Arabia is now at the start of the downside of peak oil.
Iran would like to reimpose the Persian Empire on the middle east.
Egypt is fast becoming the very poor man of the Middle East.
All in all a very inflammable mix.

Hi Bazz,

Which is probably why Obama has been trying to maintain a balancing act since the Arab 'Spring', to keep the big players apart, their armies away from each other and their fingers off the nuclear button.

The three countries you mention, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Egypt, would all be at each others' throats with the slightest encouragement: they each represent the backward and brutal forces, respectively, of Sunni Islam, Shi'a Islam and secular tyranny.

So what options to the ordinary people, those caught in the middle, and underneath, all of that, have ? How can they avoid being ground into the dirt ? Flight does seem to be the only option.

But the difference between being a migrant and being a refugee is volition: migrants move willingly and are usually prepared to work their arses off, while refugees have usually moved unwillingly, and tend to have a sense of grievance, and even entitlement, wherever they go. Currently, those in Europe may have an inaccurate picture of Europe and their rights there: that they are entitled to whatever 'luxury' they see Europeans enjoying, and entitled to it now.

So an impossible situation is looming.

Joe

Hi Bazz and Joe

Methinks the author is overly US centric in perception and as an advocate of US actions.

As in Afghanistan http://intelnews.org/2016/01/08/01-1841/ the US is gradually dropping in power to influence Middle Eastern - Iranian affairs. At the same time Russia's less ambivalent stance means Russia is gaining in influence. China, being more dependent of Mid East/Iranian oil, is also a rising force behind the scenes.

It was China, after all, that supplied the Saudis with ballistic missiles http://gentleseas.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/saudi-ballistic-missiles-nuclear.html - something the US refused to do. The author ignores 2 decades of Saudi financial assistance to Pakistan's nuclear weapons program - with the Saudis expecting Pakistani warhead help when its needed.

The author needs to realise that international relations doesn't rely on the (in)activity of Obama-Kerry foreign polcy.

Regards

Pete