Egypt Versus Saudi Arabia: New Rules

Egypt Versus Saudi Arabia: New Rules
By As’ad AbuKhalil – 30 April, 2012 – Angry Corner – Al Akhbar

For months during the Egyptian uprising, Thomas Friedman assured his (Zionist) readers that the Egyptian uprising has no foreign policy goals whatsoever. He probably was trying to allay the fears of Israelis. (Only recently, Thomas Friedman sneakily switched positions and said that the only issue that matters in the next presidential election in Egypt will be foreign policy and the state of relations with Israel).

Yet, it was obvious for all those who followed the Egyptian uprising and its slogans that the Egyptian youth have many foreign policy goals and that they will press for a shift in Egyptian foreign policy. In fact, one of the most oft-repeated slogans in Cairo against Mubarak and his deputy, Omar Sulayman, was that both were “agents of the Americans.”

But the new foreign policy of Egypt – which will take shape over the period of democratization, however long that takes – will also change Egypt’s foreign policies to Arab countries and the role of Egypt in the region.

The Egyptian people have many reasons to be angry with Saudi Arabia’s government. Here are some reasons:

Many Saudi princes favor spending vacations in Egypt and there have been many (suppressed by Mubarak) stories about corruption and thuggery and misconduct by Saudi princes and their entourage.

The Egyptian people have noticed that the Saudi royal family and Israel were the biggest champions of Mubarak until the last hour of his rule. Egyptians have also noticed that Saudi Arabia offered to shelter Mubarak during the revolution and have pressured SCAF to sabotage his trial.

Egyptians have heard for years about stories of mistreatment of Egyptians in Saudi Arabia. Mubarak (like most Arab republican leaders) was receiving cash payments from Gulf rulers and would use his dictatorial rule to suppress any unfavorable stories about the Saudi royal family and its repression. Furthermore, the Saudi injustice system applies only to poor Arabs and Muslims, and many of those rules have been applied to Egyptian workers in Saudi Arabia. …more