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« The Blog God | Main | When Are You Moving Back To Europe, Maddie? »

The New Coalition Is Forming

King Abdullah of Jordan seems to be on board.

I'm wondering just what Powell promised him behind closed doors. A guarantee of defense against Iraq and Syria?

Undoubtedly.

The Arabian Peninsula?

Possibly.

Be afraid, House of Saud. Be very afraid...

Posted by Rand Simberg at February 01, 2002 10:02 AM
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So this makes four Muslim nations more-or-less on board: Pakistan, Turkey, Afghanistan and Jordan, Jordan being the first of the Arab countries. We're running out of the category 'Muslim-nations-we-actually-want-for-allies;' who's left that doesn't either sponsor terrorists or engage in anti-US hyper propaganda? Donley

Posted by Richard Donley at February 1, 2002 11:05 PM

Egypt is on board, just a lot more quietly. They may make some noises but they won't seriously challenge us on the matter; Mubarak enjoys his elder-statesman image and the way this lets him play both sides and pull out problem-solving summits. Morocco is also a no-brainer, though they're mostly out of the fray. See also the certain cooperation (it's not even on the table, so not talked about, which is how they like it) from most of the Gulf States, especially Bahrain, Oman, and Qatar. And don't forget Uzbekistan and the much quieter cooperation from Tajikistan and Kazakhstan, not that those autocrats are any more photogenic poster boys for democracy.

Odder bedfellows will include Libya (Ghadafy is actually trying really hard to get accepted by the big boys in recent years, and played a key role in setting up the African (economic) Union; Sudan (despite the war and all, they're offering up intelligence on Osama, giving us an opening); Yemen (closer cooperation since 9/11 on the Cole investigation, special forces training); some apparent tacit cooperation from various Somali factions including the (mostly irrelevant) actual government; India (more Muslims than most Muslim countries!); & the Philippines (some of whose Muslim officials would rather see the militants fade away and the tourist industry return).

Posted by lakefxdan at February 2, 2002 10:13 PM


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