Why Is Saudi Arabia Getting So Bold?

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Why Is Saudi Arabia Getting So Bold?

There is a powerful message in its recent rebuke to the United Nations and the United States.

Saudi Arabia is troubled. Baffled. Angry. It finds America’s current Middle East policy under the Obama administration incomprehensible—and deadly dangerous.

Its bold response is hastening an extraordinary change in the Middle East, one that causes a specific biblical prophecy to leap into focus.

On October 17, Saudi Arabia was offered a highly coveted seat on the United Nations Security Council for the first time in its history. This was viewed as a major victory for the Arab state.

Until the next day, that is—when it rejected the offer. This dramatic move stunned the UN and diplomats worldwide. It was widely viewed as a slap at the United States, considered one of its strongest Western allies.

What was Saudi Arabia so upset about—and why was it suddenly so bold? There must be a compelling reason.

The rise of Iran is Saudi Arabia’s most pressing concern. The Saudis have watched anxiously as Iran, a bitter enemy, has evaded punishment even while continuing to forge its nuclear program, fund terrorism and aggressively expand its influence throughout the region.

Now, they fear the United States is giving its blessing to the whole appalling process.

Disturbing signs were building: signs of America’s weakening resolve, of its declining interest in the Middle East, of its fading sense of responsibility to protect Israel. There was the American press’s collective swoon over Iran’s new president this past summer.

Then came the stunning collapse of President Obama’s pledge to intervene in Syria, and his shirking responsibility by turning the situation over to Vladimir Putin. This seemed to guarantee the survival of the Assad regime, providing a huge boost to Iran.

Saudi royal family member Prince Turki al-Faisal lashed out: “The current charade of international control over Bashar’s chemical arsenal would be funny if it were not so blatantly perfidious.” He accused Mr. Obama of using it not only “to back down (from military strikes), but also to help Assad to butcher his people.”

Finally at the end of September came the last straw: “the most shameful phone call in American history.” It confirmed the Saudis’ deepest worries. The American president was in full Neville Chamberlain mode with the most dangerous state in the Mideast.

An American reconciliation with Iran truly is a game-changer for Saudi Arabia. It absolutely shreds the U.S.-Saudi alliance. The Saudis are already speaking of a “major shift” away from the U.S. One source told Reuters, “Saudi doesn’t want to find itself any longer in a situation where it is dependent” on America, which it deems untrustworthy and treacherous.

And if, as the Saudis fear, Iran is able to get a reprieve from economic sanctions and still proceed with its nuclear program, the timetable for Iran’s regional ascendancy will speed up considerably.

Last February, Saudi Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz told the Islamic Summit that if the UN Security Council fails to act in Syria, “We have to turn our backs against it and work to build our capabilities to solve our problems by ourselves.”

Now, just months later, Saudi Arabia is clearly reaching the point where it feels continuing the charade of alliance with the U.S. is worthless.

You can be sure it has been seeking other options. Now it must have enough confidence that it will get along just fine without America.

But what options does it have? This is a compelling question when viewed in light of biblical prophecy.

There is evidence Saudi Arabia is expecting to use local alliances to help contain Iran. There is talk of creating a “collective security framework” with the six Gulf Cooperation Council states plus a few other neighboring nations. But it is difficult to see this alliance successfully putting a check on an ever-mightier Tehran.

The piece of the puzzle that analysts are overlooking lies further north: Germany.

As the Trumpet has tracked for some time, Germany is preparing itself to confront Iran. An alliance with Saudi Arabia is a key component in these preparations.

Berlin is building relations with several anti-Iranian Arab states, promoting trade, arming and equipping them. We recently reported on a recent energy deal with Qatar that mirrored already existing political and military ties. German-Foreign-Policy.com has exposed Germany’s desire to create a heavily armed opposition force on the Arabian Peninsula: “The aim is to create in the Arab world a counter-power against Iran,” it recently wrote; “this includes armament exports in a grand style.”

In one of his most important recent articles, Gerald Flurry revealed how these details reveal Germany’s “whirlwind” strategy for attacking Iran. “Germany has surrounded Iran and radical Islam …” he wrote. “Soon that whirlwind is going to start rotating and whirling against the king of the south [an Iranian-led, radical Islamic association] like a well-armed—probably nuclear-armed—vortex!”

Bible prophecy not only explains that strategy, as Mr. Flurry brings out in that article—but it also specifically forecasts a German-Saudi alliance! The Trumpet has been forecasting this union for years. You can read about it in Mr. Flurry’s article “A Mysterious Alliance.”

The Saudis have every reason to be perplexed and disturbed by America’s current foreign policy. That policy, shamefully, has done much to increase Iran’s power. It started back in 2003 with America’s decision to eliminate Iran’s greatest enemy in the region, Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Under President Obama, however, the U.S. has shifted that policy into a much higher gear. It has weakened or removed additional checks on Iran by brushing Israel off, by helping to oust Hosni Mubarak from Egypt and Muammar Qadhafi from Libya, by engaging in perpetual fruitless negotiations, by propping up Iran’s leaders, even making a friendly phone call. Nations throughout the Middle East are having to recalibrate their thinking based on the probability of U.S.-Iranian reconciliation.

This represents a transformative alienation of “moderate” Arab states like Saudi Arabia that are united against Iran.

And it is exactly these states that Germany is going after!

This development aligns remarkably with the prophecy of Psalm 83.

Saudi Arabia’s very public rebuke of America is likely a strong indication of the confidence it has gained in its new European ally. It is hard to imagine the Saudis being so bold—if not for the support they are receiving from Germany!