Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy is in focus following the death of King Abdullah and the new leadership under King Salman. Although King Salman kept on Prince Saud al Faisal as Minister of Foreign Affairs, and headlines in Saudi newspapers proclaimed that foreign policy under King Salman would not change, challenges in the region are evolving and in many instances worsening.
Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi journalist and general manager of the Al Arab News Channel has called for broad cooperation and coordination between Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United States in a recent column published in the English-language edition of Al Arabiya:
Khashoggi:
“Obama and the world are dealing with Saudi Arabia as a constant, solid pillar in a changing and even collapsing region. This is the only fact that all agree on, but things become blurry when we ask: “How do we stop the collapse of the Middle East?”
Khashoggi wrote that he believes Saudi Arabia and the United States need a crucial third ally to bring about stability to the region, but the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey need to firm up their trilateral relationship in order to restore order to the region.
“Previous policies, be it American or Saudi, have failed to prevent the collapse. In addition, other Arab countries are about to join the list of failed states. Therefore, we should develop new policies, but this will not happen without recognizing that cooperation between the only three countries that are able to stop the collapse – Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United States – has not been good, even absent, not to mention the problems between them.”
[Click here to read Khashoggi’s full column on Al Arabiya]
