Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest producer of oil while the United States is the world’s biggest consumer of petroleum and gas. The interaction between the world’s only super-power and an oil giant in the form of Saudi Arabia (part of the Kingdom of Saud- which comprises nations such as Egypt, Sudan, Algeria and Morocco) is a geopolitical marvel. Saudi Arabia is ruled by a monarch, which means decision making is made by an elite “chosen family” that acts as the Sovereign authority on the land
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The mercurial place occupied by Saudi Arabia in world geopolitics is re-emphasized by the dramatic drop in crude oil prices after Saudi Arabia flooded the market with cheap oil to stave off competition from U.S oil shale industry and her traditional rival, Iran.  At the same time, the Kingdom of Saud has embarked on a “shock and awe” bombing of Yemeni populations under the guise of restoring democracy in Yemen. The irony is lost on them since they are the exact antithesis of democracy.
Saudi has enjoyed cordial relations with the U.S. and NATO (Gause, 2014). Presently, Saudi Arabia has entered into a contract with the United States for the supply of military equipment worth $ 100 billion dollars, making it the largest military contract in history (Althunayyan & Choucri, 2014). Saudi Arabia is the Middle East economic and political giant. Buoyed by oil dollars, the Kingdom has been smartly governed by the ruling Sheiks with smooth power transitions. Saudi Arabia has been NATO’s key ally in a volatile region that keeps Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Syria, Egypt and Israel for the company (Gause, 2014). The United States has turned a blind eye to the human rights record of Saudi Arabia (public executions are common) in return for her being a key ally in the fight against terrorism and supply of cheap oil (Althunayyan & Choucri, 2014). The present Saudi shelling of Yemeni populations is not sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council. Diplomatic speculation is that it has the implicit support of NATO.
Oil and gas revenues constitute 90 percent of Saudi Arabia’s total revenues. The implicit justification is that Saudi Arabia is embarking on a mission to flood the market with cheap oil to make U.S. shale companies unprofitable (Althunayyan & Choucri, 2014). Since Saudi Arabia has vast oil reserves and enjoys economies of scale, it can afford to sell at below market rates, a thing most small-scale producers cannot. Saudi Arabia has been reacting to the increase in world oil output by small producers like Angola, a situation that threatens their market dominance.
On the war on terror, Saudi Arabia occupies a very ambulatory place in the campaign. 15 of the 19 suicide bombers who attacked the Twin Towers and Pentagon were of Saudi attraction (Nuechterlein, 2015). Vice, an HBO documentary series, reports that Saudi Arabia commits up to $ 2 billion each year to support the teaching and proselytization of Wahhabism which is the most extreme version of Islamic Jihad, with strong roots in Saudi Arabia and the Taliban. Wahhabi militants are also spread to Iraq and Iran. Being the origins of present day Islamic fundamentalism, Wahhabis, such as Bin Laden have caused havoc and mayhem all over the world.
The Islamic State is another strain of Wahhabism. Naturally, Saudi Arabia denies that it sponsors terrorism (Titus & Gray, 2015). In the leaked cables, Wikileaks, the United States accuses Saudi Arabia of reluctance to investigate the financial transactions of suspected terrorists (Gause, 2014).  In this sense, Saudi Arabia is paramount to the war on terrorism and attracts attention from NATO and the International community (Titus & Gray, 2015). The Strait of Hormuz, among other choke points are of great strategic importance to Saudi Arabia. More than 20% of the world’s crude oil and petroleum products pass through Hormuz making it a valuable area for international trade. Though this choke point is closest to Iran and UAE, Saudi Arabia has a lot of influence on the area because of its massive oil production.
 “The Gateway of Tears”, alternatively known as Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, is a crucial maritime chokepoint that connects the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean (Gulf of Aden) (Maor, 2015).  The Saudi campaign in Yemen can thus be viewed as a greater tactic to turn Yemen into a vassal state that will help counter the rise of Iran, Saudi Arabia’s fiercest rival (Maor, 2015). The importance of the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait is usually likened to that of the Suez Canal in Egypt (Rodrigue, 2004).  It greatly aids in the commercial transportation of oil and gas as well as a conduit for business activities on the sea (Maor, 2015). To the United States and by extension NATO as well as the Saud Kingdom, gaining control over the Gateway of Tears is crucial to the monitoring and control of Iran (Rodrigue, 2004), which is rising like a Phoenix, yet again. Iran and the U.S. have recently signed a Nuclear Deal, which is yet to be approved by Congress. Sanctions against Iran are to be lifted as part of the deal.
Not to be gainsaid, Saudi Arabia hosts Mecca, the religious capital for Muslims in the world. The Kaaba sits at Mecca, from where millions of Muslims make religious visits every year. It is widely believed that whoever controls the Kaaba controls Islam’s fate. The Islamic State is said to be on a mission to capture Mecca from Saudi Arabia as part of their penultimate moves in creating an Islamic Caliphate all over the world. In other worlds, Saudi Arabia is the custodian of the tools for Power in Islam, in a manner of speech.  The enviable place thus occupied by Saudi Arabia in world geopolitics is immense. No other country occupies such a prominent place in global politics. Since it controls oil production, any action taken by Saudi Arabia is bound to affect everyone who depends on energy to generate income.



References
Althunayyan, H., & Choucri, N. (2014). Challenges of post-global shifts in energy production: US–Saudi Relations in 2020.
Gause, F. G. (2014). Saudi Arabia in the New Middle East (No. 63). Council on Foreign Relations.
Maor, Y. (2015). The implications of the political events in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea for Israeli Maritime trade.
Nuechterlein, D. E. (2015). America overcommitted: United States national interests in the 1980s. University Press of Kentucky.
Rodrigue, J. P. (2004). Straits, passages and chokepoints: a maritime geostrategy of petroleum distribution. Cahiers de géographie du Québec, 48 (135), 357-374.
Titus, M., & Gray, D. H. (2015). Suppressing the growth of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula: An examination of the resurgence of AQAP in Yemen and policies the United States can employ to mitigate the threat. Global Security Studies, 6 (3).