Obama’s Power Vacuum

George W. Bush wanted, and failed, to democratize the Arab world, whereas Barack Obama accepts the autocratic regimes in the Middle East. He has invested little political capital in the region, and Saudi Arabia is trying to exploit this in its own way.

President Obama’s visit to Saudi Arabia is a clash of two attitudes that shows how much the two allies have drifted apart. Unlike his predecessor George W. Bush, who wanted to bring democracy to the Arab world and failed, Obama accepts the autocratic regimes of the Middle East. Under his leadership, the U.S. has invested little political capital in the region because Obama considers it less and less relevant.

Instead of offering the Gulf monarchies a defense agreement, he has called on them to stop being “free riders” dependent on the U.S. military and to share the Middle East with their archenemy, Iran.

Saudi Arabia’s reaction to this is the Salman Doctrine: Riyadh wants to fill the vacuum the U.S. has created in withdrawing and to be the sole hegemonic power in the region.

The Saudis want to lead, but they are practicing a rather erratic and hazardous policy — in Yemen — which doesn’t (yet) attest to the trust they demand.