Foreign Policy Blogs

President Obama on the Middle East

President Obama on the Middle EastPresident Barack Obama’s message to the Muslim world was crucial in three ways:

The President underlined more than once the importance of integrating the economies of this tumultuous region into the global economy and the role of young Arabs in making this grand task possible;

President Obama declared to the world that the era of stability built upon fear and suppression has officially come to an end in the Middle East, irrespective of difficulties that lie ahead

The President shed some much-needed light on the need for transparency in governance and meaningful reforms by all Middle Eastern leaders whether or not they are a U.S. ally

But there was an equally important message in President Obama’s speech that deserves a great deal of attention. And that message was for the Saudi leadership, which can be interpreted as follows: Change course in the way you govern or brace yourself for consequences. Tensions are already brewing in U.S.—Saudi relations. Having seen the U.S. pull the plug on President Hosni Mubarak, the Saudi leadership is in a state of great insecurity, even considering a recalculation of its strategic security imperatives and perhaps find new ways to insulate the kingdom from the winds of change. Sooner or later, the Saudi leadership will have to come to grips with demographic realities of its population and those of the region and look at events in the region with a dose of reality.