Saturday, October 08, 2016

Did Saudi regime expert a Jihadi ideology suitable for recruitment of fanatics?

Thomas Pierret (@ThomasPierret)
KSA nothing like that: exports religious doctrine but political model inherently anti-revolutionary = unsuitable for militant mobilization

Thomas here seems rather clueless.  Saudi Wahhabi doctrine has not been quietest politically in fact.  It did go through a dormant period after the suppression of the Ikhwan in the 1930s, but in the 1950s and 1960s, the Saudi regime exported a Jihadi Salafite combatant Wahhabi doctrine to combat leftistm and Arab nationalism.  That was the beginning of the formation of Islamist Internationalism which was suitable for the US in the Cold War.  This was more revived and intensified after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.  I am shocked that Thomas does not know this background.  It is true that Saudi regime did turn a bit inward in its expert of Wahhabiyyah after Sep. 11, but that was changed after the beginning of the Syrian war and the doctrine of combatant Jihadism was revived.  And it was quite suitable for the recruitment of fanatics worldwide.