There’s an outspoken (and much-needed) piece in yesterday’s New York Times by Algerian novelist Kamel Daoud. It became their most emailed story, so the pressure is building on Saudi Arabia.
‘Black Daesh, white Daesh. The former slits throats, kills, stones, cuts off hands, destroys humanity’s common heritage and despises archaeology, women and non-Muslims. The latter is better dressed and neater but does the same things. The Islamic State; Saudi Arabia. In its struggle against terrorism, the West wages war on one, but shakes hands with the other. This is a mechanism of denial, and denial has a price: preserving the famous strategic alliance with Saudi Arabia at the risk of forgetting that the kingdom also relies on an alliance with a religious clergy that produces, legitimizes, spreads, preaches and defends Wahhabism, the ultra-puritanical form of Islam that Daesh feeds on.’ http://goo.gl/Bz1xI8
In military terms Saudi Arabia is training Syrian troops to combat ISIL and has suffered attacks within its own borders. But it still practices an extreme form of Islamism, this week condemning a Palestinian poet for apostasy (abandoning the Muslim faith). It also has the highest rate of executions, in the world, usually beheadings; one of only four countries that carries them out publicly.
The relationship chart between Saudi Arabia 1902/DAESH 2006 does show distinct signs of slump and separation with the tr Neptune square tr Saturn hitting on the composite Sun at 7 Sagittarius at the moment; and tr Saturn then continuing to conjunct the composite Mars Jupiter Mercury Venus in 2016/17; as well as tr Uranus conjunct the composite Neptune.
Which doesn’t mean that Saudi Arabia will abandon Wahhabism or move into the 21st Century. They may just regard Daesh/Isil as a troublesome neighbour but it may become more difficult for Western leaders to offer unconditional support to Saudi Arabia in return for stratospheric defence sales, if public pressure grows.
Further thought on Daesh/Isil: Next year their Uranus at 11 degrees Pisces will be hit by a tr Neptune conjunction and squared by tr Saturn; and critically will be triggered by the September Virgo Eclipse which falls closely opposition their Uranus squaring Mars in Sagittarius. That plus tr Uranus opposition their Sun Mars will be violent and exceedingly challenging.
Not that destroying them will be the answer to all woes since there is likely to be: 1) a vacuum in Syria and Iraq which will require a political strategy of a robust variety unseen in any previous Western interferences in Afghanistan or Iraq or Libya. 2) The disaffected who won’t be fighting in the Middle East will come back/or not leave to wreak havoc on Europe and elsewhere.