{"id":34367,"date":"2023-04-12T05:49:13","date_gmt":"2023-04-12T00:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=34367"},"modified":"2025-04-20T12:57:05","modified_gmt":"2025-04-20T07:27:05","slug":"saudi-arabias-quest-for-strategic-autonomy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/saudi-arabias-quest-for-strategic-autonomy\/","title":{"rendered":"Saudi Arabia\u2019s Quest for Strategic Autonomy"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Why in news?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>News Summary: Saudi Arabia\u2019s quest for strategic autonomy<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>How is Saudi foreign policy changing?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Why are there changes now?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Is Saudi Arabia moving away from the U.S.?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>How Saudi Arabia is balancing between the global powers?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What are the implications for the region?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why in news?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Saudi Arabia had adopted an aggressive foreign policy in recent years as it is seeking to expand its influence in West Asia.<\/li>\n<li>It is reaching out to old rivals, holding talks with new enemies and seeking to balance between great powers, all while trying to transform its economy at home.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>News Summary:<\/strong> <strong>Saudi Arabia\u2019s quest for strategic autonomy<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h2><strong>How is Saudi foreign policy changing?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/mpZ6jgJG365Po9ahVttvW9f9Wy_l6nXlfULHNtGDC_IBmQ-APU8oB_mCOTBUYnl576KlG2iMMAxvU2Dxnq7v2h0-9-Uc8ogvIlI3DFUYQtrVsVotS1h66yLO6AKK3wGD9_AdVK8guL2SHoq8l9t44Q\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Image caption: Restructuring Dynamics of West Asia<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The main driver of Saudi foreign policy was the kingdom\u2019s hostility towards Iran.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>However, last month, Saudi Arabia announced a deal to normalise diplomatic ties with Iran.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Soon after, there were reports that Russia was mediating talks between Saudi Arabia and Syria.<\/li>\n<li>Recently, a Saudi-Omani delegation travelled to Yemen to hold talks with the Houthi rebels for a permanent ceasefire.<\/li>\n<li>All these moves mark a decisive shift from the policy adopted by Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman after he rose to the top echelons of the Kingdom in 2017.<\/li>\n<li>In other words, foreign policy of Saudi Arabia is witnessing a change by making room for diplomacy and pragmatic alliances.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why are there changes now?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Kingdom\u2019s recent regional bets were either unsuccessful or only partially successful.\n<ul>\n<li>In Syria, Mr. Assad, backed by Russia and Iran, has won the civil war.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>In Yemen, the Saudi-led coalition failed to Houthis them from the capital. Also, the Houthis, with their drones and short-range missiles, now pose a serious security threat to Riyadh.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Also, the U.S.\u2019s priority is shifting away from West Asia. So, the Saudi Arabia is faced with two choices:\n<ul>\n<li>Either double down on its failed bets seeking to contain Iran in a region which is no longer a priority for the U.S., or\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Undo the failed policies and reach out to Iran to establish a new balance between the two.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>When China, which has good ties with both Tehran and Riyadh, offered to mediate between the two, the Saudis found it as an opportunity and seized it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Is Saudi Arabia moving away from the U.S.?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>It is not. The U.S., which has thousands of troops and military assets in the Gulf, including its Fifth Fleet, <u>would continue to play a major security role in the region<\/u>.<\/li>\n<li>For Saudi Arabia, the U.S. remains its largest defence supplier.<\/li>\n<li>However, the Saudis realised that the U.S.\u2019s deprioritisation of West Asia is altering the post-War order of the region.<\/li>\n<li>Hence, Saudi Arabia is trying to use the <u>vacuum created by the U.S. policy changes to autonomise its foreign policy<\/u>.<\/li>\n<li><u>De-Americanisation of West Asia is not a Saudi goal.<\/u> Rather it is trying to exploit America\u2019s weakness in the region to establish its own autonomy.\n<ul>\n<li>It is doing so by building better ties with Russia and China and mending relations with regional powers without completely losing the U.S.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>\u00a0<\/h2>\n<h2><strong>How Saudi Arabia is balancing between the global powers?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/ZDXv83x3mwZZV8sMlebm3lLikF_2UKOo598kpEXObSHUIrd42URva4tkaBUoYc4ZxruufDeZ0WyqqamhHTOlG3doZRqZX_PQrDdZvudbrfA1jguKkORxPAeDREbCapYzWHP9AKd9-zRhdPWIvH6BvQ\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Image caption: Balancing act of Saudi Arabia<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Saudi Arabia is trying to balance between the U.S. (its largest arms supplier), Russia, (its OPEC-Plus partner), and China (the new superpower in the region).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What are the implications for the region?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Saudi Arabia\u2019s normalisation talks with Syria or its talks with the Houthis cannot be seen separately from the bigger picture of the Saudi-Iran rapprochement.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>If Syria rejoins the Arab League, it would be an official declaration of victory by Mr. Assad in the civil war.<\/li>\n<li>It would help improve the overall relationship between Damascus and other Arab capitals.<\/li>\n<li>Likewise, if the Saudis end the Yemen war through a settlement with the Houthis, Riyadh would get a calmer border while Tehran.<\/li>\n<li>Such agreements may not radically alter the security dynamics of the region but could infuse some stability across the Gulf.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1)\u00a0Who are Houthi rebels?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The Houthi rebels, also known as Ansar Allah, are a Shia Muslim political and military group that operates primarily in Yemen. The group is named after its founder, Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, who was killed by Yemeni government forces in 2004. The Houthi rebels are concentrated in the northern part of Yemen and have been involved in a long-running conflict with the Yemeni government.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2)<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>What is civil war in Syria?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The civil war in Syria is an ongoing armed conflict that began in 2011, after a wave of protests and demonstrations swept across the country as part of the Arab Spring. The conflict quickly escalated into a full-scale civil war, with various factions vying for control of the country. The conflict began when the Syrian government, led by President Bashar al-Assad, responded to the protests with a brutal crackdown. Opposition groups, including defectors from the Syrian military, formed armed groups and began to fight back against government forces.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/international\/saudi-arabias-quest-for-strategic-autonomy\/article66726348.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Saudi Arabia\u2019s quest for strategic autonomy<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Saudi Arabia was a nation with a foreign policy that was always centred around Iran.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":34368,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-34367","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}