The Arab League's decision to establish a joint military force should be viewed, above all, as a major accomplishment for Saudi Arabian foreign policy — though Egypt's president has also been advocating this. It comes with serious risks, however.
It all starts with Riyadh. As Arab Spring uprisings appeared to sweep all before them in 2011, the Saudi regime seemed confident it was immune, even after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's swift fall. The Saudi leadership's lack of assurance was betrayed, however, by a series of panicky steps.
King Abdullah, who recently died, quickly went on Saudi television to announce extraordinary subsidies, salary raises, an expansion of security forces and more — essentially dispersing tens of billions of dollars in payments to the Saudi people. For added insurance, the Saudis proposed an expanded Gulf Cooperation Council that would include the Arab world's two other monarchies, Jordan and Morocco. It was more a financial-aid package to create a force of like-minded regimes that could deal with possible insurgencies.
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