Saudi influence in Egypt
========================

Saudi influence in Egypt is, in John Kiriakou's description, both financial and old.

Bankrolling, not supporting

Asked about Egypt after the removal of the Muslim Brotherhood government, Kiriakou agrees that the Saudis back its successor and then sharpens the verb: they are not just supporting that government but bankrolling it and ensuring its survival. The automatic transcript renders the government's name as "the CC government"; Kiriakou is speaking of the administration that followed the Brotherhood's removal.

The longer history

He declines to treat this as a response to the Arab Spring. Saudi Arabia, he says, has a very long history of meddling in Egyptian internal affairs going back to 1958 and to the nationalist revolution in Egypt that year.

What it means for an uprising

The consequence he draws is the one that governs his wider pessimism about change in the region: anybody participating in a popular uprising is going to have to fight against Saudi money and Saudi weapons, which is why he expects the process to take decades.

See also

- Democratic change in the Middle East
- The U.S.,Saudi relationship
- Saudi aid priorities
- Saudi Arabia and radicalism
