News and commentary for September 7

Saudis to cut budgets

Facing sharply lower oil revenue from plunging prices, Saudi Arabia announced it will cut state budgets. The Saudis are spending lavishly abroad on Salafi schools, Sunni military forces, and wars in Yemen, Syria, and Iraq. Lower- and middle-class Saudis will not like to see domestic cuts.

Qatar sends 1000 troops to Yemen

The Sunni effort to drive back the northern Shias known as the Houthis has achieved considerable success. The Houthis have been driven from the southern port of Aden and are retrenching around Sanaa. The Houthis made the mistake if driving too far into Sunni lands; the Sunni forces are now driving into Shia lands. This conflict has been about regionalism, not religion, though.

PKK attacks in Turkey continue 

Kurdish rebels in southeastern Turkey killed number of Turkish soldiers. The government vowed a relentless war on the PKK and two can lay that.

The US training program for Syrian rebels continues 

Thus far it has produced only a few dozen fighters at a cost of tens of millions of dollars. Syrians don;t want to serve in an American proxy force and they know they will be looked upon as such by the rebel forces. This effort seems to be a failure.