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Arabia
The Great Wall of Saudi Arabia?
2015-01-16
[NEWS.YAHOO] Saudi Arabia has been constructing a 600-mile East-West barrier on its Northern Border with Iraq since September.
Iraqi News has a picture of the thing here.
The main function of the barrier will be keeping out ISIS militants, who have stated that among their goals is an eventual takeover of the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina, both of which lie deep inside Saudi territory, according to United Press International.

This past week, a commander and two guards on the Saudi-Iraq border were killed during an attack by Islamic State militants, the first direct ground assault by the group on the border.
Posted by:Fred

#4  Richard: Years ago I worked with an old boy from West Virginia the implanted sensors along the Ho Chi Minh trail. Interesting fellow, liked to work alone. I asked him one time how he got started in that line of work and he said he just volunteered one day. Went on to say that when he finally walked back to the fire base, his boss was so shocked at his survival he took him off all the other missions. Must have been pretty good at it to have survived. Not all the stories about so-called solo, one way mission are bullshi*.
Posted by: Besoeker   2015-01-16 16:38  

#3  Back during Vietnam we had a sensor that was supposed to smell enemy troops and stop infiltration. The thing failed because the jungle is filled with smells that overwhelmed it.

Bet the Saudi desert isn't filled with smells.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2015-01-16 14:48  

#2  Most folks wouldn't think of war as a consequence of falling oil prices, but then, those same folks aren't aware the U.S. oil embargo against Japan was a factor in WW II.
Posted by: Bobby   2015-01-16 13:08  

#1  I was going to post this under the heading'

Saudi Arabia building their 'Maginot Line'

Which got me thinking about what the 'Von Schlieffen' plan could be.

ISIS are rather more interested in conquering Sunni lands than subjugating Shiias, which looked at from that perspective, puts Iran and ISIS on the same side against SA.

I can see an alliance between them, where Iran attacks either through Kuwait or a naval assault on Bahrain, drawing Saudi forces away and allowing ISIS to break through into SA.

I'd go for the former, and if the West has the stomach for liberating Kuwait again, it will be a very different prospect against Iran.

OTOH, the large Shiia and ethnic Persian populations in Bahrain make a 'liberation' narrative more convincing. Perhaps convincing enough to prevent a Western military response.

All-in all, we have yet to see the fallout from the oil price collapse. Iran is in very much the same boat as Saddam was, needing more oil revenues to keep the regime afloat. The best way for Iran to do that is to stop the flow of Saudi oil.
Posted by: phil_b   2015-01-16 00:22  

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