18 June 2016

AP Analysis: Mideast showed Hillary Clinton US power's limit

In the wake of the Orlando killings this week, Hillary Clinton had harsh words for America's Gulf allies, criticizing them for funding institutions that radicalize young Muslims.

"It is long past time for the Saudis, the Qataris and the Kuwaitis and others to stop their citizens from funding extremist organizations," the presumptive Democratic Party nominee told an Ohio crowd. "And they should stop supporting radical schools and mosques around the world that have set too many young people on a path toward extremism." [...]

Tellingly, the comments were received without protest from most regional leaders who consider the messenger as much as the message. However, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said in Washington on Friday that his government has tight control over charitable giving and has designated entities and individuals suspected of terror finance. He also said that it's unfair to point a finger at Saudi Arabia if a mosque that it funded years ago begins advocating intolerance and violence. [...]


Yet in all of it, she's learned the limits of American power in a region rich in history but impoverished by multiple wars and conflicts.

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