Saudi Arabia’s dream of becoming the dominant Arab and Muslim power in the world has gone down

[AmirPatriot]

That would just mean more money that should/could be spent inside KSA leaving the country.

Saudi already has the 3rd largest military budget in the world. It spends half of what China spends despite China's economy being 13 times bigger.

If you do have a point, using money as an example won't help you.

benevolent Sultan

 

[Saif al-Arab]

Saudi already has the 3rd largest military budget in the world. It spends half of what China spends despite China's economy being 13 times bigger.

If you do have a point, using money as an example won't help you.

The military budget is not that big as claimed and how it is accounted for in KSA also differs from other countries.

The past few years purchase sprees are/will not be the norm either as KSA will look/is already looking to diversify. By 2030 the goal is to be at least 50% self-sufficient. Whether this goal will be reached by 2030 or not or only partially is not the key here but rather the fact that such a policy has begun with a few concrete examples of this already.

Also the military budget for this year (2017) rose by 6 percent to 191 billion riyals ($50.8 billion). I do not believe that this is the 3rd largest military budget in the world.

http://www.reuters.com/article/saudi-economy-budget-military-idUSL5N1EH3CU

As for your video I have seen the video and I agree with most of the content and I was also joking earlier although I would like to see Arabia uniting into a single country or a federation one day as I believe that anything else is a waste of potential.

Anyway have in mind that this is essentially a troll thread as I wrote earlier in post 14. This thread should be closed as nothing good will come out of it.

 

[burning_phoneix]

Saudi already has the 3rd largest military budget in the world. It spends half of what China spends despite China's economy being 13 times bigger.

It should be noted of the following:

A) The Saudi military budget is actually 50 billion USD, not 80+. And this includes the costs of the ongoing war in Yemen. This figure would put Saudi Arabia around 7th or 8th in the world. Far behind China's 217 billion USD.

B)The Saudi budget has only been hitting these high numbers in the past few years, it was not this high for the majority of the early 2000s and 1990s.

 

[AmirPatriot]

The military budget is not that big as claimed and how it is accounted for in KSA also differs from other countries.

The past few years purchase sprees are/will not be the norm either as KSA will look/is already looking to diversify. By 2030 the goal is to be at least 50% self-sufficient. Whether this goal will be reached by 2030 or not or only partially is not the key here but rather the fact that such a policy has begun with a few concrete examples of this already.

Also the military budget for this year (2017) rose by 6 percent to 191 billion riyals ($50.8 billion). I do not believe that this is the 3rd largest military budget in the world.

http://www.reuters.com/article/saudi-economy-budget-military-idUSL5N1EH3CU

As for your video I have seen the video and I agree with most of the content and I was also joking earlier although I would like to see Arabia uniting into a single country or a federation one day as I believe that anything else is a waste of potential.

Anyway have in mind that this is essentially a troll thread as I wrote earlier in post 14. This thread should be closed as nothing good will come out of it.

This is the first time I'm hearing saudi spends less than the oft quoted $87 billion, which is from the highly cited and very respected SIPRI (They estimate Iran's spending to be ~$10 billion btw).

From your own link:

"The kingdom, one of the world's biggest military spenders, forecasts a decline in Security and Regional Administration, a separate spending category that is military-related, to 96.7 billion riyals from 102.3 billion.

Military spending was originally projected at 179 billion riyals in 2016 but actual military spending has been around 205.1 billion. Security and Regional Administration spending will be 100.6 billion in 2016, according to the budget's preliminary estimates."

@burning_phoneix

And Saudi is negotiating with BAE for more Typhoon and Hawk jets. Not much of a sign of a reduction in spending.

 

[Matirpola]

Who said that we want to dominate in the first place? That is just a wrong assumption which the Article was based on.

You want to but you cannot, thanks to Iran.

 

[burning_phoneix]

This is the first time I'm hearing saudi spends less than the oft quoted $87 billion, which is from the highly cited and very respected SIPRI (They estimate Iran's spending to be ~$10 billion btw).

From your own link:

"The kingdom, one of the world's biggest military spenders, forecasts a decline in Security and Regional Administration, a separate spending category that is military-related, to 96.7 billion riyals from 102.3 billion.

Military spending was originally projected at 179 billion riyals in 2016 but actual military spending has been around 205.1 billion. Security and Regional Administration spending will be 100.6 billion in 2016, according to the budget's preliminary estimates."

Read this information:

"Military spending was originally projected at 179 billion riyals in 2016 but actual military spending has been around 205.1 billion. "

205.1 billion Saudi riyals is 54 billion USD. The 87 billion USD is when the regional and security administration figures are added in (because Saudi Arabia did not separate the two in previous public releases of the budget). These numbers are for counter-terrorism and internal security forces and do not count towards the military budget.

@burning_phoneix

And Saudi is negotiating with BAE for more Typhoon and Hawk jets. Not much of a sign of a reduction in spending.

BAE have been saying there might be additional Typhoon orders from Saudi for about....4 or 5 years now? It's not likely to happen.

The Hawk order has already been finalized early this year.

Any additional unexpected increases on the budget would most likely come from efforts to expand the Navy.

 

[Hiptullha]

Saudi Arabia and the West's strategic interests are diverging. Prepare for more articles from slimy Western commentators criticizing Saudi Arabia for pursuing its own interests. The exact same thing happened to Turkey, with Western commentators claiming that Erdogan was an Islamic dictator set on creating a 'neo-Ottoman empire'.

 

[Saif al-Arab]

You want to but you cannot, thanks to Iran.

Really? I did not know that Iran ruled and dominated the entire Arab and Muslim world. This is big news not only to me but the entire world. Nor did I know that KSA sought such a role.

May I advice you to focus on Bangladesh which I am sure you know more about.

Don't waste our time here troll.

This is the first time I'm hearing saudi spends less than the oft quoted $87 billion, which is from the highly cited and very respected SIPRI (They estimate Iran's spending to be ~$10 billion btw).

From your own link:

"The kingdom, one of the world's biggest military spenders, forecasts a decline in Security and Regional Administration, a separate spending category that is military-related, to 96.7 billion riyals from 102.3 billion.

Military spending was originally projected at 179 billion riyals in 2016 but actual military spending has been around 205.1 billion. Security and Regional Administration spending will be 100.6 billion in 2016, according to the budget's preliminary estimates."

@burning_phoneix

And Saudi is negotiating with BAE for more Typhoon and Hawk jets. Not much of a sign of a reduction in spending.

Never mind.

@burning_phoneix essentially wrote most of what I was about to write.

Saudi Arabia and the West's strategic interests are diverging. Prepare for more articles from slimy Western commentators criticizing Saudi Arabia for pursuing its own interests. The exact same thing happened to Turkey, with Western commentators claiming that Erdogan was an Islamic dictator set on creating a 'neo-Ottoman empire'.

The Western media has always been against KSA in their majority. In particular Patrick Cockburn. The author of this "article". When has the Western press ever been pro-Muslim or pro-non Western? It has never happened and it is never going to happen. In any case such discourse in some British pamphlet is not going to change anything on the ground.

 

[Matirpola]

Really? I did not know that Iran ruled and dominated the entire Arab and Muslim world. This is big news not only to me but the entire world. Nor did I know that KSA sought such a role.

They are keeping your hands tied in ME, so you can't really invest more energy in exporting Salafism worldwide.

 

[Saif al-Arab]

They are keeping your hands tied in ME, so you can't really invest more energy in exporting Salafism worldwide.

What don't you understand exactly troll?

@Khafee please take a look at the trolling in this thread from this "Bangladeshi" member.

Thanks.

 

[burning_phoneix]

They are keeping your hands tied in ME, so you can't really invest more energy in exporting Salafism worldwide.

Okay, I'll humour you.

How is Saudi Arabia "exporting" salafism and how is Iran keeping us from doing it?

 

[friendly_troll96]

What don't you understand exactly?

Bangladesh are minnows.

 

[Matirpola]

Okay, I'll humour you.

How is Saudi Arabia "exporting" salafism and how is Iran keeping us from doing it?

You're investing all your efforts in Yemen and Syria, and failing. That distracts you from funding and sponsoring terror worldwide that you've been doing for decades.

Bangladesh are minnows.

Stop worshiping Saudis.

 

[Full Moon]

You want to but you cannot, thanks to Iran.

Nope, we relize our natural limitations and this has nothing to do with Iran. When it comes to Iran, we are pretty much the only state that has been working on combatting their spread of Shia genocidal terrerosim in the region through Hezbollah, Iraqi Hashd, Afghan Hazra gangs, Houthis.... you name it. Iran is weak and tired economically so their ability to sustain their expansion is not going to last so long. Poverty rates in Iran is astonishing, and their currency has entirly collapsed. This was caused by the political instanity that Iran has been a victim of since Feb 1979.

 

[burning_phoneix]

That distracts you from funding and sponsoring terror worldwide that you've been doing for decades.
.

What terror have we been sponsoring for decades worldwide and how does it benefit our geopolitical situation?

Indeed, Saudi Arabia would actually be better off if there was no terrorism in the world, unlike Iran, which is a net gainer from Terrorism.