Reason #36 Why I Love To Blog -- Follow The Money -- September 3, 2020

I posted this on August 31, 2020:

Hamas: no longer getting financial support from Saudi Arabia --

Now this today: from The Malaysian Reserve, September 3 --

From Pakistan to Lebanon, Saudi Arabia is scaling back its famed chequebook diplomacy, a longstanding policy of splashing petro-dollars in exchange for influence, which observers said had yielded few tangible gains. 

For decades, the wealthy kingdom funnelled billions in aid to its allies — and to its enemies’ enemies — in a bid to bolster its position as an Arab powerhouse and leader of the Muslim world. 

But as plummeting demand has sapped its oil revenues, the kingdom is rethinking old alliances that Saudi observers said had swallowed their cash while offering little in return, at a time when its quest for regional supremacy is increasingly challenged by rivals Iran, Turkey and Qatar. 

A swathe of regional countries, from Jordan and Lebanon to Egypt, Palestine and Pakistan, have been the top recipients of Saudi aid over the past decade, said Middle East expert Yasmine Farouk. 

“The dual economic impact of the coronavirus and low oil prices, however, may lead Saudi Arabia to restructure and rationalise its aid,” said Farouk, from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “The country is already seeking to end the perception of being ‘an ATM’.” 

The kingdom has contributed billions to Lebanon’s post-civil war reconstruction, but it has voiced frustration over its failure to rein in Hezbollah, a powerful group backed by its arch-enemy Iran. 

“Saudi Arabia will not continue to pay Hezbollah’s bills, and the Lebanese have to shoulder their responsibilities towards their country,” Saudi columnist Khalid Al- Sulaiman wrote recently for the pro-government Okaz newspaper. 

States that have traditionally benefitted from Saudi largesse, including Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine, have “already seen instances in which aid was frozen, decreased or cut off”, she added.

Yup: there was a reason Hamas is suing for peace.