With the third largest defense budget in the world, and continuous aggressive policies, the idea that Saudi Arabia could be beginning to acquire nuclear weapons. The kingdom is working towards becoming an “atomic power in the middle east”. The most threatening part about this is not that they are developing the technology themselves, but because they could so easily acquire it from nations such as Russia or China. This is because the trading of this information would mean an allied relationship between one of our allies (Saudi Arabia) and one of our largest competitors (Russia or China) has been established or is progressing towards establishment. Although Saudi ARabia and the United States have extremely varying cultural, social, and religious differences, we ally with them because of their large source of oil. This alliance is debated upon by many considering the multiple violations of American beliefs that the Saudi Arabian government has made. Currently, the prince of Saudi Arabia is wishing to add to the kingdom’s already powerful military/weaponry but many analysts, such as Ellen R. Wald, the threat of actual nuclear weapons being developed is not very great. She explains that Saudi Arabia has claimed they were interested in beginning nuclearization many times and have yet to prove progress within this field. Whether Saudi Arabia actually follows through with their claims or not, the situation presents itself as an international issue due to the various alliances the development could create as well as ones it could complicate and end up breaking. The nuclearization of another country, especially one much closer to Russia and China than the United States could lead to increased tension within the already weakened alliance that Saudi Arabia shares with the United States.
