Barack Obama to King Abdullah: We are still your masters--er, friends. Do not worry, just keep smiling. Can puppets demand any respect?
Washington DC, Crescent-online
Sunday February 02, 2014, 21:21 EST
The US may have downgraded relations with Saudi Arabia, but it does not want to abandon it up completely. Reports from Washington suggest that US President Barack Obama might drop by in Riyadh in March during his planned trip to Europe.
Obama will meet the ailing King Abdullah and try to smooth his ruffled feathers. The Saudis are upset that the Americans have ditched them for others, such as Iran that the Saudi regime sees as its nemesis.
The oil rich kingdom is no longer as important to US and Western interests, as it used to be now that shale oil is coming on-stream and the US is no longer as dependent on Saudi oil.
Three other areas where US-Saudi interests have diverged are Syria, Iran and the US Pivot to Asia. Last summer, the Saudis felt let down when Obama refused to attack Syria after loudly proclaiming that the use of chemical weapons was a “red line.”
Saudi agents in Syria breached that line by using chemical weapons in al Ghouta last August. The Americans quickly realized what was afoot and refused to be dragged into a Saudi-hatched plot. They were saved from another misadventure by deft political moves by Russia and Iran providing Washington a face-saving exit from another disaster in the making.
The Wall Street Journal reported on January 31 that Obama was mulling the possibility of meeting King Abdullah in March in order to mollify the petrified Saudis that the US has abandoned them.
Saudi policy is predicated on US protection. To keep in the US good books, they are prepared to do anything including handing over all their cash to the Washington warlords. They have now teamed up openly with the zionists to influence Washington thinking, apparently with little success so far.
The Saudi panic, however, may be premature, at least for now. While the US has forged ahead with policies to serve its own interests, it still wants to keep Saudi Arabia mollified. Washington has simply downgraded Saudi Arabia in its Middle Eastern equation.
Obama’s visit is intended to convey this message to King Abdullah and to tell him, gently, that the Saudis are still America’s favorite puppets. They will not be discarded, at least in the near future.
And the Saudis want to hear it from the horse’s mouth, hence Obama’s personal visit to Riyadh.
The Saudis’ main complaint is not what Obama did but to know why he did it the way he did it?
The only caveat is that Abdullah may not be around until then. He is way past 90 and is often wheeled out in a chair.
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