The Saudis just went nuclear on their Obama snub

[Jesus Malverde]

US President Barack Obama meets with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef of Saudi Arabia in the Oval Office of the White House, May 13, 2015.

President Barack Obama's summit with Arab leaders doesn't seem to be going as planned.

First, King Salman of Saudi Arabia embarrassed the Obama administration when he backed out of the summit after the White House announced he was going to attend.

The last-minute move was widely perceived as a deliberate snub, and the Saudis offered only a vague excuse for King Salman's absence.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/saudi-obama-rift-keeps-getting-162612938.html

[Backwoodsrider]

1. another theory that is probably going to pan out in next election about land of Saud

For a few months now I have seen democrats including Obama and Kerry pursuing peace negotiations with Iran and that has pissed Saudi royalty and Isreal off! Seems that Bush and the other repubs have had a man crush on Saudi Arabia for 40 years and when the democrats got into peace talks with Iran Israel and the Sauds acted like they just lost their soul mate and of course Fox news and the repubs blame it on Obama not the fact the price of oil is low because the Saudis have easy to get to oil where as it coasts us a little more to retrieve the oil so some small oil companies cannot make enough profit to survive so out economy is not doing very well. Maybe the Saudi Arabians are trying to send us a message 'stop talking to Iran or this is just going to continue'.

[MADem]

2. Well, speaking of "nuclear," that is part of what it's all about.

The Saudis are saying that if Iran gets to keep some elements of their nuclear program, then they, the Saudis, want one too.

Shias aren't liking Sunnis overmuch on a good day, and Iran is not part of the Arab world. Oil is falling out of favor. It may take a while, but eventually, better methodologies will be preeminent.

Everyone's got to put on their thinking caps, and see what the Next Big Thing is gonna be. Fits of pique aren't going to help much, though they do play well locally--pretending to have "stood up to" a POTUS who is going to take his own path might make them feel good but it's not going to change his course.

Of course, when the king doesn't show up, and plays the "snub" game, this is an ideal way to respond without seeming to be deliberately returning the favor:

Obama then incorrectly introduced the deputy crown prince and misnamed the founder of the kingdom.

Obama's a pretty detail-oriented guy. I have to wonder if that wasn't a bit of "accidentally on purpose" happening, there.

[bemildred]

3. Iran has its own Uranium.

And is much bigger than Saudi Arabia.
And will have Iraq on its side.
This is babble.

[Jesus Malverde]

4. It also has its own industrial and scientific base

Last edited Sat May 16, 2015, 06:29 AM - Edit history (1)

In SA it's all outsourced. I'm under the impression the SA people, and the royals arent the brightest.

[bemildred]

5. Third generation despots get that way.

Evolution works both ways.

Yes, I know they do, and they are good buddies with China and Russia, and you can kiss the embargo goodbye. But the blowhards at State will continue to pretend that they are masters of the universe and all must bow to them.

I used to work in defense, software engineering and related things, and of all the many people I knew in that time, the three that most impressed me for horsepower under the hood were a WASP-nerd like me, a 2nd gen. Syrian ex-pat, and a 2nd generation Iranian ex-pat.