Obama will travel to Saudi Arabia after King Abdullah's death

[RationalMan]

22. Completely agree with you......

Obama is the U.S. Head of State. None of us, likely Obama himself, cares for the political system in Saudi Arabia. It is an autocratic, nearly theocratic state that hasn't evolved politically or socially. They use ruthless tactics to maintain control of the country. They treat women like chattel. Saudi Arabian money funded 9-11 and most of the 9-11 terrorists were Saudis. OBL was a Saudi.

But, the world economy is still very dependent on middle east oil and Saudi is the largest producer of oil. The Saudis allowed us to use bases on Saudi soil when we liberated Kuwait (again a terrible autocratic state but one with oil). Saudi has been one of the strongest supporters to oust Assad from Syria (because he is allied with Shia Iran). Saudi sent in tanks to help put down protests in Bahrain. Saudi is opposed to the Muslim Brotherhood. Yemen is in crisis and Saudi has one of the largest, if not the largest, militaries among the gulf states.

Those are geo-political facts. The new Saudi king is himself said to be in poor health and while no one expects any political turmoil, his health and how he will rule raise uncertainties in the region.

As for those who claim Obama should have gone to Paris and not go to Riyadh. I completely agree the U.S. presence at the march in Paris was embarrassing. But, Obama's attendance would have been a distraction. It would have diverted security forces from protecting the people and in the hunt for other terrorists just so Obama could be seen. We should have sent a higher level delegation but Obama was not the right person.

I'm not sure exactly where Obama will go in Riyadh but I suspect security is already very tight there and there will be expected other heads of state, etc. and Saudi has the ability to provide resources for security. Obama is going to show respect to the new leader of an ally.

I wish we didn't lie in the grass with the snakes. I wish we were in a position to tell all those countries to take their oil and put it somewhere where the sun does not shine. But we have seen where autocratic rule in that part of the world disintegrates (e.g. Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Syria, etc.) chaos ensues. What is in the U.S.' strategic interests is stability. This diplomatic call is real politik.