The alliance between the world’s most powerful democracy and a feudal theocracy seems implausible but the US-Saudi alliance has been one of the last remaining post Second World War constants in the Middle East. The US provided Saudi security cover; while Saudi Arabia ensured the free flow of oil boosting production at times of crises.
There have been rifts – the 1973 Arab oil embargo, the refusal of the US to sell arms to Saudi in the 1980s due to Israeli objections and the fall out over the role of Saudi hijackers in the 9/11 bombings. US support for Israel always irked the Saudis, whilst Saudi human rights abuses and treatment of women was always an embarrassment for Washington. Despite all this, the relationship never reached the nadir that it has now. Has it reached its sell by date?
For a state that prefers private diplomacy, Saudi public outbursts attract attention. Saudi’s refusal to take up a seat at the UN Security Council and open rebuke of the Obama administration are meant to be noticed. The Saudi leadership expects to be listened to, to be party to major decisions, but it has felt excluded.
Saudi officials say that the Americans are ignoring all their allies and cosying up to their enemies, notably Iran. On every issue that matters to Riyadh, the US has, in their eyes, let them down. (They conveniently forget Washington’s silence over the Saudi intervention in Bahrain). » | Chris Doyle * | Wednesday, October 23, 2013
* Chris Doyle is director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding
