U.S.-Saudi rivalry intensifies
The quest for greater influence includes a tug of war over Jordan, just one example of the contest between the longtime allies split over the democracy uprisings sweeping the region.Not much needs to be said about this, no more than that if Saudi Arabia was to pursue a foreign policy independent of US influence, it would do a lot more to harm US commitments in the region than supposedly ask another pro-US dictator not to make reforms.
Senior U.S. diplomats have been dropping by the royal palace in Amman almost every week this spring to convince Jordanian King Abdullah II that democratic reform is the best way to quell the protests against his rule.
But another powerful ally also has been lobbying Abdullah — and wants him to ignore the Americans.
Saudi Arabia's clumsy public relations apparatus is really pushing the story hard that there is some kind of friction between the United States and the US' most loyal colony. It is a little pathetic to watch.
2 comments:
Saudi royalty also stood for Mubarak longer than USA (in a nice company of Israel). I see all the charade is USA being obliged to make some "democratic" noise even without any substance while Saudis do not feel the need to pretend being "democratic".
On the other hand, USA rulers want to be clever and put some lipstick on their favorite pigs (ME dictators) while the pigs themselves do not care so much for the make-up and even are afraid of it. Both are pathetic, of course.
Thats true! The Saudi ruling elites are pathetic. I remember reading somewhere about rumors that King Abdullah is partially illiterate with having to what amounts to a 3rd grade level education. I wouldn't be surprised if that turns out to be true.
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