When Allies Get Angry with America: Tell 'Em to Pound Sand

Doug Bandow Saudi Arabia is angry with Washington. In Riyadh’s view, the U.S. government isn’t doing enough to support tyranny and war in the Middle East. The Obama administration should tell America’s foreign “friends” that Washington acts in the interests of the American people, not corrupt dictators. Repressive Riyadh long has been an embarrassment for the United States. Some Americans worry about access to oil, but as I observed in my latest article on Forbes online, the Saudis are even more dependent on Washington: If the money stopped flowing, members of today’s pampered elite might find themselves hanging from lamp posts.  So Riyadh is going to ship oil to Americans even if Washington acts in America’s rather than Saudi Arabia’s interests.  (Never mind new energy discoveries elsewhere in the world, including in the United States, are steadily diminishing Riyadh’s relative energy role.) Washington’s increased willingness to resist Saudi Arabia’s demands has led to reports that the King Abdullah is “angry.” More dramatically, the Saudi government decided not to take one of the ten elected term seats on the Security Council to send a message to the United States. The Saudis apparently are upset because Washington did not bomb Syrian government forces after the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons. Yet the very same royal regime subsidized Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in its aggressive war, which included use of chemical weapons, agains...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Source Type: blogs