Israel Matzav

Saudis not happy with Obama either

I don't usually like to use DEBKA as a sole source, but this time what they're saying seems obvious and it's backed up by the Financial Times articles they cite and by other things I have seen in the media.

'Our friends the Saudis' (and the Egyptians) are not happy with Barack Hussein Obama because they believe that he is ignoring the Iranian threat and jeopardizing their security.

On the sidelines of the G20 summit in London, Saudi King Abdullah made his views known in a face-to-face interview with the US president on April 2. The White House communiqué reported blandly: Obama and Abdullah discussed international cooperation regarding the global economy, regional political and security issues, and cooperation against terrorism.

Iran was not mentioned. However, according to DEBKAfile's Middle East sources, Abdullah took the US president sternly to task over his emerging policy on Iran, Syria and Iraq, accusing him to giving the Islamic Republic free rein for its nuclear, expansionist and terrorism-sponsoring Middle East policies.

Both parties tried to keep their abrasive encounter away from the public eye and their media, although the photo attached betrays its chilly atmosphere.

The Financial Times was the first Western mainstream publication to pick up on the new pro-Iran policy trend dominating Obama's Washington: "US officials are considering whether to accept Iran's pursuit of uranium enrichment… discussing whether the US will eventually have to accept Iran's insistence on carrying out the process."

...

Our sources report that the US president's two-day stay in Ankara and his words of peace towards the Muslim world were seen in Riyadh and Cairo as ignoring the most pressing concerns of the leading Muslim Arab powers of the region.

Former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton said earlier this week of Obama, "This is somebody who does not have a very basic grounding in not just contemporary history but history of the relationship between the United States and Europe over a long period of time." I think the same could be said of Obama's understanding of the US relationship with the countries in the Middle East - both the Arab countries and Israel. He is hopelessly naive on all issues relating to foreign policy and apparently cannot understand that there can be (and are) bad people out there (other than the Jews of course). He's living in a fantasy land.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:21 PM