The Saudis are really mad at us and I don't think a nice pat on the back from John Kerry is going to help much:
Prince Bandar bin Sultan told European diplomats that Washington had failed to act effectively on the Syria crisis and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, was growing closer to Tehran, and had failed to back Saudi support for Bahrain when it crushed an anti-government revolt in 2011, the source said.
It was not immediately clear if Prince Bandar's reported statements had the full backing of King Abdullah.
"The shift away from the U.S. is a major one," the source close to Saudi policy said. "Saudi doesn't want to find itself any longer in a situation where it is dependent."
Does it mean seeking Russian help? When Russia backs both Iran and Syria?
Does it mean seeking Chinese help? When the Chinese back Iran and at the very least don't want Western intervention in Syria?
So with no one to rely on and fairly limited military capabilities that are adequate to face Iran only with outside help to maintain their weapons and outside help to keep Iran from modernizing their weapons, Saudi Arabia has only one major option.
Saudi Arabia can go nuclear. Then they don't have to depend on us any more.
Nuclear? You scoff. Well, the Saudis already have a missile force. China sold them 30-120 2,800 kilometer-range DF-3 missiles. The DF-3 was designed by China to be nuclear capable although only conventional warhead versions were sold to Saudi Arabia.
And Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have been pretty tight in the past. Saudi Arabia being the home of Mecca and Pakistan considered to have the "Moslem bomb." At the height of the security relationship, Pakistan actually had 15,000 troops rented out to Saudi Arabia to protect the kingdom. An entire combat brigade was part of that package. They were pretty tight resisting the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, too.
So if some of Pakistan's know-how migrates to Saudi Arabia's missile silos (and maybe even some warheads for the right price), don't be too shocked.
So the price of our loss of reputation as a reliable ally could be Saudi Arabia with nuclear weapons.
Have a super sparkly day.
UPDATE: Note that Saudi Arabia did not actually break diplomatic relations with us as I saw one story headlining this news. That would involve recalling ambassadors and possibly slapping John Kerry with a white glove across each cheek.
But the Saudis clearly don't think it is safe to rely on us. That's pretty depressing.
UPDATE: Strategypage writes (it's a brief mention, so no point in quoting) that some in Saudi Arabia want China to be their patron. I don't see that happening. Sure, Saudi Arabia could tilt toward China in an effort to play us off against China to leverage more of our support out of fear that China will gain more influence. But China can't replace us. Our military capability is still dominant in the region and the reasons for anger could change with different leadership (either attitudes or personnel) to use that dominance.
