So shouldn't having a really close working relationship with Saudi Arabia--the poster boy of realpolitik given their oil and role in fomenting Islamist ideology--be a natural focus of our foreign policy? (Pakistan is a close second in this regard.)
But no, the Saudis are mad at the international community and at us, and we are trying to fix our relations with them:
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry sought on Monday to calm rising tensions with Saudi Arabia, which has spurned a U.N. Security Council seat in fury at inaction over the crisis in Syria.
Saudi Arabia rejected a coveted two-year term on the council on Friday in a rare display of anger over what it called "double standards" at the United Nations. Its stance won praise from its Gulf Arab allies and Egypt.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal hosted a lunch for Kerry at his private residence in Paris on Monday. U.S. officials said Washington and Riyadh shared the goals of a nuclear-free Iran, an end to Syria's civil war and a stable Egypt.
The Saudis can be forgiven for wondering what we'd be doing to eff things up if we didn't share the goals of a nuclear-free Iran, a good resolution of Syria, and a stable and friendly Egypt.
