How do you feel about your country’s relations with Saudi Arabia?

35 comments

1. The place itself is hell with air conditioning. They are a crappy ally who are constantly up to unsavory shenanigans (spreading Wahabbism, etc.). The only worse so-called ally I can think of is Pakistan. We’d drop them both if we could.

   Alas, geopolitical reality is what it is.

2. It’s all about the oil money. We’re willing to overlook all the shit Saudi Arabia does for that reason.

   Actually no, it’s important for maintaining freedom in the Persian Gulf, sorry about that.

3. KSA sucks, but they’re useful and have money and resources. So, Realpolitik makes the choice simple, if unpleasant.

4. Necessary evil

5. They are a crappy ally who likes messing with our economy but who also cries anytime Iran does anything slightly intimidating. I fully expect our relationship remains the same until more vehicles switch over to electric in the next 50 years. Once that happens all dynamics will change

6. We share a common goal of wanting to contaim Iran, so I guess, strange bed fellows.

   They’re also the only country that can almost single-handedly affect the benchprice for crude oil (if fat less now than previously) so we have unhealthy mutual dependence.

7. Saudi, Pakistan, Turkey…there’s a list of countries we have a historic connection to that no longer makes sense, but it also doesn’t make sense to go out of our way to piss them off. Not so much allies, more of an “it’s complicated” thing

8. I think the less we have to do with them, the better. Ive heard that, somehow, if we achieved energy independence and never bought a drop of Saudi oil, it would make things worse, but 1) I can’t see how and 2) I guess we’re supposed to just support them forever because its our responsibility to prop them up?

9. It’s complicated

   They’re not exactly a reliable ally we can trust, but they’re still a useful partner to have in the Middle East. It’s also better that they are more closely allied with us than say China

10. Don’t give a. !

11. Fuck Saudi Arabia.

12. I think…an unfortunate reality of the world is that sometimes it’s better to have an unreliable ally than an enemy.

13. Shocking human rights abusers, conducting a giant murder campaign in Yemen, very likely involved directly in 9/11 so that America would do a bunch of their dirty work for them in the region. They stink.

14. I hate Saudi Arabia more than any other country (even places like North Korea). As an atheist, I absolutely detest how that country is run by religious fanatics who treat anyone who isn’t a heterosexual Muslim Arab male like dirt. Next, 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudis. Osama Bin Laden was a Saudi. The fact that the Saudi government was able to get away with involvement in 9/11 shows just how corrupt our government and the rest of the western world really is. I could go and on and on. I just hope that once their oil eventually runs dry, the rest of the world leaves them to rot and go bankrupt.

15. I am not a fan of theocratic or authoritarian governments. I recognize the practical nature of a our tenuous alliance but I don’t feel there is a shared history or shared values between our two nations. It’s an utterly practical albeit uncomfortable relationship.

    Most of the people I’d bet are lovely and that is what really matters to me. I try not to judge people for the actions of the authority governing their nation.

16. They aren’t really an ally, they’re a protectorate. We offered to guarantee the Sa’ud dynasty’s continued rule over Arabia if they only accepted US dollars when trading oil.

17. I see them as an enemy to be honest. I do not see them as a reliable ally at all, but a slimy corrupt authoritarian theocracy that has no respect for human rights. We shouldn’t be an ally with them to be honest. They are not the UK or Canada or any of our actual allies.

    Let me be blunt most US citizens don’t just have a low opinion of Saudi Arabia, but a rock bottom one. They shouldn’t be allies.

18. It’s the thing that makes conservatives “green”. A lot of people will accept just about anything to get away from Middle Eastern oil and all the trouble that dependence has brought us.

19. I do not understand them at all. Sometimes, we like to use our wealth and trade capabilities to influence countries away from being totalitarian he’ll holes, but we’re failing miserably if that is the goal here.

20. They’re not reliable or trustworthy. They’re opportunistic authoritarians who happen to share a couple enemies with us. They’re a power player in a region of interest who understands diplomacy well, thus we both recognize we can work with eachother even if we don’t like or trust each other.

21. As the ones that funded the attacks that made 9/11 fuck them. Honestly should’ve declared war on them instead in Iraq and Afghanistan to depose the Monarchy.

22. They are like the cousin you hate but has super rich parents that give you stuff you want (meaning oil).

23. Fucking disgusted

24. Although the Saudi Arabian government isn’t officially called out for supporting 9/11, 15 of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. That and several Saudi officials were caught knowingly providing expertise and financing to several of them prior to the tragic event helped soured my opinion of the country. They were also responsible for hacking to death a Saudi journalist who held American citizenship simply because he was critical of the kingdom, and faced no consequences for it.

25. We should honestly ditch them for an oil supplier. They support our enemies and we don’t do shit about them. But that would also not be in our own interest because we get military bases in their country

26. I’m so happy we no longer need SA as an ally. They’re government is a morally repulsive regime and were a huge pain in America’s ass for many decades.

    Now that the US is energy independent, we have far more flexibility in who we choose to ally with.

27. Not confident in them at all. I just came back from a deployment there and they seem to be moving towards China. Not to mention their military is not up to par, especially their pilots

28. Not good
    Master minds behind 911

29. If reagan didn’t kill solar, we wouldn’t need to have relations.

30. Reliable ally? Not exactly. They’re one of the biggest powers in the region and probably not going anywhere soon, so probably a good idea to maintain at least somewhat positive relations…

    I don’t much care for their politics, but I don’t think us distancing ourselves from them is going to change that either.

31. Personally i think they should be destroyed. Saudi arabia is LITERALLY a facist slave state.

32. They may be bastards but they’re our bastards.

33. I honestly have no clue what our relations are nowadays.

34. If we didn’t desperately need their oil, and they didn’t desperately need our weapons: there’d be no relationship.

35. Username a joke but also relevant i guess.

    They’re a necessary evil. Until the world doesn’t really need oil in large quantities and until we just absolutely do not give a shit about the middle east anymore, they’re kind of the best option. Otherwise there’s… Iran. Which is arguably much worse. No one else in the region is legitimately significant enough in both oil production and military strength to build a coalition around.

    The alternatives are basically no middle eastern allies of note or Iran.