Saudi Arabia is our ally. What the hell are you talking about, bo? If it weren't for Obama fucking it all up (as he is wont to do), there wouldn't be any tension at all.

Yeah, Saudi Arabia is our ally, just as Iraq and Iran were at one point our ally. It'll deteriorate when they get tired of being puppeted around. Israel is our ally in that our relations with them are actually mutually beneficial (or at least each of the governments think so).

You want Saudi Arabia to be a US ally?

Saudi Arabia *is* a US ally. We are one of their biggest trade partners and have had full diplomatic relations with them since 1933.

They've tried to employ us as their mercenaries for their regional power struggle with Iran. They want us to look the other way while they export Sunni extremism throughout the region, in exchange for a secure oil supply. Thank goodness Obama has not been as willing to do that as our European 'friends'.

Does that make them *not* our allies? We've had strained relations with much of Europe at times, but even at the most strained, France has still been our ally.

I didn't say they weren't 'our' ally. I was genuinely surprised when you expressed outrage that anybody would dare undermine this alliance.

If it were up to me, I'd ban ALL fuel and oil exports out of the United States, ban ALL oil imports into the United States, and pull every US soldier out of Southwest Asia. To hell with the whole region, I say. We don't even *need* their oil.

Good thing it's not up to you...

*Ahem* We could more readily end oil imports if certain people didn't insist on transporting themselves via gas guzzling SUVs.

/\ Yeah...those damned hypocritical libtards politicians!!!

"They've tried to employ us as their mercenaries for their regional power struggle with Iran. They want us to look the other way while they export Sunni extremism throughout the region, in exchange for a secure oil supply. Thank goodness Obama has not been as willing to do that as our European 'friends'. "

Good lord...are you actually trying to defend Obama's murderous record? He hasn't allowed us to be employed as mercenaries, huh? No...he's too busy flying drones around the fucking globe acting as judge, jury and executioner for anyone that *Might* have looked to the west the wrong way...

Regarding alliances in general -- funny thing is, just becuase you are "allied" with someone doesn't mean that you have to 100% agree with them. It's kind of liek being a friend, Putin...sometimes your friend might say a dickish thing, but you don't get rid of them because of that. In fact, it's the friendship itself that gives you the opportunity, when the time is right, to try to persuade them against their dickish behavior.

"Regarding alliances in general -- funny thing is, just becuase you are "allied" with someone doesn't mean that you have to 100% agree with them"

I agree, but Tel Aviv and Riyadh don't seem to.

"No...he's too busy flying drones around the fucking globe acting as judge, jury and executioner for anyone that *Might* have looked to the west the wrong way..."

I don't like the drone attacks either. Just saying in the instance of standing up to Saudi Arabia and Israel, Obama has done better than most.

Whatever he has done well with Saudi Arabia and Israel went right down the drain with Syria.

What would you have had him do on Syria, just so I understand you?

I would have either had him say nothing about it or stick to what he said. He said something and then didn't stick to it. It's a pretty easy mistake to make but it's an embarrassing one.

I don't understand this criticism. We have to go to war just because he said something? This is the kind of logic that got us in Iraq.

No. George W Bush's GREED is why you "got" into Iraq.

Putin, if you're going to be the world power, you've got to back it up. If not, great, then you can bow to Russia. It was a big misstep.

Or you can accept that we didn't know everything about the situation on the ground and thus, no red line was ever crossed. Diplomacy is a sign of a mature power. You don't have to bomb everything just because you made a commitment. We've learned from Vietnam.

The White House said that someone used chemical weapons. They then said they'd arm the rebels. A month later was that attack in Damascus. The US said that the government was responsible for that attack 9 days later. Obama then got approval from Congress to move. Yet, after the G-20 summit, Obama looked like a clown for a year of messing around and Putin looked brilliant. I'm sure you were thrilled.

Yes I was. We didnt bomb a country on behalf of a bunch of Sunni extremist gangsters that used chemical weapons. Secularism and rationality prevailed.

But really the notion that we have to be embroiled in a civil conflict because the initial mistake of trying to intimidate others didnt work in order to 'look' tough is fairly ludicrous. People make threats all the time and thankfully, don't carry them out.

For instance, jihadists threatened to blow up Sochi. They didn't do so. Nobody would claim they're less threatening just because they didn't.

It was our own intelligence that said the Syrian government used chemical weapons. We invaded Iraq because they *had* WMDs (supposedly), not because they *used* them. Those are not alike.

In both instances the intelligence was deemed much more self-evident than it turned out. And in both instances artificial red lines were made. Bush was criticized for carrying his out while Obama is criticized for allowing diplomacy to resolve the problem.

Honestly who is going to deal with a country who is handcuffed to certain statements they made months ago? It's such an absurd way of doing business and no peace agreement can be made under such conditions. The PLO/Hamas and Israel might as well not even try, since both sides have made hardline statements in the past.

@ Putin33

"*Ahem* We could more readily end oil imports if certain people didn't insist on transporting themselves via gas guzzling SUVs."

Hey, as long as they pay to fill up their SUVs, it's no problem to me. Besides, we have more than enough energy reserves to fulfill our needs. Why we repeatedly subject ourselves to highway robbery by the Middle East is beyond me. Here we are exporting record amounts of oil and paying >$3/gallon for gas while the Emirates play real-life Sim City with cheats using American money.

@ Putin33 and bo_sox

The problem is that Obama and America have this mindset that we are the world's referee/color commentator/policeman. We should have simply done nothing with respect to Syria. Don't say anything, don't do anything, and let the chips fall where they may. Hell, we'd have better relations with Russia if we had done that. The Syrians will continue to slaughter each other either way, so why risk the geopolitical embarrassment of a false war threat or the cost of another protracted war with allies of dubious loyalty?

We do not export crude oil, only refined stuff. In fact the inflated oil price might be in no small part due to the fact that crude is not exported, as gas price is determined by the price of crude, allowing OPEC to maintain its near monopoly.

I agree that we should allowed Syria should handle its own affairs. However I don't think that once verbally committed, countries cannot come back from the brink.

U.S. foreign policy.

1. We own the world.

2. If you(ie. any sovereign state)do not allow us to do whatever we want, then we will consider this to be aggression, and we will react accordingly.