Saudi Arabia Backing Away from Obama Administration?

In light of everything the Obama administration has done to alienate Saudi Arabia since the now infamous bow Obama gave to the Saudi King Abdullah, the specter that the bow was simply an attempt to disarm the king should not be off the table. In the arab world, separating friends and enemies isn't as simple as Shiite vs. Sunni. In the case of Saudi Arabia, it has long held similar views to the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood but it also doesn't want them in charge.

As a result, Saudi Arabia is made very uncomfortable when it sees the Obama administration continuing to take the side of the Muslim Brotherhood in the various uprisings in the Muslim world; intentional or not, the consequences of White House policy have been to embolden the Brotherhood, which very much would love to topple the House of Saud. Another example is the relationship developing between the Brotherhood and Iran, which views Saudi Arabia as a virtual enemy. Harken back to 2009. Did the United States support the uprising in Iran? No.

Via McClatchy:

The Saudi monarchy, which itself has been loathe to introduce democratic reforms, watched with deepening alarm as the White House backed Arab opposition movements and helped nudge from power former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, another long-time U.S. ally, according to U.S. and Arab officials.

That alarm turned to horror when the Obama administration demanded that the Saudi-backed monarchy of Bahrain negotiate with protesters representing the country's majority Shiite Muslim population. To Saudi Arabia's Sunni rulers, Bahrain's Shiites are a proxy for Shiite Iran, its historic adversary.

"We're not going to budge. We're not going to accept a Shiite government in Bahrain," said an Arab diplomat, who spoke frankly on condition he not be further identified.

Saudi Arabia has registered its displeasure bluntly. Both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates were rebuffed when they sought to visit the kingdom this month. The official cover story was that aging King Abdullah was too ill to receive them.

The true intentions of the Obama administration have not been easy to discern but one thing is clear. He tends to pick favorites and when he picked the rebels in Libya against Gadhafi, he threw several of his oldest and closest associates under the bus, Louis Farrakhan and Jeremiah Wright among them. It is quite curious that virtually every stance this administration has taken in the Arab world has served the interests of the Muslim Brotherhood.

h/t Hot Air