All of this makes sense in how President Trump is being treated, especially compared to Obama.
Saudi Arabia is being threatened by Iran, a larger and more economically diverse nation. Iran has promised to destroy Saudi Arabia. President Trump just signed a $100 Billion weapons deal with SA. This is literally a life or death issue to them, and Trump is their savior.
SA also has recently launched Vision2030, which is a complex and fundamental remaking of the kingdom. They have thought a lot about the future and how they fit into a future world of prosperity and multi national peace, and also the fact that OPEC has been broken by fracking and technology. They know that if they don't fundamentally change both their economy and culture, they will fall further behind the world. Vision2030 is an effort to wean themselves from oil revenue by building a diverse economy, and in order to do that, they know they need to end Wahhabi extremism, and move more towards a western interpretation of women's rights.
This conference President Trump will attend, and I think he is the only non-muslim head of state, is going to make a lot of progress rooting out fundamentalism in the middle east. In contrast Obama and Hillary set the middle east on fire and allowed the extremists to take power.
It didn't start with Obama and Hillary and you know that. Part of the problem with the West is the idea that we can contain this menace of Islam by throwing weapons to one faction or the other.
It's ludicrous that a New Yorker like Trump is going to SA and celebrating a closer relationship.
