Saudi Arabia, angered over Mideast, declines Security Council seat

Reuters ^ | Fri Oct 18, 2013 6:58am EDT | Angus McDowall

[Dave346]

Saudi Arabia, in an unprecedented show of anger at the failure of the international community to end the war in Syria and act on other Middle East issues, said on Friday it would not take up its seat on the United Nations Security Council.

The kingdom condemned what it called international double standards on the Middle East and demanded reforms in the Security Council.

Riyadh's frustration is mostly directed at Washington, its oldest international ally, which has pursued policies since the Arab Spring that Saudi rulers have bitterly opposed and which have severely damaged relations with the United States, Saudi analysts have said.

Saudi Arabia has also been angered by a rapprochement between Iran, its old regional foe, and the United States, which has taken root since President Barack Obama spoke by telephone last month to the new Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, in the highest-level contact between the two countries in more than three decades.

Citing the Security Council's failure to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, take steps to end Syria's civil war and to stop nuclear proliferation in the region, Riyadh said the body had instead perpetuated conflicts and grievances.

"Saudi Arabia ... is refraining from taking membership of the U.N. Security Council until it has reformed so it can effectively and practically perform its duties and discharge its responsibilities in maintaining international security and peace," said a Foreign Ministry statement issued on state media.

The conservative Islamic kingdom has traditionally avoided big political statements, preferring to wield its influence as world's top oil exporter, birthplace of Islam and chief Arab ally of the United States behind closed doors.

[wideawake]

Barack Obama: diplomatic genius.

[hal ogen]

Don’t forget Clown Prince nobama’s able sidekicks: “what does it matter...” hitlery and the vietnam vet, skerry. Truly, they are a brain trust.

[yldstrk]

good

we don’t need SA’s lies

[o2bfree]

Completely not the reason they declined the seat. Saudi Arabia doesn’t want the world to know their “true motivations” in the Middle East conflicts their involved in. They play both sides like a fiddle.

[SatinDoll]

The Saudi Royals paid for BHO2’s education at Harvard. They wanted a mole in our government, and they got a con man.

I have lost count on who and how many BHO2 has double-crossed, but I know it is many.

[SatinDoll]

LOLOL!!

[MulberryDraw]

Keep on fracking. Drill baby drill.

[allendale]

Amusing to see Saudi Arabia, that land of religious freedom and tolerance, the cradle of woman’s rights, the home of the 9/11 hijackers and the state supported Wahhabi that financed and motivated them, is giving the world moral instruction. How very special.

[yldstrk]

obama loves the double cross, but he is going to piss off the wrong person

[Hardraade]

The suadis are the one genetically marked group of people who whould just be exterminated for the earths population.

Amalek.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Obama, Clinton, Kerry.

Curly, Larry, Moe.

[Old Teufel Hunden]

"Riyadh's frustration is mostly directed at Washington, its oldest international ally, which has pursued policies since the Arab Spring that Saudi rulers have bitterly opposed and which have severely damaged relations with the United States, Saudi analysts have said."

And when have they cared a fig to stop the rampant wahabism going on in their country that has spawned most of the Islamofascist terrorism going on in the world today. That being said, why should we care what they think of our foreign policy? It's not our job to end the civil war in Syria. Let's not forget where the majority of the 9/11 hijackers came from.

[headstamp 2]

Let the Saudis spill their blood in their own backyard for a change.

[KarlInOhio]

In a peaceful show of international justice, the Syrian government should have been overthrown, Assad killed in the street by the mob and the Saudi gas pipeline for Europe should already being built. But then the nasty, nasty Russians told our Keystone King "Nyet!" in order to keep the monopoly on gas in the European market.

Sorry, Saudis, you put your bet on the tiddly winks player in the game of international chess.

[skinkinthegrass]

Saudi Arabia doesn’t want the world to know their “true motivations”
in the Middle East conflicts their involved in. They play both sides like a fiddle. true...while spreading their vile / evil & very ancient...
death / personality cult thought out the world...

Slavery, Terrorism and Islam: The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1994698/posts

[logitech]

If the world would stop doing business with these idiots, they would be irrelevant very quickly. We should have started 30 years ago.

[wrencher]

KSA is absolutely right here. (broken clock?) The UN does nothing except create stalemates and perpetual conflict.

[fella]

Reminds me of the Soviets Security Council walkout during the Korean crisis in 1950.

[dfwgator]

Completely not the reason they declined the seat. Saudi Arabia doesn’t want the world to know their “true motivations” in the Middle East conflicts their involved in. They play both sides like a fiddle.

Exactly. They keep their friends close, and their enemies even closer.