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The Obama administration is likely to fall far short of the lofty goals it set for itself at Thursday’s summit with Gulf leaders, several experts on the region said. While the White House has framed the seven-nation meeting as an opportunity to deepen and strengthen Gulf nations’ security relationship with the United States in light of a possible nuclear deal with Iran, the six foreign leaders attending have set out bargaining chips that the administration has already shot down, and it’s not exactly clear what else, besides those tangible items, either side wants. “Something that actually offers a couple of...

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said today that if King Salman changing his mind against coming to Washington this week was supposed to send a message to the administration, “that message was not received.” Earnest insisted that “all the feedback that we’ve received from the Saudis has been positive.” The Saudi king, who was supposed to meet one-on-one with President Obama at the White House on Wednesday before a broader meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, initially RSVP’d “yes.” On Friday, he changed that to a “no.” Of the GCC states invited — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar,

Hey Barack? Yes, Your Royal Majesty. Look, know what I said about coming to that thing at your place? Of course, oh Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. Not going to make it--turns out I have to rearrange my stallion's sock drawer. On today's Morning Joe, Andrea Mitchell acknowledged the undeniable: that the last-minute decision by Saudi King Salman not to attend the White House summit, after previously having informed John Kerry that he would be there, was such an "in your face" snub, so embarrassing to Kerry and the Obama White House, that "I don't see any way that...

The U.S. is seeking a rapprochement with Iran over its nuclear program, potentially ending several decades of hostility. But while the U.S. is extending an open hand to Iran, other countries in the Middle East are casting a wary eye towards the negotiations. In fact, it is starting to appear that Gulf Arab states could be a major impediment to a final agreement over Iran’s nuclear program. Led by Saudi Arabia, many of the oil-producing members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are skeptical of, if not downright hostile towards Iran. With little trust between Iran and its Arab neighbors,...

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister insisted on Monday that King Salman's last minute decision not to attend a Camp David summit was not intended as a snub to the United States, AFP reported. The White House, meanwhile, said that the king spoke with President Barack Obama and "expressed his regret" for missing the summit. "This is not related in any way, shape or form to any disagreement between the two countries," Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told reporters at Saudi Arabia's embassy Washington, according to AFP. On Sunday, Jubeir announced that King Salman would skip the May 14 summit of Persian Gulf...

The White House was scrambling Monday to put a positive face on an upcoming summit of Persian Gulf states after learning leaders from four of the six invited nations are expected to skip. While those nations are still sending representatives to the summit being hosted by President Obama later this week at Camp David, the absence of crucial heads of state -- notably, Saudi Arabia's new king -- could present an awkward situation for the administration. But State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf rejected the notion this was a "snub," and White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest likewise said the administration...

The White House sought to quash concerns that the withdrawal of four of the six top leaders of Gulf nations from a planned summit later this week at Camp David signals strained relations between the administration and countries in that region. Of the six Arab states invited, only two of the those countries — Kuwait and Qatar — plan on sending their top leaders.

The Obama administration insisted Monday that Saudi Arabia’s King Salman isn’t snubbing President Barack Obama with his decision not to attend a Camp David meeting this week, despite widespread speculation that his absence seems to be a rebuke to Obama’s effort to reach a nuclear deal with Iran. Obama had invited King Salman to meet at the White House and Camp David on May 13 and 14, and the White House had indicated that the two would meet in private before a meeting of other Gulf Cooperation Council states. On Sunday, however, Saudi Arabia said it would instead send the...

King Salman of Saudi Arabia has withdrawn from a carefully orchestrated summit with the US that President Barack Obama hoped would assuage Gulf anxieties about the conclusion of a nuclear agreement with Iran. Until Sunday the monarch had been expected to join other heads of state from the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries at an unprecedented meeting at the White House and a day of talks at the presidential retreat at Camp David. Now the only leaders attending will be the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait. The summit, scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, follows months of tension and intensive...

Four rulers of a six-member alliance of Persian Gulf states will likely be absent from a summit hosted by President Obama this week at Camp David. In a statement Sunday, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Thursday's summit coincides with a humanitarian cease-fire in Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition is fighting Shiite rebels known as Houthis. He said Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who is also interior minister, would lead the Saudi delegation and the king's son, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is defense minister, will also attend. Obama had planned to meet Salman one-on-one a day before...

What if you threw a Super Bowl party and the guest of honor refused to come? Possibly because word got out ahead of time that you planned to insult him when he arrived.How the Coach reacted to BO’s “deflategate” joke; how he really feltSo I think that’s what happened with Saudi King Salman. I hear he will not be attending Big Guy’s big Camp David summit of Gulf leaders this week; he too cites a “previous engagement.” Just as well; when BO announces that he’s actually giving Iran nuclear weapons to play with in their sandbox, it might have been perceived...

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman will skip a May 14 summit of Persian Gulf leaders with President Barack Obama, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. At the summit Obama is expected to offer the Gulf leaders reassurances over the efforts to reach a nuclear deal with Iran. The decision marks a diplomatic snub from one of the top leaders in the region, and follows U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to the Saudi capital last week, noted the report. […] Arab governments have been expressing their concern about the terms of a potential nuclear deal with Iran. The major...

audi King Salman bin Abdulaziz has sacked his younger half-brother as crown prince and appointed his nephew, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, as the new heir apparent, state television said. Al Jazeera's Mohamed Vall, reporting from Jizan in the country's south, said the reshuffle was announced by royal decree via state television early on Wednesday. SNIP-- Political earthquake' Khalil Jahshan, the executive director for the Arab Centre of Washington from Fairfax, Virginia, said that the reshuffle constitutes a "political earthquake of the greatest magnitude". "The Saudi Arabia we knew a few hours ago is no longer," Jahshan told Al...

In his first major policy speech since assuming the throne in January, Saudi King Salman has vowed that the kingdom will defend Arab and Muslim causes. He also promised continuity and development despite low oil prices, but called on Saudi citizens, businessmen and officials to do their part to improve the country. …

He has publicly declared that “the Jews” control America, that apostates can be killed, that the United States is the world’s “biggest terrorist” and that the Sept. 11 attacks were an “inside job” by President George W. Bush. But last weekend, Dr. Zakir Naik, a prominent Muslim televangelist from India, appeared at an elaborate ceremony at a luxury hotel in Saudi Arabia, where the new monarch, King Salman, gave him one of the country’s highest honors.

SAUDI KING DENOUNCES ‘ISLAMIZED TERRORISM’ Saudi Arabia’s new king, Salman bin Abdulaziz, openly discussed “Islamized terrorism” in his statement to an Organization of Islamic Conference entitled “Islam and Combatting Terrorism.” Al-Arabiya transcribes King Salman’s remarks, delivered to the conference by Prince Khaled al-Faisal: King Salman described “Muslim nations” as being “threatened by the infiltration of Islamized terrorism with its killing, oppression, pillaging and other ranges of aggression that have trespassed the borders of our Islamic world.” He said these radicals, who are carrying “a falsified Islamic banner,” have promoted a version of Islam which is “fueling the international opinion to...

New Saudi King ‘Snubs’ Obama?Posted By Raymond Ibrahim On February 5, 2015 @ 12:30 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | 3 Comments U.S. President Obama appears to have had another embarrassing moment with another Saudi king.The first, better known moment was self-induced. Upon meeting the late King Abdullah in 2009, the newly-minted American president, apparently forgetful of his office, couldn’t help but bow to the guardian of Islam’s two holiest sites.In this second incident, new Saudi King Salman may have had this subservient image of Obama in mind, for he showed the U.S. president the sort of deference a magnanimous superior...

President Obama should think before bowing to Saudi Arabia's new king in his Tuesday visit. King Salman has a history of funding al-Qaida, and his son has been accused of knowing in advance about the 9/11 attacks. When it comes to jihadism, Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud is more of a hardliner than his older brother, King Abdullah, who died last week of a lung infection. As such, any commitment he makes to helping the U.S. destroy al-Qaida and Islamic State terrorists should be viewed with great suspicion. The 79-year-old Salman once ran a Saudi charity tied to al-Qaida and...

An anti-terrorism march in Paris honoring victims of the Charlie Hebdo attacks didn’t register at the White House as something to scramble President Barack Obama’s or Vice President Joe Biden’s schedule to attend. Last week’s royal succession in Saudi Arabia got the opposite treatment: White House aides upended plans for both to show as much respect to the new Saudi king as they could. The difference between the Riyadh and Paris decisions, White House aides explained Saturday, was that they knew in advance that the condolence call for King Abdullah would draw global leaders. By contrast, aides were taken by...

King Salman, Saudi Arabia’s newly crowned monarch, has a controversial history of helping to fund radical terror groups and has maintained ties with several anti-Semitic Muslim clerics known for advocating radical positions, according to reports and regional experts. Salman, previously the country’s defense minister and deputy prime minister, was crowned king last week after his half-brother King Abdullah died at the age of 90. While Abdullah served as a close U.S. ally and was considered a reformer by many, Saudi Arabia has long been criticized by human rights activists for its treatment of women and its enforcement of a strict...