Feeling US snub, Saudis strengthen ties elsewhere

[unhappycamper]

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2013/12/29/2969049/feeling-us-snub-saudis-strengthen.html



Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, right, speaks with French President Francois Hollande during their meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2013. Increasingly vocal in its frustration over United States policies in the Mideast, Saudi Arabia is strengthening ties elsewhere, seeking out an alignment that will bolster its position after it was pushed to the sidelines this year.

Feeling US snub, Saudis strengthen ties elsewhere
By ADAM SCHRECK and LORI HINNANT
The Associated Press
December 29, 2013 Updated 8 minutes ago

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Increasingly vocal in its frustration over U.S. policies in the Mideast, Saudi Arabia is strengthening ties elsewhere, seeking out an alignment that will bolster its position after it was pushed to the sidelines this year.

It may find a solution in France, whose president is ending the year with 24 hours of high-level meetings with the Saudi leadership in a visit intended to showcase commercial and diplomatic strength.

With an entourage of French executives from the lucrative defense and energy sectors, President Francois Hollande arrived Sunday in Riyadh for a flurry of accords and contracts that have been in the works for months. The two countries also find themselves unexpectedly aligned in resistance, if not outright opposition, to U.S. policy on Syria's civil war and Iran's nuclear program.

Hollande highlighted both aspects of the relationship during the visit, underscoring for reporters the number of diplomatic issues that the two countries agree on and noting that trade between the two had doubled in the past 10 years to 8 billion euros ($11 billion) in 2013.

[Laelth]

1. This is significant. k&r for exposure. n/t

-Laelth