Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal sat down with President Obama two days after the Boston bombings to discuss how to take the heat off the Saudi connection and possible deport the bombers.

After patching up the feud between Israel and Turkey, US President Barack Obama faces a much tougher task: brokering ties between Turkey and Saudi Arabia. To address the looming Syrian chemical arms crisis, President Obama needs a united anti-Assad Arab-Islamic front. He faces a choice between two blocs for the lead role: Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Abu Dhabi, or Turkey and Qatar. Most Arab rulers want no truck with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, which is why he vents his frustration on Israel.

Abdullah, 89, functions fully as monarch, prime minister and national policymaker all rolled in one. He has decided to slow down negotiations for a non-aggression pact with Iran because Tehran is in too much of a hurry.

Saudi armed forces are on top war alert after Riyadh decided that the war with Iran had already begun between their undercover agencies in Syria and Iran was on the warpath even now and certainly after an Israeli strike against its nuclear program.

Tehran accuses the new Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Bandar bin Sultan of engineering bombing attack which killed half of Assad’s top team in Damascus. It sought to drive home the message that enemies of Assad are enemies of Iran and will be punished.

New Crown Prince Salman is determined to bring his Sudairi clan to the fore of the royal stakes in Riyadh. The king’s appointment of his kinsman Prince Bandar gives Salman, who is already defense minister a strong in to the intelligence apparatus as well.

Field Marshal Tantawi and presidential contestant Ahmed Shafiq both made tracks to Riyadh this week for succor and support against the Muslim Brotherhood takeover of power in Cairo. Both were also going against US plans for supporting that takeover.

With no clear winner, Egypt is falling into two ...

The unrest bubbling beneath the surface of Saudi society is not about to shake the royal regime in Riyadh. It would take unlikely link-up between disaffected royals, militant progressives and young rebels to dent its stability. But first cracks are visible in its absolute power.

The Obama administration has invested major diplomatic and military efforts into persuading the Persian Gulf emirs to unite in a federation and mutual defense treaty according to two alternative Saudi blueprints – a NATO or a EU style pact. But those efforts were met with extreme reluctance.

Saudi Arabia and Turkey agree to set up a joint command for coordinating preparations for a combined invasion of Syria and the creation of buffer zones protected by their air forces. Ankara is putting pressure on NATO to help defend Turkish borders against Iranian reprisal. Both partners ...

Iran, Syria and Hizballah are celebrating Assad’s victory over the 12-month uprising against him and counting the advantages it confers on Tehran against the US and Saudi Arabia. The Iran-Syria-Hizballlah axis is now successfully shored up against the Obama administration’s strategy of isolation and sanctions for squeezing Iran into making concessions at the nuclear negotiations in two weeks.  Both are fading. It also serves as a warning to those Israelis who advocate passing the buck for preempting a nuclear Iran to Washington.

Riyadh sees Iran counting its profits from sanctions-boosted oil prices regardless of extra Saudi pumping. Washington blocked the sale of arms for a Saudi strike against Iran and shut the Jordanian route for Saudi troops to enter Syria. The two Kings Abdullah are at odds.

When the Saudis discovered the US was backing off military operations against both Iran and Syria, they retaliated by letting oil prices float upward without lifting a finger. This week oil prices hit an all-time high carrying the message to Barack Obama: Either attack Iran, or we’ll let oil ...

After learning in a caustic exchange with Hillary Clinton that Obama had turned down the safe havens military plan Syria, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal offered Arab air forces for an operation against Assad. Riyadh also stepped up arms deliveries to Syrian rebels.

China took advantage of the US oil embargo on Iran to bid for Saudi oil instead. Riyadh agreed to provide oil in return for Chinese assistance in building a Saudi nuclear weapon program. Beijing no longer calls Iran its only strategic partner in the Middle East; Riyadh shares that privileged status with Tehran.
Until this week, the ayatollahs were sure Iran would play solo as the Persian Gulf region's only Muslim nuclear power. Now Sunni Saudi Arabia is about to share the stage.  
Meanwhile neither the ...

Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz's long-expected passing aged 87 in New York Saturday, Oct. 22 could not have happened at a more auspicious time for his presumed successor, Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz, to move up as next in line to the throne after King Abdullah.  Whereas the Muslim clergy backed uprisings against five other Arab regimes, the Saudi religious establishment is solidly behind the throne – and will especially welcome the ascent of conservative Prince Nayef.

As King Abdullah gives Saudi women their first limited rights to vote and run for office, the sound and fury of the Arab revolt, most likely stirred up from Iran, is beginning to creep up on the kingdom from the Shiite minority populating its richest oil regions, while real ...

To punish the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas for submitting his application for UN membership in defiance of President Barack Obama's strong objections, Washington leaned on Jordan's King Abdullah II to allow a visit by Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal to discuss his political bureau's transfer from Damascus to Amman. Saudi Arabia helped persuade him. Obama was telling Abbas thereby that if Hamas should moderate its extremism, his role as sole Palestinian spokesman would face serious competition.

After persuading Ali Saleh to step down as Yemeni president, Saudi King Abdulla got down to setting up a unified Yemeni military offensive against the Houthis threatening the Saudi border. Washington assigns higher priority to tackling Al Qaeda.

Saudi Arabia, which embarked on building a strategic Sunni Muslim bloc six months ago, has done a lot better in a shorter time than even king Abdullah's strategic and intelligence advisers predicted. Harnessing Turkey, a major military power and NATO member, to their grouping is an unforeseen windfall.       By jumping aboard the Saudi ...