The Big Snub – Obama and the Saudi King

Frank Gaffney spoke with Fred Fleitz on Secure Freedom Radio Friday. Fleitz is the Vice President for Policy and Programs at the Center for Security Policy and a former CIA analyst.

They discussed Obama’s recent trip to Saudi Arabia and the fact that King Salman didn’t show up to greet Obama at the airport. The snub had symbolic meaning which Fleitz attributes to a combination of things:

“The president was coming to Saudi Arabia just after he made some outrageous comments in an Atlantic article that ran this month that Saudi Arabia has to share the neighborhood with Iran and should establish a cold peace with Iran. He also faults it, Gulf States and the Europeans for freeloading on the situation in Libya and not having skin in the game. They already don’t like Obama because of the terrible Iran Deal but I think they were extremely offended at this.”

Fleitz notes that Saudi Arabia is a difficult country for the U.S. to be friends with. A nation that chops off hands for minor offensives seems totally backwards to us but he also points out that if their current government were to fall it would probably be replaced by something much worse.

Frank asked Fleitz to expand on the Atlantic magazine article.

“It’s a fascinating article and if you read through it you see every evidence of a self-absorbed president who is deluding himself into thinking his foreign policy has been a success and you see multiple instances of some of the radicalism and anti-American positions he holds. He really believes that America’s presence around the world is driving instability.”

Finally, Gaffney mentioned that Obama is also visiting the UK at the same time that they are debating whether or not to exit the EU. He asked Fleitz for his opinion, which was direct:

“If the UK pulls out of the EU, it will be a good thing for the UK and the United States.”