Russia slams Saudi Arabia for refusing UN Security Council membership
Russia on Friday slammed Saudi Arabia for refusing to accept its seat on the UN Security Council, calling the kingdom's decision "strange" in light of its anger at the international community to end the conflict in Syria, AFP reported.
"With its decision, Saudi Arabia has removed itself from the collective work of the UN Security Council to support international peace and security," the ministry said.
A decision of such magnitude would have to have been taken by King Abdullah or Crown Prince Salman, said a Saudi analyst who asked not to be named.
"Saudi Arabia has been working on (getting onto the Security Council) for the last three years. They trained diplomats, male and female, the cream of the Foreign Ministry, our best talented youths. Then somebody made the decision suddenly to pull out," he said.
"The kingdom's arguments arouse bewilderment and the criticism of the UN Security Council in the context of the Syria conflict is particularly strange," AFP quoted the ministry as saying.
The kingdom condemned what it called international double standards on the Middle East and demanded reforms in the Security Council.
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.
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.
http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Russia-blasts-Saudi-Arabia-for-refusing-UN-Security-Council-seat-329113
Hm.. American foreign policy is falling apart.
Saudis aren't happy with Putin the statesman driving events, and think Russian chess games are no solution at all, but have "instead perpetuated conflicts and grievances." They're not happy with the US either, we screwed up on Syria, sending our navy out then sitting there not knowing what to do, and we let the Russians take control.
If we lose Saudi Arabia then that's it, that's the only ally over there worth having and we've got no mideast policy without the Saudis. They are as crucial as Israel. Without KSA, we may as well pull out and forget about the middle east. Hopefully relations aren't that damaged with the Saudis, that's such a long term ally.
Security council is broken, it can't solve problems in any real way, and certainly not with the Russians in charge and that's why the Saudis declined the seat.
That's my take.. not looking for a debate, just interested in what others make of this? It's a big deal for them to turn down that seat.