Like the Iranians, the Saudis Think Obama Is Weak

 

 NRO  . . . "These two events encouraged the Saudis to believe that President Obama is unreliable and uninterested in their concerns. Their view has been reinforced by subsequent events. The president’s malleability toward Iran, for example, has been especially problematic. Witnessing Iran’s growing empire of Khomeinism and President Obama’s apparent acquiescence to that endeavor — take Obama’s silence to this week’s capture of a vessel that was under U.S. protection — the Saudis are panicking. The central problem is that while both the U.S. and Saudi Arabia are aware of Iran’s aggressive ambitions, each nation has a different conception of America’s deterrent power against Iran. Where President Obama sees American regional strength via the (semi) formidable U.S. military presence in the Gulf, the Saudis see America’s regional weakness via Iran’s political domination in Beirut, Baghdad, Damascus, and now Sana’a, Yemen. 

 

"And the distinctions seem to reveal something deeper. President Obama has decided that Iran’s geographical empowerment is a price worth paying to limit American involvement in the Middle East. " . . .
Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/417832/iranians-saudis-think-obama-weak-tom-rogan