... are too situational and opportunistic. And Russia is in no position to
replace
the U.S. as the key extra-regional partner for Saudi Arabia, or anything close.
Occasional suggestions on the subject in the Russian media do not mean that the Kremlin is entertaining ... ... despite clear interest in the dream becoming reality. Despite its numerous problems, Riyadh will have a significant impact on the Syria settlement. One should not expect full-fledged Saudi support in the struggle against ISIS until the monarchy senses a threat ...
... Studies (DERASAT)
Though from a GCC perspective the main sticking point that has hampered these ties from reaching its potential has been Russian/Iranian relations. This has been the case especially more so in the Syrian context. With Russia entering the Syrian conflict on the side of Bashar and Iran, a recent poll in Saudi Arabia showed that Russia has become extremely unpopular
[11]
.
The GCC States have been involved in trying to settle the conflict in one way or another since the start of the protests in Syria. Each GCC State has played a different role with different ...
... Russia's security-oriented vision. Conversely Saudi Arabia (and Turkey) unsurprisingly expressed a firm refusal to ally with the Iranians and to save Al-Assad.
These antagonist interests will unlikely prevent the continuation of bilateral top-level talks. Saudi Arabia sees how tarnished has become the Obama Administration's Middle Eastern diplomacy. The American reluctance to act on Syria adds to Riyadh's despair after the signature of the nuclear deal with Iran earlier in 2015. And if Russia embodies “
counter-revolution
” – which might well suit to King Salman, keen to avoid any mass uprising in his country –,...
... for example, by the number of visits to Moscow already held or planned for this year by heads of Arab states. The rulers of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Egypt, Morocco and Jordan, and the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates, are expected to visit ... ... President Vladimir Putin has accepted the Saudi king’s invitation to visit Riyadh.
An impressive number of leaders of various Syrian opposition groups also visited Moscow this month. The consultations did not reveal any fundamental change in the Kremlin’s ...
... in St. Petersburg, the Crown Prince also met with President Vladimir Putin. In fact, that was the first major official delegation from Saudi Arabia to Russia since 2011, when bilateral relations were virtually frozen over fundamental differences on Syria.
Saudi Arabia’s new leaders genuinely want to diversify their international political and economic ties, and Russia may appear attractive due to its prominent role in the energy market and established relations with Iran, Syria, Iraq and Yemen
At ...
... the inclusion of investment and electric power peaceful nuclear projects, joint GLONASS-based projects and arms supplies to Saudi Arabia.
As far as the visit of Prince bin Salman is concerned, the American factor appears quite important. First, the ... ... guarantees is gone. Moreover, since the greater part of the dialogue between Russia and the Gulf states has been focused on Syria with Moscow's stance coming across as the most principled, the Saudis tend to think (reasonably or not) that the solution ...
... warning system. Several GCC states have necessary defense components in place already, such as short-range Patriot systems in Saudi Arabia and THAAD systems in Qatar, but the new agreement provides for the installation of a comprehensive system that would ... ... defense security the joint statement released at Camp David touched upon mutual concerns about the situation in Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen. But no real progress seems to have been reached on these issues, which was underpinned by very formal and overly ...
... take the steam out of their radical, violent agenda.
The U.S. will soon overtake (or possibly even already has overtaken) Saudi Arabia and Russia as the world’s largest liquid petroleum producer, in 2015 is supposed to become the top overall ... ... situations like in Egypt, for many years one of the top recipients of U.S. foreign aid, Obama and Americans, as was/is the case in Syria and Iraq, seems to prefer a “don’t do stupid shit” (to quote the president) approach.
Obama has—correctly—realized ...
... talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry provide an opening for broader discussions. But these measures do not include mediating and checking the ongoing efforts of feuding regional powers Qatar and Saudi Arabia, whose big money and disruptive tactics have joined with western interests to advance a parallel government and army in Syria. Earlier this year, U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, who was part of the negotiations along with Kerry and Lavrov ostensibly representing what Kerry has referred to as “the Assad regime” caved in to a Qatar sponsored ...
