This week, President Obama will host a summit at Camp David with representatives from six of the Gulf States: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, The United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. Fox News reports:
The White House was scrambling Monday to put a positive face on an upcoming summit of Persian Gulf states after learning leaders from four of the six invited nations are expected to skip.
What they failed to mention is that two of the four leaders in absentia are physically unable to travel.
The United Arab Emirates is also sending its crown prince to the meetings, the officials said. The Emirati president, Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan, was never expected to attend because of health reasons, American and Arab officials said. Sultan Qaboos bin Said of Oman also will not be attending because of health reasons, officials said.
Bush 41 White House Chief of Staff, John Sununu, is Fox News' expert on Middle Eastern (total lack of) diplomacy. Regarding our president's current policies in that volatile region, Sununu said,
"It's emblematic of the way the president has messed up America's relationships with our key allies around the world."
That statement is a reflection of the level of respect both Bush 41 and Bush 43 afforded Saudi Arabia. We can't forget when the Bin Laden Family was given safe passage from an increasingly hostile America on 9/11/01; all coordinated and facilitated by the Bush and Cheney.
One of the other matters on the agenda at Camp David, is the sale of some of our best military technology to these Arab Nations, but only within the boundaries we've set with Israel.
That is why, for instance, the administration has not allowed Lockheed Martin to sell the F-35 fighter jet, considered to be the jewel of America’s future arsenal, to Arab countries. The plane, the world’s most expensive weapons project, has stealth capabilities and has been approved for sale to Israel.
The ex-N.H. Governor sees everything in black and white. Any dealings with Iran will strain our relations with nations who identify with Sunni Islam, but these countries are still agreeing to meet with President Obama, in some capacity.
King Salman’s decision to skip the summit meeting does not mean that the Saudis are giving up on the United States — they do not have many other options, said Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “As upset as the Saudis are, they don’t really have a viable alternative strategic partnership in Moscow or Beijing,” Mr. Sadjadpour said.
In an effort to stoke fear in the viewers, Sununu continued his tirade against the current administration:
"They botched up Syria, they botched up ISIS, they botched up Iraq...they (the Saudis and Bahrain) found a way to get a direct public message to the president.
It's downright ridiculous that he never mentions the invasion of Iraq in 2003 which had devastating consequences. He and Fox News pretend none of that ever happened.
Unlike his Republican predecessors, President Obama doesn't sugar coat his opinion of the internal strife in Saudi Arabia, as they suffer from greater income inequality than the United States.
The Arab nations are also angry, officials and experts said, about comments Mr. Obama recently made in an interview with The New York Times, in which he said allies like Saudi Arabia should be worried about internal threats — “populations that, in some cases, are alienated, youth that are underemployed, an ideology that is destructive and nihilistic, and in some cases, just a belief that there are no legitimate political outlets for grievances.”
The P 5+1 Iran nuclear negotiations are bound to ruffle a few feathers in the Gulf. Fox News' can't seem to grasp that these negotiations are messy and complicated. Not everything boils down to Saudi Arabia good, Iran bad as Fox News would like us to believe. Strange bedfellows have emerged from U.S. talks with Iran.
The Saudis have reportedly agreed to let Israel use its airspace to attack Iran if necessary.
It is no coincidence that both nations would object to any deal made with their shared enemy.
John Sununu was a surrogate of the Romney 2012 Campaign, and like Romney, he berated the president over the "biggest (non) scandal of our lifetime," BENGHAZI. His disdain for President Obama was both out of line and obvious.
"This president thinks he's so smart that he doesn't have to go through that. He thinks he doesn't need to put the extra work in for going through that process. That's why I say he's lazy and detached."
These are all code words of racist Republicans who can't bear to be led by an African-American leader. But it wasn't President Obama's fault that the consulate was attacked in Libya. It was the GOP who voted to cut security funding to our embassies and consulates worldwide, and a respectable news channel would never omit that important detail. But this is Fox "News" we are discussing. Integrity and the pursuit of facts are not as important as fear-mongering over the president's more thoughtful approach to international diplomacy.
