Oil for Missiles. Our friends the Saudis make friends with the Chinese.

opinionjournal.com ^ | 01/25/2006 | Richard L. Russell

[peyton randolph]

It was no coincidence that Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah this week chose China for his first official trip outside the Middle East since acceding to the throne in August. With five agreements signed during the visit, including a pact for closer cooperation in oil, natural gas and minerals, the two countries are laying the foundations for a strategic relationship that challenges U.S. interests.

Humiliated by their dependence on Washington for survival in the wake of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, the Saudi royal family has long been seeking to forge closer ties with Beijing in the hope of reducing their dependence on the U.S...

[peyton randolph]

With friends like these...

[wolfcreek]

Beware of missiles that say 'Made in China"!

[pageonetoo]

...The danger is that these developments will pass largely unnoticed in Washington, as they fall between bureaucratic cracks in the national-security apparatus....

Yeah, I'm sure that the reporters are gonna be more aware of the real world situations, than our gum't. /s

At least we still have Mexico on our side, right?

[peyton randolph]

Beware of missiles that say 'Made in China"!

And presidents who hold Saudi hands...

Or ignore the Mexican illegal immigration issue instead of securing our borders.

[Santiago de la Vega]

This is a major development.

Most wars begin over trade, and this could be a trigger.

The tyrants of Arabia now have Chinese interests in the mix.

I don't like this at all.

When the Chinese military shows up in Arabia to train the running dogs of the house of Saud, we know there's trouble on the horizon.

[sgtbono2002]

The Saudi's have never been our friends. just business people.

Our Congress is asleep at the wheel by not allowing us to become independent by drilling our own oil no matter where it is.

[yankeedame]

Ah, but remember the old diplomatic truism: "The Chinese will treat you like a god, or they will treat you like an animal,but they will never treat you like a man."

[WhiteGuy]

The saudies are not OUR friends............

However they have a real closeness with our president's family and business interests..............

[sheik yerbouty]

The Saudis have always been fiends. We owe them a debt since 9/11, and if necessary, it should be paid in Plutonium.

[ponder life]

Good relations between these two particular countries should not be seen in a negative light. I see no ill intentions here by either one for their warming of diplomatic relations.