You don't have to go to war with each of them, there are other options. And you definitely don't have to prop up said leaders with the worlds most advanced military hardware.

You need to think like the leader of a nation, not like the leader of an advocacy group. This is a playing field most people can't comprehend.

The idea that the rich and powerful breed are at another level than the commoners, and we can never aspire to the genius behind their choices, is not a new talking point but maybe one of the oldest.

> You need to think like the leader of a nation

It'd sure be nice if we had someone in DC doing that...

Right, what lobbying group paid their bribes this year.

Ah, military contractors are well up to date. Okay, lets toss them a few billion in Saudi weapons contracts.

How did I do?

Incredibly poorly.

Nation states aren't supposed to have egos.

Iran managed to arm themselves very effectively without American help.

There’s a whole lot of lesser evils which define plenty of diplomatic decision making in that region.

If our instinct is to jump from allying with a nation to being at war, we have accepted the most violent countries' axioms of how the world must work. Bush Jr's "either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists" mentality and policy have certainly sown some seeds.

Go to war with? No. There's a wide gulf between "close allies" and "at war." We're selling them arms, buying their oil, and trading intelligence with them.

I can't help thinking that if the US were forced at ICBM-point to choose sides in the Saudi Arabia vs. Iran international rivalry, Iran would be the better choice, even after all the terrible history between Iran and the US.

It's like fighting Christianity's Devil by making a blood pact with Ialchtaluogoloth, Inscrutable Lord of the Slime Pits From Beyond the Dead Stars. At least Lucifer can appreciate a finely tailored suit.

If Saudi Arabia didn't have light, sweet oil reserves and control of the Hajj, they wouldn't have much of anything at all.

> It's like fighting Christianity's Devil by making a blood pact with Ialchtaluogoloth, Inscrutable Lord of the Slime Pits From Beyond the Dead Stars. At least Lucifer can appreciate a finely tailored suit.

This is an excellent paragraph and I bet I would enjoy reading more of what you write. If you happen to blog, would you mind emailing me a link? My email address is in my profile.

while your statement is technically true, the sa is the most disgusting state in the world. IMHO ideologically even farther from western democracies then north korea is

I find that statement ridiculous. Saudi Arabia is a theocratic society with an absolute monarch. The things that occur there may seem abhorrent, but they follow relatively strict norms. Capricious things occur, but even the monarch responds to internal political and cultural pressures in service to a nominally higher authority.

North Korea is ruled by the capricious whim of a single person who makes the rules as he goes along, and whose decisions have led to multiple famines and other atrocities resulting in the deaths of millions of North Koreans, still ongoing. And Kim Jong-un doesn't need a cover up when he assassinates someone; he's a god incarnate.

Have a little perspective. It's easier to criticize Saudi Arabia precisely because it's more like Western society than North Korea, even if that similarity is often illusory.

There is a wide gap between war and staunch ally.

Like, we could stop supporting their genocide in Yemen. Could stop selling weapons to them period. Could stop buying their oil. Could start putting out sanctions. Could actually demand some accountability for their role in 9/11.

Whole spectrum between what we have now and outright war.