Saudi Arabia could execute boy arrested at age 13

[Some of My Best Friends Are Gay]

The US should be friends with Iran and screw the Saudis.

Whether or not we should be "friends" with Iran, we certainly shouldn't be friends with Saudi Arabia.

[Kingpoleon]

Realistically, isolating Saudi Arabia will give China a huge likely ally in the Middle East. Do you guys really want that? Riyadh aligned with Beijing?

[CumbrianLefty]

Realistically, isolating Saudi Arabia will give China a huge likely ally in the Middle East. Do you guys really want that? Riyadh aligned with Beijing?

"If we don't make torture equipment, some other country will" - about the same level. And haven't there been a few teeny-weeny indicators recently that China isn't terribly keen on Islamism?

[Indy Texas]

Realistically, isolating Saudi Arabia will give China a huge likely ally in the Middle East. Do you guys really want that? Riyadh aligned with Beijing?

Who cares? What do we get from them that's so important?

Don't say "oil." "Oil" is a fungible commodity that is bought and sold worldwide. Even if Saudi Arabia made the ludicrously stupid decision to refuse to sell oil to the US, they'd still be selling it to other countries that in turn would be selling it to us.

[Tintrlvr]

The US should be friends with Iran and screw the Saudis.

Whether or not we should be "friends" with Iran, we certainly shouldn't be friends with Saudi Arabia.

Right - the best position is clearly studied neutrality between the two and aloofness to their conflicts. More or less exactly the position China has taken, by the way.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Realistically, isolating Saudi Arabia will give China a huge likely ally in the Middle East. Do you guys really want that? Riyadh aligned with Beijing?

"If we don't make torture equipment, some other country will" - about the same level. And haven't there been a few teeny-weeny indicators recently that China isn't terribly keen on Islamism?

To be fair China forged much closer relations with Qatar, and Qatar is also quite guilty of sponsoring islamism abroad (though not the same guys as the Saudis, hence the whole conflict).

[Stranger in a strange land]

Realistically, isolating Saudi Arabia will give China a huge likely ally in the Middle East. Do you guys really want that? Riyadh aligned with Beijing?

Who cares? What do we get from them that's so important?

Don't say "oil." "Oil" is a fungible commodity that is bought and sold worldwide. Even if Saudi Arabia made the ludicrously stupid decision to refuse to sell oil to the US, they'd still be selling it to other countries that in turn would be selling it to us.

And also:

1) This isn't pointed out nearly often enough, but less than 10% of U.S. oil comes from Saudi Arabia. The largest source of U.S. oil imports is Canada
2) If Saudi Arabia refuses to sell their oil to the U.S., other countries would.

[Kingpoleon]

Realistically, isolating Saudi Arabia will give China a huge likely ally in the Middle East. Do you guys really want that? Riyadh aligned with Beijing?

"If we don't make torture equipment, some other country will" - about the same level. And haven't there been a few teeny-weeny indicators recently that China isn't terribly keen on Islamism?

To be fair China forged much closer relations with Qatar, and Qatar is also quite guilty of sponsoring islamism abroad (though not the same guys as the Saudis, hence the whole conflict).

Qatar has basically the same financial capabilities as the Saudis, but a much larger media outlet - Al Jazeera, in case somebody doesn’t know that.

Friendly neutrality would give us much better footing in Qatar and Iran, while keeping other influences out of Saudi Arabia.

Realistically, isolating Saudi Arabia will give China a huge likely ally in the Middle East. Do you guys really want that? Riyadh aligned with Beijing?

Who cares? What do we get from them that's so important?

Don't say "oil." "Oil" is a fungible commodity that is bought and sold worldwide. Even if Saudi Arabia made the ludicrously stupid decision to refuse to sell oil to the US, they'd still be selling it to other countries that in turn would be selling it to us.

Um, military support in the Middle East that Turkey and Israel can’t? A very large ally in all discussions of the Middle East? I don’t like our alliance with Saudi Arabia anymore than you, but it’s certainly a beneficial relationship.

[Indy Texas]

Realistically, isolating Saudi Arabia will give China a huge likely ally in the Middle East. Do you guys really want that? Riyadh aligned with Beijing?

"If we don't make torture equipment, some other country will" - about the same level. And haven't there been a few teeny-weeny indicators recently that China isn't terribly keen on Islamism?

To be fair China forged much closer relations with Qatar, and Qatar is also quite guilty of sponsoring islamism abroad (though not the same guys as the Saudis, hence the whole conflict).

Qatar has basically the same financial capabilities as the Saudis, but a much larger media outlet - Al Jazeera, in case somebody doesn’t know that.

Friendly neutrality would give us much better footing in Qatar and Iran, while keeping other influences out of Saudi Arabia.

Realistically, isolating Saudi Arabia will give China a huge likely ally in the Middle East. Do you guys really want that? Riyadh aligned with Beijing?

Who cares? What do we get from them that's so important?

Don't say "oil." "Oil" is a fungible commodity that is bought and sold worldwide. Even if Saudi Arabia made the ludicrously stupid decision to refuse to sell oil to the US, they'd still be selling it to other countries that in turn would be selling it to us.

Um, military support in the Middle East that Turkey and Israel can’t? A very large ally in all discussions of the Middle East? I don’t like our alliance with Saudi Arabia anymore than you, but it’s certainly a beneficial relationship.

What military support do they give us? They let us keep our bases there because that protects them. There's no reason we couldn't move those assets elsewhere. Remember that Osama bin Laden cited the stationing of US troops in Saudi Arabia beginning in 1990 as the thing that drove him over the edge and led to attacking the US. He and many Muslims cannot abide non-Muslim forces in the home of Mecca and Medina. It's a needless antagonism.

What "discussions" are they an "ally" in? They've been useless in the Israeli-Palestinian issue. They were useless in rebuilding Iraq. They've muddled things in Syria and Yemen.