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The Special U.S.-Saudi Relationship Has Outlived Its Usefulness

The BriefGet Up To Speed
Over 70 years ago, in 1945, U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and King Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia met onboard the USS Quincy.  A close relationship between the two countries has been maintained ever since, with oil and military and intelligence cooperation at its foundation.  But the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. shale revolution, human rights concerns, and diverging interests in the Middle East, have all put strains on this relationship.  Has this special relationship outlived its usefulness, or is it too important to walk away from?
 
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Background
U.S.-Saudi Relations

CFR backgrounder on the U.S.-Saudi relationship.

Thursday, April 21, 2016
Council on Foreign Relations
Newsteam Staff
Saudi Arabia: Background and U.S. Relations

Saudi Arabia has close defense and security ties with the United States anchored by long-standing military training programs and supplemented by ongoing high-value weapons sales and new critical infrastructure security cooperation and counterterrorism initiatives. These ties would be difficult and costly for either side to fully break or replace.

Tuesday, September 20, 2016
Congressional Research Service
Christopher Blanchard
Saudi Arabia: A Dangerous Ally?

Is Saudi Arabia a trustworthy ally?

Monday, January 4, 2016
New York Times
Room for Debate
For
Relations with Saudi Arabia Are Risky as Well as Confused

Whether Saudi Arabia is a U.S. “ally” involves weighing the possible benefits of a close relationship such as military access rights against the disadvantages of the closeness, or the perception by others of such closeness.

Friday, September 30, 2016
The National Interest
Paul Pillar
Saudi Arabia Is a Good Ally? Get Real

Today, Saudi Arabia is not a good ally. U.S. policymakers would be wise to acknowledge this, and to focus on creating a less entangled, more transactional relationship with Saudi Arabia.

Monday, April 25, 2016
Cato Institute
Emma Ashford
Are U.S.-Saudi Relations Finally Souring?

Pressure from human rights organizations to victims of the 9/11 attacks are helping erode the bond between these old political allies.

Wednesday, October 5, 2016
Foreign Policy in Focus
Alli McCracken
An Awkward Silence in Riyadh

These days, when the United States and Saudi Arabia look at the region, they see two completely different landscapes and conflicting sets of interests. 

Tuesday, April 19, 2016
Politico
Ray Takeyh
Against
Facts and Fictions: A Defense of the U.S.-Saudi Relationship

Despite very different values and tactical preferences, Washington and Riyadh continue to share important strategic interests, and it would be the height of folly to throw them overboard because of misguided reactions to recent events.

Thursday, January 21, 2016
The Washington Institute
David Pollack
Saudi Arabia Is a Great American Ally

While Tehran continues to sow anti-American terrorism across the Middle East, Riyadh holds the key to regional stability. This is not the time to back away from the House of Saud.

Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Foreign Policy
Michael Pregent
U.S. and Saudi Arabia, Trapped in a Bad Marriage

Despite what divides them it's more than likely that for the foreseeable future the United States and Saudi Arabia will find a way to muddle through -- cooperating where they can and agreeing to disagree where they must.

Thursday, April 21, 2016
CNN
Aaron David Miller
You Don’t Have to Like Saudi Arabia to Value the Alliance

Saudi Arabia may be far from perfect, but if the United States turns its back on its allies, the main loser will not be Saudi Arabia but rather America’s national security and the trust other allies are willing to place in Washington.

Thursday, April 14, 2016
American Enterprise Institute
Michael Rubin
JASTA
What JASTA Will Mean for U.S.-Saudi Relations

The overwhelming vote in Congress to override President Obama’s veto of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) bill will haunt U.S.-Saudi relations for years. It is a reflection of the growing weakness of America’s oldest alliance in the Middle East that goes well beyond 9/11. 

Monday, October 3, 2016
Brookings Institution
Bruce Riedel
JASTA Headache, Not a Catastrophe

Subjecting foreign governments to U.S. jurisdiction for certain terrorism acts is misguided.

Monday, October 3, 2016
Diwan
Perry Cammack
Arms
U.S. Blocks Arms Sale to Saudi Arabia Amid Concerns Over Yemen War

The Obama administration has deepened its rift with its Gulf allies over the ongoing conflict in Yemen, blocking a transfer of precision munitions to Saudi Arabia because of concerns about civilian casualties that administration officials attribute to poor targeting.

Tuesday, December 13, 2016
New York Times
Helene Cooper
What a Real Review of U.S. Military Assistance to Saudi Arabia Would Say

The United States should understand that it holds most of the cards and that it can use military assistance, among other tools, to push Saudi policy in a direction that favorable to U.S. interests.

Wednesday, October 26, 2016
War on the Rocks
Richard Sokolsky and Jeremy Shapiro
Is Selling Tanks to Saudi Arabia Such a Good Idea?

The only place Saudi tanks are in combat are along the Saudi–Yemeni border in the Kingdom's southwest where the Houthi rebels have been surprisingly effective in striking targets inside Saudi Arabia since the start of the war sixteen months ago.

Thursday, August 11, 2016
The National Interest
Bruce Riedel
Saudi Arabia and Iran
Managing the Saudi-Iran Rivalry

Workshop participants analyzed the Saudi-Iran rivalry—in particular its evolution, drivers, current manifestations, and plausible trajectories—while assessing policy options to help manage the conflict.

Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Council on Foreign Relations
Helia Ighani
The United States Shouldn’t Choose Saudi Arabia Over Iran

It’s far too dangerous to take sides in the proxy war between the two great Sunni and Shia states.  In fact, our interests are more aligned with Tehran’s.

Monday, January 4, 2016
Politico
Stephen Kinzer
Saudi Arabia Cares More About Iran Than Iran Does About Saudi Arabia

For Saudi Arabia, the essence of the threat is not a potential Iranian invasion; rather, it is that Tehran consistently questions the House of Saud’s political and regional legitimacy.

Tuesday, October 18, 2016
The National Interest
Dina Esfandiary and Ariane Tabatabai
Stability
A New Social and Political Order for Saudi Arabia?

Saudi Arabia’s plans of privatizing the economy to overcome oil dependence hinge on opening up its political sphere.

Thursday, January 12, 2017
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Mohamed Elmeshad
Saudi Vision 2030: Winners and Losers

Saudi Arabia’s grand plan for economic reform might expand employment and transparency, but there would also be losers.

Tuesday, August 2, 2016
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Matthew Reed
Trump Administration
What the Saudi Monarchy Wants from the U.S.

The Saudis no doubt can find aspects of a possible Trump foreign policy that they can embrace and other aspects that may be sources of concern or disagreement. Riyadh will be waiting and watching to see whether rhetoric ultimately matches up to reality.

Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Middle East Institute
Gerald Feierstein
Trump’s Empty Threat to Stop Buying Saudi Oil

President-elect Donald Trump is very unlikely to restrict imports of crude oil from Saudi Arabia despite threats to do so issued during the election campaign.

Thursday, November 17, 2016
Reuters
John Kemp