Obama to meet Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah

While the White House has refused to confirm Obama’s planned trip to the Persian Gulf kingdom, The Wall Street Journal says Obama’s stop in Saudi Arabia will be added to a trip to Europe in March.
 
Members of Saudi Arabia’s royal family have been increasingly frustrated with diplomatic efforts to resolve the West’s decade-old dispute with Iran over its nuclear energy program.
 
The interim nuclear deal between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – Britain, China, France, Russia, and the US – plus Germany has been a great source of worry for Saudis who suspect a broad shift in Washington’s alliance from Riyadh.
 
“For the Saudis, even more than other Arab leaders, a personal relationship with the US president is important," Michele Dunne, a Mideast expert at Washington's Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told the WSJ. "This is something they have come to expect and have been missing in this administration.”
 
Moreover, while Washington is providing militants fighting against the Syrian government with arms and Congress has secretly approved funding for such arms deliveries, Saudi officials, who are still angry that Obama did not attack Syria in August, say US arms supplies are not enough.
 
“The meeting in many ways will get back to basics,” a Saudi official with knowledge of the planned meeting between Obama and the Saudi Arabian king told the WSJ. “Why did Obama do it the way he did it?”