US is basically done with Saudi Arabia: Analyst

The United States is basically done with Saudi Arabia and it’s just a matter of time before the Saudis become disposable, a political commentator says.

Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich, who is an independent researcher, public speaker and writer with a focus on US foreign policy, made the remarks in a telephone interview with Press TV on Wednesday.

“It’s very difficult to sort through the maze of media reports. And the latest report that is out is that the United States has decided, after meeting with the Saudis, to arm (Syrian) rebels with heavy equipment, (anti-aircraft missiles). But again, in 2012, we learnt that in fact the US was arming the Syrian rebels through Turkey with anti-aircraft missiles, and we know that they have been receiving anti-tank missiles,” Sepahpour-Ulrich said.

“I know that Obama’s trip to Saudi Arabia may in fact give the impression that they wanted to discuss Syria and Iran, and no doubt they did; I have no doubts about that. At the same time what I find curious is that in February Saudi Arabia called on foreign fighters in Syria to stop fighting there. So, what is reality what is not, I am sure the terrorists don’t hear what the Saudis have to say or their decree, but here the Saudis made an attempt to make us believe that they have done with their terrorists, or their proxies, fighting in Syria,” she added.

Syria has been gripped by deadly violence since 2011. According to sources, more than 140,000 people have been killed and millions displaced due to the unrest.

According to reports, the Western powers and their regional allies — namely Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey — are supporting the militants operating inside Syria.

On Monday, Israel’s Debkafile website reported that two Syrian militant groups have been supplied with advanced US weapons, including armor-piercing, optically-guided BGM-71 TOW missiles, thanks to the Pentagon.

Images of militants equipped with the advanced arms have begun to circulate online in recent days.

“And that we hear reports that (the president of) the United States met with the Saudi king after which he decided to arm the Syrian militants with heavier equipment. It’s plausible, but at the same time we need to not isolate one situation from the global events. And I think one of the things we will notice is that the price of crude oil has skyrocketed because of the unrest between the United States and Russia, and this could have well been that part of the discussion. I think that we can’t overlook that factor (pumping out more oil to stabilize prices and ease European anxiety),” Sepahpour-Ulrich stated.

She went on to say that “the United States is basically done with Saudi Arabia; it’s a matter of time before the Saudis become disposable, and in fact there was a report in 2010 by WikiLeaks, but it dates back to 2007 and 2009, that Saudi Arabia does not have as much oil as it was once thought it did, and in fact the United States is very hopeful that its own oil production, including shale, which in my opinion is a bit of a fantasy, will surpass Saudi Arabia in 2015.”

“What the United States aims to do is to keep Saudi Arabia’s oil flowing to Europe over this mess with Ukraine it has created in Ukraine because the European countries are quite jittery at the moment, and rightly so. And part of that deal may have been in exchange for Saudi cooperation on oil, more arms are given to rebels victimizing the Syrian people and the Syrian government. But I think there is more to this than meets the eye,” Sepahpour-Ulrich noted.