A certain deity notes that Winnie Mandela’s ex, Nelson, has just paid a visit to the most repressive theocratic apartheid state in the world (now that the Taliban no longer rule Afghanistan): Saudi Arabia.

RIYADH, March 23 (AFP) - Former South African president Nelson Mandela met with Saudi crown prince and de facto ruler Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz here Tuesday, the official SPA news agency reported.

No details were given about the meeting, which took place shortly after Mandela arrived in Saudi Arabia.

Mandela also met with Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz on “boosting bilateral ties between the two countries” and with Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, according to SPA.

And speaking of the Saudi entity, the home of the Religion of Peace and Tolerance™, our allies the oil ticks are issuing smarmy threats again, via their government-controlled English mouthpiece Arab News: A Friend Indeed. (Hat tip: Infinite Justice.)

Hundreds of billions of dollars have been pumped by both our private and public sector into the US economy, even at times when such investment has not been entirely in our interest. Why did we do this? Because we are friends. Because that is what friends do for one another. After all, a friend in need is a friend indeed.

Massive “investment” in the US economy is only one of the many fields of fruitful cooperation the US has had with us over the years. Let us not forget the crucial role this country has had in ensuring the stability of world oil prices. This task is and has been enormously complicated, and many times it has run contrary to our own interest and to that of our OPEC partners. But we do that because that is what friends do for one another.

Recently, however, we have not been sensing much love from our American allies. Instead we feel great ingratitude and a serious lack of appreciation from our buddies stateside. It may therefore be time for us to look for some other, and more appreciative, areas to put our foreign aid — excuse me, I mean “investment”.

It is to the East that we must turn, dear readers.

After all, it is in the East that the sun rises and in the West that it sets.