re: #482 David Simon

You’re not wrong. Like I said up thread, they’re a nominal ally. But what’s the alternative?

I think we’re agreeing. It is a thorny situation, and no US President has been in the position to tell the Saudis to simply f**k off.

But I thought that in purely protocol terms, the Obama bow was a new low. As Cognito (!) pointed out, it will be viewed in the Muslim world exactly the way many of us have seen it; as an explicit symbol of obeisance.