WHO'LL BLINK FIRST?

"The Australian" reports that our "friends" the Saudis are threatening the British Government over its discovery of a huge fraudulent "slush fund" that was used to bribe Saudi Royals to buy British.

SAUDI Arabia is threatening to suspend diplomatic ties with Britain unless Downing Street blocks an investigation into a £60 million ($148 million) "slush fund" allegedly set up for members of its royal family.

A senior Saudi diplomat in London has delivered an ultimatum to Tony Blair that unless the inquiry into an allegedly corrupt military deal is dropped, diplomatic links between Britain and Saudi Arabia will be severed, a defence source has disclosed.

The Saudis, key allies in the Middle East, have also threatened to cut intelligence co-operation over al-Qai'da. ...
...The Saudis are furious about the Serious Fraud Office's criminal investigation into allegations that BAE Systems, Britain's biggest military supply company, set up the slush fund to support the extravagant lifestyle of members of the Saudi royal family.

The payments, in the form of holidays, luxury cars including a gold Rolls-Royce, rented apartments and other perks, are alleged to have been paid to ensure the Saudis continued to buy from BAE under the Al-Yamamah military supply deal.
"They are claiming the deal is protected by sovereign national immunity, and that the British have no right to poke around in their private financial affairs."

The Brits can't really be seen to fold, or can they? Will the Saudis really cut off ties to the financial center of Europe? Or can they? Very interesting, and worth following.

One thing is certain...the Saudis are NOBODY'S friend...and the issue of alliances with any of those lying Arab bastards ought to have been settled long ago. We may need them, but they need us, too. Paying blackmail may work for a while, but it's never worth the payoff.

Our "alliance" is a marriage of convenience, and nothing more. They should be told in no uncertain terms that if they screw us, we'll ream them a total new asshole, and show them what screwing really means.

Another blogger, commenting on the same story, states it more gently...

This should be a warning to the West as to the fragility of Saudi support on the efforts to stop radical Islamism ... such as it is. They appear to only support the war as long as their endless supply of luxury items, supplied by fraud and corruption, continues without interruption. Counting on their efforts in the long run is a bad strategy. We need to do what we can to avoid antagonizing them, but we had better start working on alternate strategies to work around their petulant obstructionism.

I stand by my comments, but there's no doubt that this is a significant issue, not a simple petulant obstuctionism.

It's natural to wonder if there are U.S. issues like this British one? Ya think?