“Saudi Arabia has reportedly offered to buy arms worth up to $15 billion from Russia, and provided a raft of economic and political concessions to the Kremlin – all in a bid to weaken Moscow’s endorsement of Syrian President Bashar Assad. The diplomatic initiatives were anonymously voiced to Reuters by multiple Gulf state diplomats and senior leaders of the Syrian opposition, in the wake of last week’s meeting in Moscow between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi National Security Council chief Prince Bandar bin-Sultan. The Saudi politician has orchestrated his country’s foreign policy in recent months. “Bandar offered to intensify energy, military and economic cooperation with Moscow,” a senior Syrian opposition figure told Reuters. “Bandar sought to allay two main Russian fears: that Islamist extremists will replace Assad, and that Syria would become a conduit for Gulf, mainly Qatari, gas at the expense of Russia.” The $15 billion figure was touted by a representative of the anti-Assad opposition….………..”
The Saudi princes want to liberate Syria from its current rulers and hand it to others who are allied with them. So they offer to pay Russia in order to get Syria, effectively offering to buy Syria from Russia. They have again resorted to their best and most effective strategy for buying friends and gaining influence. There is nothing they have to offer anyone besides money, and they use it extensively. They have no ideology or set of values that appeal to anyone outside the ruling family. Nobody anywhere admires them for who they are or for what they do. It is all to do with how much they are willing to pay. That applies to the Arab peoples and to foreign countries, from North America all the way across to the western shores of the Pacific Ocean. Apparently their attempt to buy the Russian government, or to buy Syria from the Russian government, has failed so far.
Cheers
mhg