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Obama Offers Assurance to Saudis on Syria Stance
Topic Started: Mar 29 14, 6:00 (1,652 Views)
ALAN
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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — President Obama reassured King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia on Friday that the United States remained committed to strengthening the moderate opposition in the Syrian civil war, administration officials said.

But aides declined to reveal whether Mr. Obama and the king agreed to any significant expansion of the covert program to train and arm the Syrian opposition. Relations between the two countries have become strained in recent months, in part over Saudi frustration with the United States’ reluctance to provide arms that could end up in the hands of jihadists and extremists in Syria.

“The emergence of some more extremist elements within the opposition only reinforces the need to strengthen the more moderate opposition,” a senior administration official told reporters in Riyadh after a two-hour meeting at the king’s palatial desert compound. “We have been improving that coordination and planning with our partners and allies.”

Mr. Obama met with Abdullah at the end of the president’s weeklong tour through Europe, which focused primarily on bolstering the European response to Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine. In Saudi Arabia, the president shifted his focus to another region racked by conflict.

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Officials said the face-to-face meeting with King Abdullah was an opportunity to confront the perception of a serious split between the United States and Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia and other gulf states have favored a greater effort to arm and train rebels who have taken up arms against the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad. Last year, however, the White House abruptly shelved plans for a military strike after Mr. Assad agreed to a Russian proposal to get rid of his chemical weapons arsenal.

In February, the director of national intelligence, James R. Clapper Jr., told Congress that Mr. Assad’s hold on power had strengthened, and Robert S. Ford, the recently retired envoy to Syria, said that his government was likely to survive in the medium term.

Saudi leaders have also expressed alarm at Mr. Obama’s diplomatic initiative with Iran to halt much of that country’s nuclear program, which they consider a serious threat to the region. Officials said Iran was a key topic of discussion between the president and the king.

American officials described the perception of a rift as overstated, and while conceding some differences in approach on Syria and Iran, they added that the meeting underlined the enduring alliance of the two countries.

“Our strategic interests are much more aligned than different,” an official said, speaking anonymously in order to discuss the private meeting between the leaders.

While the tone of the administration’s comments on Friday might have been welcomed by the Saudis, it remained unclear if the Obama administration’s policy on Syria would make a significant difference on the battlefield, where the opposition has been struggling.

Benjamin J. Rhodes, Mr. Obama’s deputy national security adviser, said that progress between Washington and Riyadh had already been made in coordinating “who we’re providing assistance to and what types of assistance we’re providing.” But he added that the United States was still worried about proposals to give the rebels shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles known as manpads.

“We have made clear that there are certain types of weapons, including manpads, that could pose a proliferation risk if introduced into Syria,” he said. “We continue to have those concerns.”

Egypt has been another point of contention between the United States and Saudi Arabia, which supported the Egyptian military’s ouster of Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s democratically elected president. Mr. Rhodes said the United States was concerned about the “shockingly large” number of death sentences recently handed down in Egypt.

“We have a shared interest in stability,” Mr. Rhodes said, but this policy would be best supported by “Egypt sticking to a democratic road map.”

Several groups had urged the president to raise the subject of the kingdom’s treatment of women and accusations of human rights abuses. Officials said it did not come up at the meeting.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/03/29/world/europe/obama-saudi-arabia.html?_r=0&referrer=
Russian Girenak Joseph, who visited Kirkuk in Kurdistan as a part of his tour throu the 1870 - 1873 AD, who published the results of his trip & his studies later in 1879, in the 4th volume in the Bulletin of the Caucasus department of the Royal Geographical Russian Society estimated Kirkuk's population as many as 12-50,000 people, & he emphasized that except 40 Christian families, the rest of the population were Kurds. As for The Turkmen & Arabs, they have not been already existed at the time.
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ALAN
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2 main requests from Obama were:

1. Not making alliance or agreements with Iran.
2. And annihilate Assad.

Both in Kurdish people interests
Russian Girenak Joseph, who visited Kirkuk in Kurdistan as a part of his tour throu the 1870 - 1873 AD, who published the results of his trip & his studies later in 1879, in the 4th volume in the Bulletin of the Caucasus department of the Royal Geographical Russian Society estimated Kirkuk's population as many as 12-50,000 people, & he emphasized that except 40 Christian families, the rest of the population were Kurds. As for The Turkmen & Arabs, they have not been already existed at the time.
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Worldwar2boy
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Yeah, but mainly in interest of Saudi-Arabia.
It's not like they decided to request that because it is in our interest lol
Obama is a slave and anti-Kurd, I hate that monkey.
biji kurd u kurdistan !!
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ALAN
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No of course i didnt mean it was in our interest ONLY, this is indirectly benefiting kurds, pretty much like how both SK and WK was established ;-)
Russian Girenak Joseph, who visited Kirkuk in Kurdistan as a part of his tour throu the 1870 - 1873 AD, who published the results of his trip & his studies later in 1879, in the 4th volume in the Bulletin of the Caucasus department of the Royal Geographical Russian Society estimated Kirkuk's population as many as 12-50,000 people, & he emphasized that except 40 Christian families, the rest of the population were Kurds. As for The Turkmen & Arabs, they have not been already existed at the time.
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Pker2theend
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ALAN
Mar 29 14, 6:31
2 main requests from Obama were:

1. Not making alliance or agreements with Iran.
2. And annihilate Assad.

Both in Kurdish people interests
Pdki would not get help from any occupiers of Kurdish lands so Saudi Arabia was one of its main supporters with wepons and money.
Friday, May 29th, 2015

Today, 5:55 AM
Tevger: i love kdpi.
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ALAN
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^^ Really!? I knew saddam helped them for awhile but Saudia! hmmm makes sense thou
Russian Girenak Joseph, who visited Kirkuk in Kurdistan as a part of his tour throu the 1870 - 1873 AD, who published the results of his trip & his studies later in 1879, in the 4th volume in the Bulletin of the Caucasus department of the Royal Geographical Russian Society estimated Kirkuk's population as many as 12-50,000 people, & he emphasized that except 40 Christian families, the rest of the population were Kurds. As for The Turkmen & Arabs, they have not been already existed at the time.
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Pker2theend
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ALAN
Mar 30 14, 3:57
^^ Really!? I knew saddam helped them for awhile but Saudia! hmmm makes sense thou
Saddam didn't really help them there was just a couple incidents where pdki sold tanks to them that they captured from Iran. Yeah Saudi Arabia sent pdki 100 jeeps just in one day to qandil. Tanks are really overrated. Always PUK/KDP were doing the opposite of KDPI during those times PUK got support from Ghaddafi and PDKI got it from Saudi Arabia both countries hated each other Ghaddafi actually tried to kill king Abdullah.
Edited by Pker2theend, Mar 31 14, 10:39.
Friday, May 29th, 2015

Today, 5:55 AM
Tevger: i love kdpi.
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