Damned if you do...

A little note card I saw at work (okay, browsing Reddit) the other day said...

As I have grown older, I've learned that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everyone off is a piece of cake!

Which is pretty much exactly where Sec of State John "why so longfaced?" Kerry seems to be in his Iraq and a hard place that he's put himself.

Apparently, the Saudis are NOT pleased with him, and the dealings with Iran, Syria and Russia. In fact, the news is reporting that Saudi rejected a two-year term on the UN Security Council - in a rare display of it's anger at the "two faced" (actually, it was written as "double standards")... perhaps, even the impiousness of that organization and what the US has been doing or not doing.

Amazingly, this posturing has won Gulf claps from Arab allies and also Egypt.

At a lunch (no word what was served, unlikely that it was BLT's) Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal agreed that the US and the Kingdom wanted nuclear-free Iran, and an end to Syria's civil war, with a stable Egypt on top - but they didn't agree on how to do those three simple things.

"We expect they'll have a substantive, a far-ranging conversation about all of those issues, areas where they disagree, areas where perhaps we can come closer together," a senior State Department official told reporters before the lunch.

Why not call it a "heart-to-heart" instead of a "bullsh*t session"? Sounds better when it's official State Department statement, rather than the usual "leak" from "Someone close to the situation, who would prefer to remain anonymous." Same guy, same throwing of plates, just sounds more smooth when it's run through a committee before given to the reporter pool.

Reading between the lines - US is off the Arab state scheme and Uncle Sam isn't listening to the coaches. The Saudi's are gaining support in the Arab world, and the Middle East over all. The US is at a point where they have a choice - Negotiate with Iran, and deal with Russia on Syria -- or risk realignment in the Middle East as the Arab states decide to declare policy without, or at least independent of, Washington.

Given that Washington can't even get a web site up, excuse me if I'm a little concerned that they don't have a unified foreign policy in the Middle East.