The amazing Saudis, by Noah Millman.

How do the Saudis do it?

The “it” is managing to get successive American administrations to offer ever-greater support even as the political context that once justified that support changes beyond recognition.

The Saudi-American relationship began in the 1930s over oil (and competition with the British, who had first recognized the Saudi monarchy), and strengthened in the latter half of the Cold War as part of the American effort to contain Soviet influence. But between 1989 and 1991, the Cold War ended and the Soviet Union ceased to exist. Yet the ties between America and Saudi Arabia only grew deeper and more complicated in the decades since.

The first major American war of the post-Cold War period was to defend Saudi Arabia from Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and to liberate Kuwait after the Iraqi invasion. …

On September 11, 2001, America experienced blowback in the most horrific manner imaginable. The overwhelming majority of the hijackers were Saudi nationals and, prior to the attacks, anti-American sentiment in the kingdom had reached such extraordinary levels that the Saudis themselves articulated the case for distance from America. …

So which country did President Trump visit first on his maiden voyage abroad? …

It’s almost like they have a magic orb.

hat-tip Stephen Neil