On his visit to Riyadh, John Kerry, the US secretary of state, will encounter a strategic partner that has become too bewildered by the changing Arab world.
A chorus of important princely Saudi voices have already been heard before the visit, pointing to disappointment amounting to anger over the failure of the United States to act in Syria and promising serious shifts in the Saudi-US partnership. The two Al-Faisal brothers, Saud and Turki, in addition to Bandar bin Sultan, have left no doubt that Saudi Arabia is distressed by recent US policies vis-à-vis Syria and Iran.