Anyone know the purpose of Saud Al Faisal's upcoming Washington (off-schedule) visit? Give a hollar. Update: A contact writes " ...Saud Al Faisal was probably in DC for all of the reasons speculated....[to] discuss Lebanon, Iran, Palestine, etc. but I've also read that we are asking/insisting? on oil profits being reinjected back into our economy pronto. The recession, you see. Only Allah knows."

More from Kommersant, via MoonofA:

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin met with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal yesterday, February 14, 2008. In Riyadh, they are strongly concerned about the large-scale cooperation of Russia and Iran, particularly the nuclear one.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal stayed in Moscow only for a few hours yesterday, and the meeting with President Vladimir Putin took most of his visit. The prince delivered to Putin a personal letter of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, who initiated negotiations.

The sources say the letter describes Riyadh’s evaluation of the Middle East situation. But Saud Al-Faisal evidently passed the most vital message by word of mouth. In Saudi Arabia, they are sure that Iran’s policy will shatter the region in future and the helping hand of Moscow is needed to prevent it.

Riyadh elaborated a plan to save the region from the so-called Iranian threat, where it is to play the key role in tandem with Moscow. So, the Saudi guest endeavored to persuade the Kremlin that stronger Iran would disbalance the Middle East. In return to winding up Russia’s-Iranian contracts, Riyadh promised to buy Russia’s weapons at large, replacing Iran as its partner in military and technical field.

An American contact knowledgeable about Saudi thinking suggests the visit is also almost certainly about the White House asking Riyadh for help repatriating the petrodollars the US is sending there, averting recession and propping up the dollar. "All this money gone over there, the recession: the major reason Bush went over [last month], whatever else was being discussed, is 'get this money back to us. Whatever you do, don't change it to the Euro,'" he explains.

Posted by Laura at February 16, 2008 08:51 PM