U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry recently traveled to Riyadh to reassure the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states that the U.S. stood with them. "Nothing has changed" as a result of the nuclear pact with Iran, he insisted.
Washington's long relationship with Riyadh was built on oil. There never was any nonsense about sharing values with Saudi Arabia, which operates as a slightly more civilized variant of the Islamic State group.
The royals run a totalitarian system that prohibits political dissent, free speech, religious liberty and social autonomy. The State Department has devoted an astonishing 57 pages detailing the Saudi monarchy's human rights abuses.