Quote Originally Posted by Bob's World View Post
IMO American tends to hold grudges against those who best us (Iran, Vietnam, Cuba to name a few) and cling equally to "friends" long after such relationships become either irrelevant or dysfunctional beyond repair (Taiwan, Saudi Arabia in some regards, Israel also in some regards, etc).
We actually get on reasonably well with the Vietnamese; there don't seem to be grudges on either side of the picture. Pragmatism doesn't only go one way: one reason we've put the past aside with Vietnam is that they've put it aside as well.

Are the Saudis "friends", or are they just the world's largest producer, and holders of the the world's only surplus production capacity, of something we need?