Some in the Arab world are having a chuckle on social media, saying that new Saudi King Salman just spurned U.S. President Obama during his recent visit to the Arabian kingdom.
They point to the video clip below. In it, Obama and first lady Michelle are standing by the king as the U.S. president shakes hands with various people.
Then a Saudi man approaches them and Obama raises hands to shake, but the man completely ignores him, addressing the king. Obama quickly brings his arm down.
The king says a word to Obama and immediately turns his back and takes his leave, followed by his entire entourage — leaving Obama and Michele just standing there and looking on before Obama turns to a nearby American or European diplomat and strikes up a conversation.
Let the viewer decide if this is a snub. Based on Obama’s deep bow to the previous Saudi king in 2009, could this abrupt leave be indicative of the Arabian kingdom’s belief that treating the American president with disregard — if not disdain — is acceptable for his majesty?
I’d like to believe he was deliberately snubbed. The snubber gets snubbed – haha. He certainly deserves it – especially from a low life saudi kingdreck.
I would love to have been able to see the expressions on our POS-in-chief and Michelle’s faces. That would have been priceless.
Obama did not notice or appreciate the significance of the king’s action; Obama is too narcissistic and egoistic.
No, it’s because the new king is a hardcore Islamist who wants to realign with Erdogan, Qatar, and the Muslim Brotherhood, and he doesn’t like the fact that Obama refused to bomb Assad, a wise decision. Also, he was angered that Michelle didn’t wear the hijab, a bold move for which she deserves praise.
Obama is not a narcissist. I’m a Democrat and I won’t call the Bushes or Reagan narcissists either. The last real narcissistic president we had was Nixon, though Clinton is clearly quite vain and self-absorbed. I guarantee you that he noticed the snub and did not take kindly to it. Unfortunately, he is somewhat beholden to him because he’s currently keeping gas prices down, and Obama can’t afford to alienate him. Neither Obama, nor any US president, would ever dare openly criticize the Saudis, no matter what and you know it. If you truly are a Christian, then you can disagree with somebody without being mean, personal, and insulting.
Poor Barry, can’t take a trick with either Netanyahu or the Saudis.
Unwelcome and unhappy wherever he goes . Poor mr Presidunce .
Validate your 2nd Amendment Rights . Carry
Is this muslim funeral music?
No, I believe they have selected a few toddlers to blow horns for the occasion.
Arabs are not fond of Africans, regarding them as lesser beings.
And observant and extreme muslims like Wahhabis avoid touching kuffars. Also he would not wish to be seen approaching an uncovered woman.
Mr intonsus, your message is absolutely based on assumptions and illusions.first of all, cristain, jews, and bhuddist are not considered as kuffars in our sect they are people of other religions so plz dont put false blame on our religions.by the way, kuffars are those who do bad deeds like killing innocent people violently.I’m a wahhabi and in my sect there is no such things like we avoid touching people of other religions.but yes we like women to cover their hairs, not face.And let me clarify that king has first inform obama that he is about to leave for while with all respect.but media is totally misrepresenting the whole story.
Thankyou for your response; I agree with you, by the way that there seems to have been a great deal of uninformed comment on that video and misunderstanding of the manners of a different culture, and probably downright misrepresentation.
My comments were based on discussions I have had with Arabs, both moslem and christian, and if I misunderstood or misrepresented them, or made unwarranted assumptions, I apologise. However, few of them seemed to me to be as reasonable as you.
The meaning of ‘kuffar’ appears to be broad, but certainly it is in Britain commonly applied to all non-Moslems, and shouted at, with or without additional unpleasant adjectives, all passing English people, especially unveiled women, should they pass down certain streets in many of our cities.
So many of us saw the situation for what it was/is, from Day 1. Obama is a joke world-wide, not just in the Arab world. “Shukran” for snubbing him. He deserves the snub and so much more.
It looks like they are standing together in the receiving line. A flunkie comes to inform the king that it is time to leave the receiving line and Obama momentarily mistakes the flunkie for someone important whose hand he should shake. The flunkie talks to the king for a second and Obama ignores him on realizing his flunkiehood. The king then cordially takes his leave. As far as I can tell there is no snub and everyone acted politely and correctly. Obama is still an imbecile but I don’t see that here. I am still hoping for gum chewing, selfies or feet on the furniture however. Also note that his wife and by the looks of it some other women there are not covering their heads which is a big deal and a good thing.
I agree. In fact Obama is listening to the flunkie and the flunkie is looking at both Obama and the King. There was no snub.
I don’t think it’s a snub. It seems like the king is polite and the ceremony draws to an end. Obama stays a few more minutes to speak with a guy, possibly conational. We shouldn’t draw quick conclusions, especially that we don’t know the etiquette at these unusual ceremonies.
Furthermore, the US and Saudi Arabia are, in this historical context, strategic allies to eachother, so such insults could bring unwanted diplomatic and political effects. That is, the Saudi Arabs would not bring such gratuitious insults, even if their religion teaches them to disrespect the Non-Muslims. I think that even Mohammed allowed them to break the usual rules when problems of higher politics are at stake or when their leaders would meat foreign heads of state.
Lousy out of tune muslim band
Hashtag Diplomacy. The First Witch challenges with bare hair. The King counters with a snub at prayer time (like hell he couldn’t have waited) Yup! It’s the “War of the Idiots”. They really deserve each other. Get John Kerry and James Taylor in there while Obama bows deeply to the King, again, and somebody runs up from behind and kicks him in the Butt. “You just bow and I’ll come a runnin’” Haaaa! Obama winds up in the King’s crotch. The Homosexual Liberation Front plasters the photo all over. Mass Muslim riots break out (ya know they feel about that sort of thing,,,in public, anyway) “The photo of the King must never be displayed!” And then, WW3 breaks out. BUT, nobody can possibly take it seriously, anymore! “Mr. President! I’m confused. Are we bombing the religion of peace or the war on terror?” ‘You’re bombing the war, General! Now, Hup! Hup! Hup!” “I’m sorry, Mr. President, but that would entail destruction of U.S. government property.” “I thought we signed all that stuff over to Al Qaeda?” ‘No, Mr. President. They didn’t like the paint job.” Charlie Chaplin, Eat You Heart Out! All this before Jessica Rabbit spills the beans on Charlie Hebdo’s Plot in Too Town. No, let’s just have a civil war, instead. We really need to get this taken care of and we don’t have time for the government, anymore.
The First Lady did not cover her head. I wish she had done so out of respect to the Saudi Monarch and this Muslim kingdom. But it is no surprise as here lies the difference between sophisticated Brits and Yankees.