davidmc said:
Egypt is the 2nd highest recipient of aid from us last i heard.
You are indeed be correct in saying that Egypt is
currently the second highest recipient of us aid.
However...the us has been providing aid to saudi arabia since 1943,before israel even existed as an independent country.Egypt has been receiving aid from the us since the late 1970's.
Saudia Arabia was a fly-speck in a backwater of the third world before oil was discovered there,and without oil,military assistance and us aid it would have remained so.
What doesn't get considered in the amount of aid to saudi is the cost of maintaining a us military presence in the gulf since 1943,partly to protect us imports of oil,but also to protect saudi exports.What also isn't normally considered as "aid" is the amount of licencing fees,commissions and bribes paid by us companies such as Aramco to the saudi "royal" family.
Much of the "aid" and "assistance" goes to finance the saudi national guard.As saudi arabia has separate armed services for defence of its borders,there can be only one reason for having a national guard almost equal in size and budget and better equipped than the armed services.That is to keep the current regime in power.
Saudi arabia has never needed much in the way of a defence force...the us taxpayer has been footing the bill for them for a long time.What sort of military contribution did saudi make in either of the gulf wars?
A derisory one,considering that their borders were supposedly threatened.How many saudis have died in defence of their oil?Very few,if any.