King Salman, right, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a visit to the kingdom in 2017, via Reuters.
Spiegel Online: Reception Grows Frosty for German Firms in Saudi Arabia
Detlef Daues is a pioneer of the German small- and medium-sized companies that have made Germany what it is today: a prosperous nation with good international relations that stretch to even the farthest-flung corners of the world.
His Hannover-based virtual department store for original replacement parts, V-Line GmbH, services customers in countries like Mexico, the United States, Qatar and Oman in addition to others in East Asia. But 65 percent of Daues' revenues come from Saudi Arabia.
But currently, the once-positive relationship between Saudi Arabia and Germany has worsened. Six months ago, Riyadh withdrew its ambassador from Germany and he still hasn't returned. There has been little open discussion of the reasons behind the conflict, but for people like Daues in the business community, the rift is as plain as day. "For Germans, the doors in Riyadh have suddenly been closed," says one experienced businessman in the Saudi capital. Meetings with delegations from Germany that were set up before the crisis are being canceled. "That hurts," says Oliver Oehms of the German-Saudi Arabian Liaison Office for Economic Affairs in Riyadh.
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Update: Saudis Halt Orders From German Companies; Crown Prince "Deeply Offended" (Zero Hedge)
WNU Editor: German - Saudi trade is in the billions of dollars. But given the choice Germany has decided to side with Iran .... even openly condemning Saudi Arabia for spreading "political adventurism" in the Middle East. Is this smart diplomacy/politics/and strategy from German Chancellor Merkel's government .... definitely not. For the past year the media focus has been on Trump and the EU's opposition over his promise to walk away from the Iran deal .... but missing in this debate was/is the elephant in the room .... Saudi Arabia and its allies. The EU has forgotten that this group has enormous leverage because of the billions in trade that they are doing with the EU right now .... and they are starting to use it now because they see a national security threat from Iran. This is what supporters for preserving the nuclear deal are missing. They are going out their to say that there is no alternative to the deal .... but in their defense of the deal they are ignoring the views of other countries in the region .... especially those who are now at war with either Iran or its proxies (or both). The hope of the Obama administration when they agreed to the nuclear deal was that this would usher in a more stable Middle East with a less radical Iran. Unfortunately .... the lifting of sanctions and the infusion of billions of dollars to Iran has only given them the resources and the confidence to interfere in almost every nation in the Middle East. Iran may not have the bomb .... but their strategic goals and what they want to accomplish in the Middle East will cause destruction akin to the use of nuclear weapons. Case in point .... the persistent vow from Iran to completely exterminate the state of Israel is just one of many examples on why the current strategy of placating Iran and this nuclear deal is not going to work. Unfortunately .... placating Iran is what many governments and supporters of the nuclear deal want.
