Big Oil. Big Bank. Big War. Big Drugs.  Those are the powers that be in the world and it has been this way for a long time.  USA and SA could be called allies but really they are just two entities tied at the hip through the petrodollar.  After WW2 the international monetary system was based upon Bretton Woods agreement.  Nixon blasted the gold based dollar and effectively ended BW.  The Sauds got pissed and held back their oil.  The US came up with a deal with them to buy their oil and guarentee protection to the kingdom and their part was to have them sell their oil only in dollars.  The rest of the world had to fall in line or get left behind.  That system has passed. Now SA holds trillions of dollars many other players are trying to wash their hands of US dollars.  It wouldn't surprise me if the neocons and CIA company made a conspiratorial type of deal concerning 911 so they could began trying to establish a permanent presence in Iraq and places like that aka protecting the royal house of Saud.  The axis of evil and all of that.  

So there you go TS...no we aren't friends...and our leaders and other allies are not 'our' friends either.  They are protecting their interests.  The problem is they are finally losing their grasp on all of it.

JFK was a coup de etat.  Big Oil, Big Bank, Big MIC, and Big Drugs.  They are the buggers who took over the driver's seat way back in 63.  They are finally about to crash...hopefully Pappy will live to see the BS he is responsible for and I think he does indeed see it.  The USA and the rest of the world we have known for so long is in a huge transition right now and I am not so sure the results will be to your average Americans liking.  It will be interesting to see how all the patriotism sh!t plays out then.  It doesn't look very good from where I sit.