Obama Backs Saudi Arabia Despite Riyadh's Human Rights Abuse

MOSCOW, January 27 (Sputnik), Ekaterina Blinova — President Obama, who cut short his trip to India in order to hold talks with the newly enthroned Saudi King, claimed the US should keep on developing its partnership with Riyadh despite the kingdom's poor human rights record.

"Sometimes we have to balance our need to speak to them about human rights issues with immediate concerns that we have in terms of countering terrorism or dealing with regional stability," the US president said in an interview to CNN in India on Tuesday.

Barack Obama emphasized that although Washington is closely collaborating with Riyadh in the field of counter-terrorism, his administration never misses a chance to warn Saudi authorities against human rights abuse.

Surprisingly though, the US president did not answer a direct question from Fareed Zakaria, a CNN host, whether he would raise an issue of a jailed Saudi blogger during a forthcoming meeting with the newly enthroned Saudi King Salman. Saudi blogger Raif Badawi was sentenced to 20 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for his political stance and social activism.

Obama noted that some US allies feel uncomfortable and even frustrated when they come under pressure to carry out democratic reforms.

"And you know, some of them listen and some don't," Obama underscored, referring to Hosni Mubarak, the former president of Egypt and Washington's longstanding ally, who was toppled during Egypt's 2011 revolution.

"But the trend line is one that I will sustain throughout the rest of my presidency and that is to make an argument to those friends and allies of ours that if they want a society that is going to be able to sustain itself in this age, then they're going to have to change how they do business," Obama told CNN.

Saudi's role in the US-led campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria is crucial for Washington. Reuters stresses that US criticism of Riyadh over its human rights abuse "has normally been low-key" and will most likely "remain so."