From the Washington Post.
Clinton gets royal treatment at Saudi king's retreat
By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 15, 2010; 1:03 PM
RAWDAT KHURAIM, SAUDI ARABIA There's nothing like having tea served by men with guns dangling on their shoulders.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday got the royal treatment, literally, when King Abdullah invited her and her entourage to visit him at his winter retreat here, about an hour's drive north of Riyadh, the capital. Few visitors are invited to the king's desert sanctuary, and reporters are almost never permitted. But the king not only allowed the media to venture inside his soaring black tent, but personally greeted each hack.
The royal surroundings -- the result of the House of Saud's autocratic control of the country's oil wealth -- are both spectacular and surprisingly banal.
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And this from the New York Times.
February 15, 2010
A Royal Feast for Clinton in Saudi Arabia
By MARK LANDLER
RAWDAT KHURAYIM, Saudi Arabia — The king of Saudi Arabia had Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton over for a friendly lunch Monday here at his desert camp, northeast of Riyadh. In a gesture of informality, King Abdullah reached for his remote control and switched on a giant flat-screen TV as soon as they sat down to eat at the vast horseshoe-shaped table.
With sports scores and highlights from a soccer match blaring from the screen, the king and Mrs. Clinton chatted over a buffet of lamb, rice, hummus and other dishes. At times, they lapsed into silence and stared at the TV, which, as if on cue, covered Mrs. Clinton’s visit to Saudi Arabia.
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