The Saudi and Gulf Perspective on President Obama’s Visit (Anthony H. Cordesman, CSIS)

Americans have never been particularly good at seeing the world from the viewpoint of other countries. Perhaps it is the production of distance and two oceans, or never having had modern war on U.S. soil, but it seems exceptionally hard for Americans to realize that even friends and allies can have different strategic perspectives, different priorities, and values that differ strikingly from those of a Western secular democracy.

http://csis.org/publication/saudi-and-gulf-perspective-president-obamas-visit