I think these bozos need to guess again on this one...

The Saudi's will need Russian coperation to make an oil and economic embargo against Israel work - Russia is an oil supplier. The Russians need the Saudis to stop any supplies from reaching the Chechens.

Saddam "owes" Russia about $8 billion, and Iraq was good customer paying Russia hard currency from oil sales. The Saudis want to see Saddam gone. The Saudis are probably also interested in "modernizing' their forces, whatever the outcome of the current Israeli/Palestinian crisis - their neighbors are Iraq and Iran.

The Saudis will also need Russia's backing in the UN.

ep