John Key in Saudi Arabia

It is also hoped he'll have face time with extravagant Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Alsaud - the world's second richest royal, worth a staggering US$21 billion. He owns a string of palaces and an Airbus A380 with its own concert hall.

Key is in the desert city Riyadh to get a free trade deal over the line. It stalled in 2009 over New Zealand's ban on exporting live sheep for slaughter.

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Prime Minister John Key is under fire from his opponents for disclosing Kiwi troops were in Dubai on their way to Iraq after the Defence Force had previously kept a lid on their movements for security reasons.Key has also been slated for telling Dubai media about the troop movements when the Government appeared to have a deliberate policy of keeping its domestic audience in New Zealand in the dark.

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John Key's visit to Saudi Arabia has shown why he is out of his depth in the foreign affairs arena. Key view of foreign affairs is build around securing Free Trade Agreements for New Zealand. This in itself is not a unsound foreign policy objective. Where Key falls down is he disconnect from reality concerning the deteriorating situation in the Middle East.

Once Iranian backed Houthi militia have taken control of Yemen their next target will be Saudi Arabia. The Houthi and any other Iranian backed factions are in a race against Isis to seize the Saudi oil fields. Iranian backed forces will win the race in about 5 years time.

They will win the race because the Iranians are supplying them with arms and training. Republican Guard units virtually serving in the open will be acting as advisors/trainers to Houthi. Isis doesn't enjoy any such backing from rogue regimes like North Korea.

Long term the idea that New Zealand could enjoy increased exporters to Saudi Arabia via a Free Trade Agreement is preposterous. If it would take 5 years to secure the agreement ; by than Iran will be in proxy control of Saudi Arabia.

By 2020 Iran will control large chunks of Iraq , Syria and Yemen and Saudi Arabia as a whole. Saudi Arabia will have been thrown to the Wolves by the international community. The list of Middle East countries being thrown to the wolves consists of Iraq , Yemen, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Why did Key violate operational security by revealing the fact Kiwi troops were in Dubai while transiting to Iraq? Here is what I believe can be taken as the short answer. In the policy departments of foreign policy and defence he his clueless. Key's pointless stop off in Saudi Arabia is a clear sign of this gross failing. National failure to reverse the damage the Labour government did to the NZDF can be taken in the same vain.