The erratic behavior of Saudi Arabia in recent weeks raises questions for the US and for the international community.

Riyadh's diplomatic offensive against US policy toward Syria and its rejection of a significant UN role would seem counterproductive.

Riyadh has been less than discreet about its feelings toward the US in recent weeks.  In front of the entire world at the UN, the Saudis blamed the US as well as other major powers on the UN Security Council for not going to war with Syria.

Such bizarre outbursts raise questions about the Saudi regime and the state of the internal politics among members of its royal family, observers say.

Saudi Arabia's image was not helped in Washington when a leading member of the royal family made in public a vitriolic personal attack on General Martin E. Dempsey, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, for being opposed to war against Syria.

Americans have rejected the regime change war of Saudi Arabia and its British and French allies. Congress got the message and the White House got the message.

The pro-Israel lobby in the US is another matter, however. The strategic concept of an alignment of the US, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf States with Israel to oppose Iran was promoted in the Bush Administration by then vice president Dick Cheney. This is still a popular concept with the pro-Israel Lobby and its neoconservatives.

This explains the massive efforts, both in private and in public, to undermine US constructive engagement with Iran.

There is clearly a positive new trend in Iran and US interests clearly are to explore the potential for a rapprochement which would lead to cooperation on issues important to the bilateral relationship as well as to the international community.

In the Middle East, rivalry between Cairo, Damascus, and Baghdad is traditional. Since WWII, however, Saudi oil wealth has enabled it to promote its own regional schemes for power and influence.

Riyadh is understandably the most prominent backer of the regime change war in Syria.  Saudi Arabia's regional strategy would be greatly advanced by the downfall of secular government in Syria and by the eventual domination of Syria by fundamentalists linked to the Saudi monarchy.

This policy aims at confronting Iran and countering its regional influence and at the same time aims at the aggrandizement of the Saudi regime.

Saudi power has always stemmed from its massive oil reserves, giving it a crucial part in the Cold War. But oil is tied up with religious factionalism. The bulk of Saudi Arabian oil production is in its Eastern Province.

This area has been traditionally distinct from the Saudi Sunni religious majority as the Shia population dominates this key area.

The Shia community in next door Bahrain is the majority community there, but is ruled by a Sunni regime linked to the Saudi monarchy.

All is not well along the Saudi southern border with Yemen.

The population in this region is increasingly restive. In fact, most of the September 11 terrorists came from this area of Saudi Arabia and it is under a virtual lockdown status.

Washington must reject Saudi Arabia's schemes and develop a policy to promote peace and stability in the Middle East.

Clifford Kiracofe, an educator and former senior professional staff member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations