 US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice criticised Saudi Arabia's record on democratic reform and the jailing of three activists but was firmly rebuffed on Tuesday by Washington's staunch Middle East ally. "The row is really meaningless," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told a post-midnight news conference after Rice conferred with him and the country's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz. "The assessment that is important for any country in the development of its political reform is the judgment of its own people," Prince Saud said. "And that is, in the final analysis, the criteria that we follow."
| "Pfeh! What does she know?" |
Rice flew into Riyadh on the fourth leg of a regional swing after delivering a major speech in Cairo calling for sweeping democratic change and naming Saudi Arabia as one of the states still lagging. |