Interesting WaPo article on how President Bush relates personally to other world leaders. In the end, though - unsurprisingly - personal relationships only go so far; Bush has apparently hit it off much more with Vicente Fox than with Ariel Sharon, but it's Sharon he's worked with more lately because that's where US interests are. While I have a pretty low opinion of the Saudis and their unctuous spokesman Adel al-Jubeir, he at least has been open about the fundamental basis of U.S.-Saudi relations:

"The relationship between Saudi Arabia and the United States is not based on personalities. It's based on interests," said Adel Jubeir, foreign affairs adviser to Crown Prince Abdullah, the kingdom's de facto ruler. "I don't think it's ever been as strong as it is now."