In Saudi Arabia, a series of agreements were signed in February between Russian President Putin and Saudi King Abdullah, which are reported to include cooperation in civilian nuclear energy. Apparently Saudi Arabia would like to have other options beside allegiance to Great Britain and the United States. For decades, and back to the 1950s U.S. Atoms for Peace initiative, even oil-rich countries in the Middle East, had recognized that their wealth in the ground was finite and had planned to go nuclear.