We are in for some interesting times ahead
Lol, that's putting it mildly.
Oh well, it was a fun ride while it lasted I suppose. No chance of the Australian lapdogs joining, our wagon is firmly hooked to the US/British Empire. You have to be invited to join, so I can't see Japan ever getting in either. No one trusts them. They went to Saudi Arabia a few months back, hat in hand to arrange for more oil. But they didn't know how to talk to the arabs and the arabs told them to piss off, in a diplomatic way. It's a funny old world hey
June
2019Saudi Arabia began courting Toyota two years ago to build a large car plant as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s grand plan to wean the kingdom off oil revenues and create jobs for young Saudis. But the Japanese carmaker has rebuffed Riyadh’s overtures following talks that dragged on without tangible results because high labor costs.
November
2022A business forum of Japanese and Saudi government and business leaders set to take place in Tokyo next Monday has been called off after the Saudi delegation cancelled its trip... A separate Saudi-Japan reception hosted by Arab News planned for Sunday was also cancelled, JETRO said.
July
2023Japan is making preparations for a meeting of foreign ministers from Japan and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states in Saudi Arabia in early September... Japan aims to strengthen ties with oil-producing countries to ensure a stable energy supply from the Middle East, where the influence of the United States is declining while China’s influence is rising
Now going WAY back in time
July
2001Fresh Japanese attempts to restart negotiations for renewal of an oil-drilling concession in Saudi Arabia’s Alkhafji area to
Japan’s Arabian Oil Company have failed, high-level government sources said yesterday... Saudi-Japanese negotiations to renew AOC’s concession in the Neutral Zone between the Kingdom and Kuwait failed in February last year when Tokyo rejected conditions set by the Kingdom. “The Japanese side tried again to convince Saudi officials to continue talks on the license issue. But the committee categorically refused,” the sources said.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/214208They should have sucked it up and played ball.