(CNN) President Joe Biden has put himself through an extreme test of statesman and political dexterity, not to mention the core tenets of his own foreign policy, with a trip to Saudi Arabia that is provoking in-depth research into the United States’ ties with a vital but brutal Middle Eastern ally.
Biden arrives on Friday balancing national interests and US values. His desire for his guests to pump more oil to ease gas prices and inflation in the United States clashes with his previous condemnation of the ruthless rule of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
If the president leaves without securing a significant injection of crude oil into the global market, he risks more political damage at home, where Americans are taking their frustrations over high gas prices on him. But if he succeeds, it will further anger human rights defenders who accuse him of abandoning US principles for short-term political gain. Either way, Biden must find a way to justify his openness to the Crown Prince, the de facto irregular and repressive leader of Saudi Arabia who has been accused by US intelligence of ordering the murder and dismemberment of the columnist. of the Washington Post Jamal Khashoggi, resident of the United States and Saudi dissident.
After all, Biden put the promotion of democracy at the heart of his foreign policy agenda, while bin Salman presided over the execution of political prisoners, launched a ruthless war in Yemen, which killed thousands of civilians and was accused of holding Lebanese prime minister minister in another regional power game.
“The reason I’m going to Saudi Arabia … is to promote the interest of the United States … in a way that I think we have the opportunity to reaffirm what I think we made a mistake in walking away from: the our influence in the Middle East, “Biden said Thursday.
The president will apparently travel to Saudi Arabia to attend a regional conference including with leaders from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Iraq and Jordan. He is trying to cement recent progress in a rapprochement between some of these nations and Israel where he has spent the last few days. He is also keen to build support for his push to use diplomacy to revive a 2015 nuclear deal before Tehran enriches enough uranium for a nuclear bomb – a diplomatic process about which both Israelis and Saudis are skeptical.
And Biden has a keen interest in reasserting American leadership as his big-power rivals Russia and China seek new forays into the region. So the president’s claim that it is now in the interest of the United States to re-engage with Saudi Arabia after Khashoggi’s killing in 2018 of severely strained relations has merit, even if it is taking heat from his party’s progressives. for doing it.
Balancing act
With his visit, the president, who has promised to make the Saudis a “pariah” in the electoral campaign in 2020, is experiencing a ritual common to the commanders-in-chief who sometimes have to dilute their political interests for a broader strategic goal.
“How can we balance our interests in the free flow of reasonably priced oil with our values,” former US Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk asked this week in “Amanpour” on CNN International, summing up Biden’s dilemma. Read also : President Biden nominates Dr Arati Prabhakar to head the Office of Science and Technology Policy.
“Somehow, the president has to walk the line. We need the Saudis to increase oil production to bring the price down because that is having a terrible impact on inflation. On the other hand, we need to take a clear stand against the way. (Mohammed bin Salman) treats some of his people a few times. “
The unfortunate aspect of this trip is that there is no way for Biden to achieve his goals without elevating bin Salman, who is the dominant figure in the Saudi royal family and will use a visit from an American president to rehabilitate himself globally and to send a message to other states ruled by strongmen that there is no long-term price for acting in a way that offends American values. It may, therefore, not feel particularly obligated to offer wide-ranging concessions.
The White House first confirmed late Thursday evening that Biden will meet the Crown Prince without King Salman, who will depart after about 30 minutes of bilateral meetings, expected due to his health condition. The administration’s shifting positions on whether and how Biden would interact with the crown prince in recent weeks seemed to spark even more controversy over the visit. In retrospect, an earlier announcement and a strong statement about what the president would do and finger could have eased some of the political pressure.
However, Biden argued in a recent Washington Post op-ed that the broader aspiration to use his trip to promote regional stability was important as it could have prevented the conflicts that led to US troops fighting and dying in the Middle East for decades. Biden – whose worldview was shaped by his own experiences and that of his late son Beau, who served in Iraq – has placed the avoidance of new foreign wars at the center of his presidency. This is also one of the reasons why it has pledged to try to revive the nuclear deal with Iran, which could avert a fatal decision on using military force to prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Why does the US have an alliance with the Saudis?
Why does the US have an alliance with the Saudis?
The question of the balance between US principles and national interests was bound to resurface for Biden sooner or later in relation to the Saudis because it has been a constant theme of US relations with the kingdom for over half a century. Saudi Arabia, for example, has long been a key strategic ally of the United States, but its tolerance of radical Wahhabi Islam has provided a source of extremism where terrorism grew and ultimately led to events like the attacks of 11 September 2001.
That is why some foreign policy observers have questioned whether a complete rethinking of the marriage of convenience between Washington and Riyadh and the idea that the two powers indeed have common interests is necessary. This was not a concern during Donald Trump’s transactional presidency, who openly explained that he was not severing ties over Khashoggi’s murder, because the Saudis had purchased many American-made weapons. This may interest you : Roper publishes editorial on science, public health and politics | Newsroom. But aside from that interregnum due to long-term certainties about US foreign policy, presidents have long struggled with the right balance of US-Saudi relations. But they have always been lured back into the kingdom due to the vital importance of the free flow of oil to the US economy, standard of living, and one’s own political survival.
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut told CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer” Thursday that the question of whether Biden would shake bin Salman’s hand was irrelevant. Instead, the Saudis must show a commitment to change their human rights behavior and demonstrate their loyalty to Washington, he said.
“The question for me, (is) why did it take an emergency visit from the president of the United States to get the Saudis to choose their ally, the United States?” Murphy asked.
“I thought the central point of the US decision, across multiple administrations, to look the other way when the Saudis tore apart political opponents, when they bombed civilians inside Yemen, when they executed political prisoners. , even if when the chips were down, we wouldn’t have to make an emergency visit for the Saudis to choose the United States. “
Why does Biden meet the oppressor and not the oppressed?
Why is Biden meeting the oppressor and not the oppressed?
The trip comes at a time of political peril for Biden, with its ratings falling as inflation skyrockets and after a period of record gasoline prices, which have moderated slightly in recent days. From a purely political perspective, the sight of a president engaging with oil-producing nations to lower prices in the United States may be pleasing to some voters. To see also : Saudi Arabia is leaving the United States. But if his visit doesn’t translate into significant increases in production from the Gulf states, or if the move fails to ease gas prices that helped drive inflation to a more than 40-year high of 9.1%. last month, the president will face claims of abusing the prestige of the presidency and destroying its human rights principles to no avail.
And a concern for the administration is that there is no guarantee that more oil on the market will lower gas prices – driven to run higher by the war in Ukraine – permanently. This is because one of the industry’s problems has been the shortage of refining capacity coming out of the pandemic, a situation that a sudden flood of crude oil could actually exacerbate.
A trip to the region that doesn’t yield clear victories for the President could increase the perception of a presidency losing direction, even as Biden’s foreign policy, particularly his relaunch of the Western Cold War Coalition of Nations to deal with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, had a great success.
Khashoggi’s brutal murder has become a metaphor for broader US concerns about human rights in Saudi Arabia, which include the fate of political prisoners, summary executions, treatment of women and contempt for civilian life in Yemen.
The president appeared cranky at a press conference in Israel Thursday when asked if he would raise the Washington Post reporter’s case when he was with bin Salman.
“I always raise human rights. I always raise human rights, but my position on Khashoggi has been so clear. If someone doesn’t understand that in Saudi Arabia or elsewhere, then they haven’t been around in a while,” Biden said.
Lina al-Hathloul, a Saudi democracy activist, told CNN’s Jake Tapper Thursday that it would be a “betrayal” if Biden didn’t raise US concerns about Saudi Arabia’s human rights situation. Human rights organizations have invited Biden to meet with political dissidents while in Saudi Arabia, a step taken by some past presidents when doing business with totalitarian regimes. So far there has been no announcement by the White House of such contacts
“Why does he meet the oppressor and not meet the oppressed?” she asked.
