1/7/2024 0 Comments Guess middle east countries![]() ![]() “Needless to say, it’s unusual for a president to issue a preemptive defense of a foreign trip,” tweeted Gregg Carlstrom, The Economist’s Middle East correspondent.įarouk points out that from the start of the Biden administration, they installed government officials who prioritized stable relationships with Saudi Arabia. entry bans targeting those found to be harassing dissidents.įor many, the op-ed underscored how controversial Biden’s trip has become. intelligence report on his killing, new sanctions on a unit of Saudi Arabia’s royal guard that reports to MBS, and 76 U.S. Biden emphasized the importance of global trade, supply chains, and stabilizing oil markets as well as highlighting steps the U.S. “From the start, my aim was to reorient-but not rupture-relations with a country that’s been a strategic partner for 80 years,” he wrote. He penned a Washington Post op-ed last week laying out his reasons for visiting Saudi Arabia. “He’s doing what all American leaders have done, which is continuing to advance the imperial interests of the United States, which is American hegemony,” she says.īiden is aware of the criticism around his trip. ![]() “I do not see a way where Biden is traveling now on this trip, where Saudi Arabia is going to be identified as a pariah state,” says Noura Erakat, a Palestinian American activist and human rights attorney.Įrakat tells TIME that in many ways Biden is continuing his predecessor Donald Trump’s Middle East policies. Read more: The World Has a Russian Oil Problem. Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s largest oil producers and has spare production capacity. “That was a campaign choice that perhaps made sense for them in trying to distinguish themselves from the Trump administration, which they accused of coddling dictators.”īut now, Biden is hoping Saudi Arabia will mitigate soaring energy costs sparked by the war in Ukraine by bringing more oil onto the global market. program director at International Crisis Group. “They raised expectations because of some of their very harsh talk and rhetoric about… Muhammad Bin Salman,” says Michael Hanna, U.S. They argue that while it made sense for him to embrace an anti-authoritarian agenda to help get elected, Biden’s choices since becoming president have become more complicated-particularly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine upended oil markets and contributed to ballooning inflation. Regional experts have pointed out that the visit reflects a recalibration in U.S.-Saudi relations since Biden’s critical remarks against the kingdom. They’ll be part of a much larger meeting.” “I guess I will see the King and the Crown Prince, but that’s-that’s not the meeting I’m going to. Major human rights groups have criticized Biden’s decision to visit Saudi Arabia, citing fears in a June 9 letter that it could encourage “further violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.” Biden has maintained that the purpose of his trip is not to meet MBS. The administration is also keen to maintain close ties to Israel as the country boosts cooperation with the Arab Gulf, and as talks over reinstating the Iran nuclear deal falter. response to Abu Akleh and Khashoggi’s killings at a time when a key concern is the high price of oil and gas, something Riyadh as a major oil producer can influence. ![]() This week’s trip will be Biden’s first visit to the Middle East as President his last official journey there was in 2016, while he was Vice President, and visited the United Arab Emirates, Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan. ![]() Major, recent examples are Washington’s ties to Israel and Saudi Arabia despite the killing of two journalists-Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh in May and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. is especially willing to cozy up to countries with spotty rights records. President Joe Biden travels to Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the Palestinian territories starting Wednesday, and the trip highlights an inconvenient truth for Washington-that when it comes to the Middle East, the U.S. ![]()
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