Biden’s reversal on Saudis both needed and welcome
Foreign-policy gurus, human rights activists, Democrats and Republicans all warned the White House against its cringeworthy effort to “repair” ties between the United States and Saudi Arabia, the regime responsible for the slaughter of Washington Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
Making the move as gas prices were soaring — but not just because of gas prices, we were told — President Biden ostensibly wanted to keep the Saudis out of Russia’s orbit. However, Biden’s delivering a fist bump to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with no tangible, agreed-upon benefit was a glaring misstep for the administration. Indeed, the decision was so foolish, its champions in the White House should be encouraged to spend more time with their families.
Sure enough, the administration admitted its blunder by reversing course now that the crown prince, or MBS, as he is known, has tried to raise oil prices and has doubled down on his chummy relationship with Moscow. The Washington Post reports: “President Biden is kicking off a process of reevaluating, and potentially altering, the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia following the announcement by a Saudi-led coalition of oil-producing nations that it would slash oil production.”
“This a positive and long overdue development,” Michael Abramowitz, the president of Freedom House, tells me. “The Saudi regime is one of the most repressive in the world, and its efforts to silence and punish domestic dissent have escalated since Mohammed bin Salman came into power.”
Abramowitz adds: “As President Biden has learned, the regime is going out of its way to make clear its disdain for American values and interests. The Saudi regime should free political prisoners, stop its campaign to silence critics abroad and refrain from teaming up with dictators against the interests of the U.S.”
Since the Biden visit, MBS not only cemented his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but has intensified his crackdown on dissent.
“The Saudi Press Agency immediately disseminated choreographed photos of [MBS and Biden] side by side, marking an end to MBS’ isolation and completing his rehabilitation project,” Khalid Aljabri wrote for Just Security in August. “But beyond giving a major reputational boost to MBS, Biden has rendered him more dangerous than ever. Right after Biden’s visit, one of Saudi Arabia’s top diplomats, pressed by the BBC over the Kingdom’s targeting of detractors, affirmed MBS’s repression doctrine: ‘What you may call a dissident, we call a terrorist.’”
Biden’s outreach has failed by any measure. Middle East expert Aaron David Miller’s June prediction proved prophetic: “The truly sad thing about Biden’s trip to Saudi [Arabia] is this — he will have bent a knee; compromised values to a ruthless and reckless authoritarian without getting the relief at the pump Americans crave. MBS has Biden by the barrels. And [the] Saudis will not provide enough of them.” Saudi Arabia’s reputation for both domestic and transnational repression should have made the White House cautious about efforts to rehabilitate MBS.
Members of Congress are now calling for a more complete break with the crown prince, including the cessation of U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia. “Disappointed” (diplomatic-speak for “embarrassed”) by the Saudis’ serial snubs, the administration is now struggling to devise a workable policy which recognizes that the Saudis are not ally material.
What that policy will look like is anyone’s guess. We cannot afford geopolitically or economically to fully break with the Saudis, but at the very least, excessive displays of friendship should cease, and our criticism of human rights abuses should be robust. Moreover, as the administration demonstrated with the welcome announcement of a maritime border deal between Israel and Lebanon, we must look to build stability in the region by other means.
While it may not be realistic “to imagine a foreign policy where we do not count on Saudi Arabia,” as Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) said, we should however strive to imagine one in which we rely substantially less on the Saudis. Moving swiftly toward renewable energy, rallying NATO to ensure Russia’s defeat in Ukraine and pursuing other allies in the region are good places to start.