At arm’s length
U.S. must not be too cozy with a murderous prince
The U.S.’s need for Saudi Arabia as an ally should undergo some serious reconsideration if it involves respecting Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as the de facto ruler of that country.
Saudi Arabia has long been America’s ironclad ally in protecting Israel, in holding off Russian dominance of the oil-rich Middle East, and now in America’s cold war with Iran. However, things between America’s head of state and Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, whose hands are dripping with the blood of innocent people, cannot be friendly under present conditions.
Crown Prince Salman’s failed prosecution of the war in Yemen has turned it into a man-made disaster of needless suffering and death. It also appears likely that he ordered the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, rendering him an utterly unacceptable personal ally of the United States.
The war in Yemen is an atrocity and the United States has been dragged into complicity with this brutal conflict. The murder of Mr. Khashoggi, a journalist and Saudi dissident who lived in the United States, is an affront without parallel in other countries with which the United States has close diplomatic ties.
The United States has an obligation tohave strong relationships with countries that seek to advance the causes of human rights in their countries, especially when they are struggling against traditional practices and beliefs that conflict with American values.
We make compromises to respect political realities in those countries. But our compromises should be for leaders who share beliefs in basic human rights.
Though Crown Prince Salman has introduced a few high-profile examples of modernization, such as letting women drive, he has mostly governed as a despot, and demonstrated judgment that is an embarrassment to his own country and to the United States.
The United States has no right to tell Saudi Arabia who its leaders must be. It wouldbe counterproductive to interfere in a high-handed and arrogant way.
President Trump has yet to signal definitively that he will maintain relations with MBS, as the crown prince is known. It is to be hoped that whatever alliance the U.S. must maintain with Saudia Arabia is conducted with a minimum of personal contact between the president or the secretary of state with Crown Prince Salman.
President Trump clearly wants to direct his Middle East strategy at bringing down the Islamic revolution of Iran. Whatever that goal is worth, it is not worth doing it hand in hand with Mohammed bin Salman.