Human rights left lagging as America comes first
Khashoggi case highlights Trump’s policy priorities
If it’s an “America First” presidency, where does that rank human rights for the United States? President Donald Trump’s refusal to put public pressure on Saudi Arabia over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi is raising a question that has dogged his foreign policy. In dealing with Russia, across Asia and, this week, in the Mideast, Trump has often appeared comfortable downplaying concerns about rights abuses and dismissing the importance of US moral leadership. The onetime real estate mogul is as likely to let US financial or security interests guide his choices and his words.
In an Associated Press interview on Wednesday, Trump repeated the Saudi royals’ denials of any involvement in Khashoggi’s apparent killing and suggested he trusted them.
“I spoke to the crown prince, so you have that. He said he and his father knew nothing about it. And that was very important,” Trump said. He compared blame directed at the Saudis over Khashoggi, who Turkish officials have said was killed in the Saudis’ Istanbul consulate, to the allegations of sexual assault levelled against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing. Both, he suggested, had been considered “guilty until proven innocent”.
Not many US leaders would cast Saudi Arabia as innocent. Saudi Arabia is engaged in a bloody civil war in Yemen that has killed thousands of civilians and exacerbated a famine that has killed many more. Domestically, the absolute monarchy strictly regulates speech and dress, and its security services have been accused of torture.
Trump has shown no interest in calling out the kingdom over Khashoggi — or calling out Russian President Vladimir Putin on assassinations or North Korea’s Kim Jong Un on political prisoners. Instead, he openly embraces the compromises he justifies as best for the American bottom line.
“We’re not going to walk away from Saudi Arabia. I don’t want to do that,” he told Fox Business News yesterday.
Trump made clear that he was prioritising the nation’s economy, not morality.
“I don’t like stopping massive amounts of money that is being poured into our country,” Trump said last week. “I know they are talking about different kinds of sanctions, but [the Saudis] are spending US$110 billion [$152.5b] on military equipment and on things that create jobs for this country. I don’t like the concept of stopping an investment of US$110 billion into the United States.” White House aides have suggested that while Trump is reluctant to criticise certain world leaders publicly, he has been willing to deliver tough messages behind closed doors. They have pointed to his discipline with Kim and Egypt’s Abdelfattah al-Sisi, two authoritarian leaders who eventually released Americans held in their custody.
Still, Trump’s transactional approach isn’t sitting well with some of his Republican allies in Congress. His party for years championed the idea that the US had a duty to promote US values and human rights and even to intervene when they are challenged. Some Republicans have urged Trump not to abandon that view.
Trump dismisses the notion that he buddies up to dictators, but he does not express a sense that US leadership extends beyond the US border. In an interview with 60 Minutes that aired on Monday, he brushed aside his own assessment that Putin was “probably” involved in assassinations and poisonings.
“But I rely on them,” he said. “It’s not in our country.”
Relations between the US and Saudi Arabia are complex. The two nations are entwined on energy, military, economic and intelligence issues. The Trump Administration has aggressively courted the Saudis for support of its Middle East agenda to counter Iranian influence, fight extremism and try to forge peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
One key for the US Administration has been the bond between two young princes. Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman are frequently in contact, and their relationship played a role in Riyadh being the unlikely first stop on the new American President’s maiden international trip in 2017.
Trump, despite endorsing a travel ban on many Muslim-majority countries, became the first US President to make his official first trip to an Islamic nation.
The over-the-top greeting Trump received in Riyadh — complete with sword dances, palaces and images of him on the sides of buildings — set the template for how he would be received on future foreign trips.
“If you look at Saudi Arabia, they’re an ally, and they’re a tremendous purchaser of, not only military equipment, but other things,” Trump said yesterday. “When I went there, they committed to purchase US$450b worth of things and US$110b worth of military. Those are the biggest orders in the history of this country, probably the history of the world.”