Biden’s America and MBS’s Saudi Arabia: Is Diplomacy Attainable?

US President Biden’s earlier condemnation of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and Saudi Arabia, following the beheading of Washington Publish columnist Jamal Khashoggi, resonated globally, along with his denigration of the nation as a “pariah.” Biden added, “there was little or no redeeming social worth within the current authorities of Saudi Arabia.” 

Then-presidential candidate Biden’s remark undermined the close to century-long relationship of deeply interwoven nationwide pursuits between America and Saudi Arabia. This has ramifications that embrace the historical past of the mass homicide on 9/11 and the slaughter of Khashoggi, who had at one time been editor of the Saudi newspaper, Al Watan, in addition to being longtime advisor to Saudi Intelligence chief Prince Turki Al-Faisal.

Neither an American President nor a Saudi Prince can escape these harsh realities.

Saudi Arabia’s confirmed oil reserves run deep, as it’s residence to the world’s largest oil area, and the nation clearly holds primacy within the oil and fuel basin. With 298 billion barrels of confirmed oil reserves, in response to 2019 estimates, solely Venezuela edges forward of Saudi Arabia at 302 billion barrels.

US reserves stand at 69 billion barrels, within the high 10 nations worldwide, however as essentially the most prolific shopper at nearly 17.2 million barrels per day, or 20% of the world’s provide, as revealed by US Power Data information, US provides might diminish earlier than these of Saudi Arabia.

It is a key issue within the US-led drive to pursue renewable power that may maybe liberate the USA from dependence on hydrocarbons, exacerbated by the excessive price of gasoline. Exorbitant costs on the pump are influenced by the pandemic, the battle in Ukraine and the pattern of worth volatility since April 2020.

Balancing Biden’s diplomatic rhetoric

As a substitute of a sweeping rebuke, maybe an acknowledgement of the heinous crime with out the excoriation of the US’ most precious ally within the Muslim-majority world, would have been extra astute. It is a area the place reminiscences are measured by the reigns of monarchs and time dates again to the Hijra, the Prophet Mohammed’s divinely ordained decampment from Mecca, within the yr 622 of the fashionable period.

Center East’s rulers and officers will hint Biden’s legacy again to President Barack Obama’s insurance policies, which additional divided a Muslim world already wrenched aside by the worldwide battle on terror. Obama’s presidency on this area is outlined for a lot of by a US stance that empowered Islamists over Muslims and favored cultivating the mothership of Islamism, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, below former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. 

Many within the area additionally say the period additionally empowered the AKP Islamists based by Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the expense of the persecuted Kurds. Some report these US insurance policies additionally emboldened Shia Islamist Iran throughout their colonization and proxy wars in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Yemen’s internecine civil battle.

But regardless of being embroiled in Yemen within the South and being flanked by a deeply conflicted Iraq and failed Syrian state, Saudi Arabia is demonstrating a sure facility at taking part in the lengthy recreation.

On the edge of Biden’s go to, Saudi Arabia’s allies at the moment are confronting a nuclear energy in Iran that has enriched adequate uranium to be weaponized. Iran not too long ago disconnected 27 monitoring camera-feeds to the worldwide atomic power company.

In Northern Tehran on the Saadabad Palace, President of Iran Sayyid Ebrahim Raisolsadati and Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela signed a 20-year cooperation deal to rebuild Venezuela‘s refining capabilities. This may allow Iranian engineers to assist course of Venezuela‘s crude oil in change for Iranian condensates to make Venezuela‘s oil extra engaging on the worldwide market.

Additionally within the area, Israel is reportedly escalating its personal aggressive actions geared toward defanging nuclear Iran whereas forming safety alliances not solely with the Abraham Accords’ nations but additionally with Saudi Arabia.

Biden states that he’s attending the summit in Saudi Arabia to solidify US nationwide safety within the area and past. However the area, together with the 2 custodians of the world’s oldest Abrahamic faith and its youngest – Israel and Saudi Arabia – are now not heeding US intentions. They’re reportedly following their very own regional safety considerations and more and more shared international insurance policies.

Saudi Arabia is sophisticated and demanding for the US

Within the final 20 years since leaving Saudi Arabia the place I practiced medication and carried out the Hajj, there was an simple growth of each the voice and rights for women and men.

Since 2013, the Majlis al-Shura Consultative Council (a legislative consultancy in existence since 1926) has instituted, by legislation,  a compulsory 20% quota for girls representatives. Saudi Arabia has change into extra porous to the worldwide world as each its mental liberals and its orthodox clerics take pleasure in expanded accessibility by the Saudi public. That is posing a brand new problem to the Saudi monarchy, which should handle the impression of clerics with hundreds of thousands of followers on social media channels.

Saudi Arabia’s Imaginative and prescient 2030 conceived by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to understand Saudi Arabia’s post-petrochemical future, contains the purpose of an unlimited growth of its worldwide tourism that pulls hundreds of thousands of spiritual pilgrims from around the globe. In 2019 the nation expanded entry to vacationers via e-visas, a program launched simply earlier than the worldwide pandemic.

To make certain, political dissent isn’t tolerated in Saudi Arabia and stays a worldwide human rights concern. Khashoggi’s reported political dissidence resulted in his state-sponsored assassination. Extra not too long ago, in March 2022, Saudi authorities carried out a mass execution of 81 males.

These painful realities should inform and form each the present diplomacy and the path of future insurance policies between the US and Saudi Arabia, a relationship that may proceed lengthy after Biden’s administration ends.

The views expressed on this article are the creator’s personal and don’t essentially replicate Honest Observer’s editorial coverage.