Saudi summit raises eyebrows as Biden lands in Jeddah. 

Biden, who once as the presidential candidate vowed to make the Saudis’ ‘pariahs’ for human rights records, is now trying to soothe their relations. The U.S.’s attempt to secure an agreement to increase oil production has made some people doubtful. 

On Saturday, President Joe Biden landed in the port city of Jeddah. Perceived as a dubious move, it might be the harbinger of the new American policy in the Middle East in the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine war and Iran’s weapon expansion. 

The visit to Israel  

Before landing in Saudi Arabia, Biden paid a visit to Israel. During his visit, President Biden met with his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas, and reiterated his support for the two-nation theory.  

The two-nation theory supports the creation of an independent and sovereign state for the Palestinian people. However, he also declared that the ground for peace talks between Palestine and Israel was “not ripe.” 

This move might be an attempt to appease Saudi Arabia, which is the focus of this tour. Saudi Arabia has already moved one step toward normalising relations with Israel as the kingdom opened its airspace to Israeli aircrafts after a long ban. 

Many observers see these new developments as America’s role in ‘bridging’ the gap between the two countries.

The Saudi visit  

After declaring famously that the US “will not walk away,” Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia has one primary motive, oil. Gas prices due to the Russia-Ukraine war have soared and production is affected. 

At the recent summit with leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council, the President said that the US “will not walk away only for the vacuum to be filled by China, Russia, or Iran.”  

The crown prince of Saudi Arabia declared that Saudi Arabia would increase its oil production to a maximum of 13 million barrels per day, (which is modest) but would be unable to go further. Naturally, it might appear that the Saudis are not very enthusiastic about this recent development, given their relationship in recent times.  

According to experts, this summit will prove unfruitful for America as it did not reach its goals. Possibly, this is a consequence of Biden’s stance on the kingdom and its human rights situation. As a presidential candidate, Biden famously declared the Saudis to be pariahs for their human rights record. 

Backlash and Biden  

In 2018, Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in a Saudi consulate in Turkey. US intelligence had determined that the crown prince himself had approved his killing. Since then, relations between the two countries have been shaky.

https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/1548024164639854592

It does not help that Biden, as a presidential candidate, made comments on Saudi Arabia’s human rights record. Now, his attempts to seek reconciliation with the kingdom are seen as opportunistic and are receiving massive backlash.  

Khashoggi’s fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, took to Twitter to voice her dismay. While Fred Ryan, the CEO and publisher of The Washington Post, Khashoggi’s former employer, called the fist pump between the leaders ‘shameful’  

Far from delivering on his promise of addressing the human rights issues in Saudi Arabia, Biden, will not emerge as the winner. His attempt to stabilise the global oil market did not reap high rewards. If anything, it is far from that. It is also possible that America’s relations with Israel are now bruised as well. 

Nonetheless, this summit is certainly moving towards change in the region, something that might define the post-Afghanistan and post-Iraq era. As America has promised to de-escalate Yemen and bring up the killing of Shireen Abu Aqleh, one has to see how the region will be united as one to tackle the growing nuclear armament in Iran and Russia’s dominance. 

---

Read more: Biden open ups Khashoggi’s murder case with the Saudi Crown Prince