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Agence France-Presse

Making an about-face by visiting Saudi Arabia, US President Joe Biden is betting he has more to gain than lose even as rights activists accuse him of selling his soul to oil.
Biden joins eight decades of US presidents who have all in due time courted the oil-rich kingdom, which has assiduously cultivated ties in Washington despite repeated crises including the September 11 attacks, carried out mostly by Saudis.
The White House announced Tuesday that Biden would travel next month for a regional summit in Jeddah and meet Saudi leaders – whom as a candidate he promised to treat as “the pariah that they are” – including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
According to US intelligence, “MBS” ordered the 2018 murder of US-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Biden on taking office declassified the Khashoggi findings and promised to “recalibrate” the relationship, including by scaling back support for the Saudis’ devastating air campaign in Yemen.
Administration officials say they have recently seen the Saudis responding to US concerns including backing a fragile truce in Yemen, where the Riyadh-backed government is battling Iranian-linked Houthi rebels, and making tentative steps to improve relations with US ally Israel.
Saudi Arabia ‘committed’ to China oil supply, exploring other collaborations
In a surprise, the Saudis earlier this month led an agreement by oil producers to boost output, a relief to Biden whose poll numbers have been battered by soaring fuel prices – which, however, have kept rising.
Dan Shapiro, who served as ambassador to Israel when Biden was vice-president, noted that the 36-year-old crown prince is likely to be the key Saudi leader for years to come.
The visit comes as China increasingly looks to Gulf Arab nations, which have mostly rebuffed US efforts to isolate Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
“President Biden has concluded correctly that the United States has more strategic interests that would be served by stabilising the US-Saudi relationship,” said Shapiro, now at the Atlantic Council.
“It’s critical that, as we deal with challenges like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and China’s increasingly assertive stance globally, partners – particularly in the Middle East, particularly energy-producing nations – will align themselves with US interests.”
The trip marks a White House calculation that it is worth weathering the criticism from lawmakers, mostly in his Democratic Party, and activists who say he is jeopardising his own claims to put human rights at the heart of his foreign policy.

Biden just last week saw his Summit of the Americas summit in Los Angeles marred by a boycott by Mexico’s leader over the president’s refusal to invite autocratic leaders.
Andrea Prasow, executive director of The Freedom Initiative which supports political prisoners in the Arab world, said detainees’ families feel Biden “has completely abandoned them in favour of lower oil prices”.
She said Biden should have sought commitments from MBS, such as freeing prisoners, in exchange for visiting him.
‘We’ve all made mistakes’ Greg Norman says of Saudi journalist’s murder
The message “is pretty clear – MBS can and has literally gotten away with murder,” she said.
Even if Biden privately speaks on human rights, the “public messaging to MBS himself, to everyone in Saudi Arabia and everyone in the US and the world, is that this type of egregious human rights conduct has zero consequence.”
MBS had a far chummier relationship with former president Donald Trump, whose son-in-law Jared Kushner was said to chat with the prince over WhatsApp.

The former president defended his light response to Khashoggi’s killing by saying Saudi Arabia boosted the US economy through weapons purchases.
Trump’s secretary of state Mike Pompeo wrote on Twitter that MBS “is working to build peace and prosperity for his country” and criticised Biden for sidelining him.
Experts said the crown prince was looking for the relationship to be back to business as usual.
Biden fortified Saudi’s Patriot missile supply amid strained ties
Yasmine Farouk of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said that MBS had been personally offended by Biden, a critic of Saudi Arabia even before Khashoggi’s murder.
“The main thing MBS is looking for from a visit by Biden isn’t necessarily a breakthrough in military or defence cooperation, but political recognition and a kind of apology for ignoring him,” she said.


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Joe Biden gambles there’s more to gain by visiting ‘pariah’ Saudi Arabia

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. File photo: Saudi Royal Court

US President Joe Biden. File photo: AP

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had a far chummier relationship with former president Donald Trump. File photo: EPA-EFE

‘Pariah’ no longer? Praise for Saudi royals ahead of expected Joe Biden trip

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman speaks during the Gulf Cooperation Council Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in December 2021. Photo: AP

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Neom is the brainchild of Saudi Crown Prince and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman. File photo: Reuters

The Middle East is already home to the world’s tallest building, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa. File photo: Reuters

Turkey’s Erdogan meets Saudi leaders in first visit since Khashoggi killing

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (left) and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman speak before a meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Thursday. Photo: Turkish Presidency via AP

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan (left) speaks with Saudi King Salman in Jeddah on Thursday. Photo: Turkish presidential press service via AFP

Murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, speaks in Istanbul, Turkey on April 7. Photo: Reuters

People hold posters of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi near the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2020. Photo: AP

Thirst for oil forcing Joe Biden to pivot US back to Saudi Arabia. Will king-in-waiting play along?

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. File photo: Reuters

Then US President Donald Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan in 2019. File photo: Reuters

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, accompanied by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Photo: AP

News

World

Middle East

United States & Canada

US president will meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a trip to the Middle East in July
Joe Biden is breaking campaign pledge of making the kingdom a ‘pariah’, as the US confronts soaring fuel prices


US President Joe Biden confirmed that he will visit Saudi Arabia next month for talks with its leaders, a dramatic change in his stance on the kingdom.


Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

Joe Biden

Jamal Khashoggi killing

Mohammed bin Salman

Joe Biden gambles there’s more to gain by visiting ‘pariah’ Saudi Arabia

US president will meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a trip to the Middle East in July Joe Biden is breaking campaign pledge of making the kingdom a ‘pariah’, as the US confronts soaring fuel prices

US president will meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a trip to the Middle East in July

Joe Biden is breaking campaign pledge of making the kingdom a ‘pariah’, as the US confronts soaring fuel prices