We hear that US president Joe Biden is visiting Saudi Arabia this week.
This is the same Biden who, in the wake of killing of journalist Jamal Kashoggi which was attributed to Saudi prince, had termed the Middle Eastern kingdom “pariah” in the bluster of his presidential campaign.
Our good old Joe had thundered during a 2019 Democratic primary debate: “We were actually going to make them (Saudi Arabia) pay the price, and actually make them the outcasts that they are.”
More: “There is very little social redemption value in the current government in Saudi Arabia.”
Our Human Rights crusader of course is a changed man now. He has hopped on to the plane to Riyadh but not before penning in Washington Post: “From the start, my aim was to reorient—but not rupture—relations with a country that has been a strategic partner for 80 years (sic) .”
And that’s a home truth— US needs Saudi Arabia to serve their interests with oil supply and guarantee the use of the US dollar as a reserve currency in the oil market: The two issues which are under extreme stress as Russia and China look to create a New World Order without the stench of Dollar.
The United States of course wants Saudis to flood the market with oil so that Russia doesn’t dictate terms or, god forbids, turns this winter Europe’s most harrowing in decades. Did I also say to help US’ in the midst of its worst inflation in decades?
Saudis are not playing that game yet but who knows if the bait of being a bulwark against growing influence of Iran in the region could work. And then there is Yemen which is Saudi’s target-practice with the weapons Yankees provide, the last of which in November involved the sale of 280 air-to-air missiles worth $650 million.
Those indomitable Iranians have their backs to the wall but are emerging a game changer in the Ukraine-after world. Putin’s Russia has finally given up on the West, turning towards East, which makes the project of Eurasia feasible. Moscow is looking for transport corridors through Iran, as is China, to link Europe and Asia (Eurasia), none more mouth-watering for us Indians than the International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC) which begins in Moscow and ends in Mumbai. Imagine the time and money we save by going through Caspian Sea to the heartland of Europe instead of round-circling through the Suez Canal.
Biden, meanwhile, is playing on Saudi’s insecurity, both with Iran and Israel. He would rather have the desert kingdom join the Arab coalition plus Israel for leverage against Iran. The air defense is absolutely vital for the Saudis, as it is for the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council), and this Biden hopes is the ace up his sleeve.
So much has changed since last year when Biden withdrew America’s Patriot missile batteries and other advanced military systems from Saudi Arabia: It led to the kingdom being hit by missile and rocket attacks from Yemen’s Houthi rebels and other Iran-backed groups.
But now Biden doesn’t want the war to end in Yemen—a much bigger world’s humanitarian crisis than Ukraine could ever be—and he also isn’t bringing his troops to return from Middle East, all those homilies on Human Rights, and Fronts-Against-Tyrants notwithstanding.
So mark how convenient it is for the United States to stand against the tyranny of Putin while overlooking the despotic Sauds; and how it champions Human Rights on one hand while funding and arming the very those who are world’s most tyrannical regimes.
Meanwhile, notice how mainstream media cabal is keeping a straight face on Biden’s U-turn: So this is what New York Times wrote on Donald Trump cosying up to Saudi Arabia not long ago: “…More (dangerous) by emboldening despots in Said Arabia…” and ignoring “moral or human rights considerations”.
And sample CNN: “By refusing to break with Saudi strongman Mohammed bin Salman…Trump has effectively told global despots that if they side with him, Washington will turn a blind eye to actions that violate the traditional values of United States.”
Further, Trump’s keenness to do business with Saudis, “represented another blow to the international rule of law and global accountability.”
I mean in what farcical world are we living in?
