After two days in Israel and the State of Palestine, the American President is now in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Even after reading what Joe Biden wrote in the Washington Post on July 9th trying to justify his trip, I am one of those who disagree with the political expediency of this trip. I see this as a move of simple opportunism.
In the current context of confrontation with Russia, the trip weakens those who use arguments of respect for international law, democracy and human rights. The Middle East is a problem trap with no solution in sight. A geopolitical labyrinth where, among others, the United States is lost. In the region, in addition to what has been suffered in the countries visited and in occupied Palestine, we also have the inhuman violence of the Syrian regime, with the fratricidal war that has dragged on since 2011, the barbarity of the conflict in Yemen, the chaos in Lebanon, the threat to Iran, the oppression of the Kurdish population, the fundamentalist extremism and deadly rivalry between Sunnis and Shiites. It is about working with a powder magazine that explodes depending on the interests of various local or international actors.
The visit, which does not provide any answer either to the Palestinian question, or to the obscurantism and cruelty of the Saudi regime, or to the containment of the Iranian threat, can only be noted negatively. Biden was in Israel, thinking about his country’s November midterm elections and catering to parts of his domestic electoral base. And he is in Saudi Arabia seeking to increase oil production in order to keep the price of a barrel down. It’s also an electoral issue: the cost of gas to fill up is a strong political argument in the US. But it won’t be easy to convince the Saudis, who are already adding 400,000 barrels a day more than they did in February. By the way, it should be noted that the Saudi daily production is today equivalent to the Russian one, occupying (almost ex aequo) the second place in the world.
Israel is not comparable to Saudi Arabia. But the systematic violation of Palestinian rights is one of the strongest arguments used by those who accuse the US of using a double-edged sword in international relations. The Palestinian cause has for decades been one of the most serious thorns in the throat of those who speak of the need to respect the international order and the rights of oppressed peoples. You cannot fight for this in the case of Ukraine and close your eyes when it comes to Palestine.
Saudi Arabia is a country of contradictions. Modern in terms of technology, medieval in terms of women’s rights, poor immigrant workers, or dealing with political opposition. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman well epitomizes these contradictions and the brutality of the regime. He will go down in history for ordering the assassination and cutting to pieces of opposition journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. Joe Biden said during his campaign that this crime turned Saudi Arabia into a rogue state. Today you will shake hands with the mastermind of the killers and discuss cooperation and oil. The prince would fit perfectly in the picture, even more snooty than usual. The American president will be more vulnerable.
It is time to repeat that not everything is going well in international politics. And it should be emphasized again that faith in principles has its price. The narrative should become clearer. Political leadership is only credible if it is consistent. Wasting time thinking about the next election, political maneuvers and tricks that vary according to the interests at stake, can lead to the re-election of presidents, prime ministers and general secretaries, but does not solve big problems. The current crises in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Sri Lanka, Pakistan or Myanmar, parts of Africa or Central America, and climate change, conservation or food insecurity and poverty alleviation should teach us to be truthful, responsible and courageous. In this time of big problems, this way of doing politics is the biggest problem.
International Security Advisor.
Former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations
