Published on: 10.12.2022 – 02:30
The White House National Security Council spokesman Tuesday said President Joe Biden was ready to “reassess bilateral relations with Saudi Arabia,” several months after attempting a rapprochement with Riyadh.
He initially wanted to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah,” then in July attempted a rapprochement… Joe Biden, scalded by Riyadh’s oil decisions, would now be willing to “reassess” the United States’ long strategic relationship with the kingdom. .
“There will be consequences” for Saudi Arabia following OPEC+’s decision to cut its production quotas last week, US President Joe Biden promised in an interview with the chain CNN on Tuesday, October 11. However, he did not say what decisions could be made.
“In light of recent events and OPEC+ decisions, the President believes we should reassess bilateral relations with Saudi Arabia,” Saudi Arabia’s National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told press earlier at the White House. We must, he said, “ensure that (the relationship) serves our national security interests.”
Joe Biden “is willing to work with Congress to think about what that relationship should look like,” he previously said on CNN. “He wants to start these consultations now,” John Kirby said. However, he clarified that these talks had not yet started and would initially take place in a more informal setting. “We are not announcing a formal review of our policy with a dedicated team,” he said.
snub
OPEC+ – the thirteen members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) led by Saudi Arabia and its ten partners led by Russia – decided last week to cut their production quotas, at the risk that the price per barrel shoots up.
It’s a diplomatic snub for Joe Biden, who on the contrary is calling for an ample supply, but potentially a boon for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who needs sustained oil prices to fund the war in Ukraine.
In July, the US President traveled to Saudi Arabia to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman after vowing during his election campaign to make the kingdom an “outcast” following the assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Saudi Foreign Minister Faiçal ben Farhane, speaking on the Al-Arabiya channel on Tuesday, explained that the drop in production represents a “purely economic approach pursued unanimously by member countries” of the organization, which aims to “maintain a sustainable oil market”. “OPEC+ members acted responsibly and made the right decision,” he said.
The oil cartel’s decision has sparked a wave of outrage among members of the US Congress, particularly members of Congress from Joe Biden’s Democratic Party.
The powerful head of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, Bob Menendez, threatened on Monday to block future arms sales to Saudi Arabia. Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal and House Representative Ro Khanna took him at his word as they introduced a bill Tuesday to end such exports.
Senator Chris Murphy told CNN on Sunday: “For years we have looked the other way when Saudi Arabia has massacred journalists and carried out massive political repression for one reason: we wanted to make sure that when the time came, it did.” in an international crisis, Saudi Arabia would prefer us to Russia. (…) They didn’t do it. You chose Russia.”
gun sale
The partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia was sealed after the end of World War II and had militarily protected the kingdom from American access to oil. That troubled relationship had been revived by former Republican President Donald Trump, leading to pharaonic arms sales.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Saudi Arabia accounted for 24% of total US arms exports between 2016 and 2020.
Aware of the anger of human rights activists, Joe Biden attempted a delicate balancing act during his visit to Jeddah in July: He justified the trip with concerns about energy security, but also about regional security and highlighted a tentative rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Israel , or insist on the need to confront Iran.
But the image of a familiar fist-to-fist salute exchanged with Mohammed bin Salman has not turned against Joe Biden just yet. Ever since the OPEC+ decision, the American press has been full of murderous editorials about the failure of their “fist-bump diplomacy.”
With AFP