Biden plans to 'recalibrate' Saudi relations in shot at MbS: White House

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Biden plans to 'recalibrate' Saudi relations in shot at MbS: White House

By Steve Holland and Trevor Hunnicutt

 

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks to Defense Department personnel during a visit to the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., February 10, 2021. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Joe Biden plans to shift U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia and will conduct diplomacy through Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz rather than his powerful son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the White House said on Tuesday.

 

The announcement by White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki was an abrupt reversal in U.S. policy from Biden's Republican predecessor, President Donald Trump, whose son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner maintained steady contact with the crown prince.

 

"We've made clear from the beginning that we are going to recalibrate our relationship with Saudi Arabia," Psaki told reporters.

 

While her comments about the crown prince were likely to be seen as a snub, Psaki moved to clear the air on another controversy in the region, saying Biden would soon have his first phone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

 

The crown prince, widely referred to as MbS, is considered by many to be the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia and next in line to the throne held by the 85-year-old King Salman. His prestige suffered a blow after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 at the hands of Saudi security personnel seen as close to the crown prince.

 

The Biden White House has been pressuring Saudi Arabia to improve its record on human rights, including the release of political prisoners such as women’s rights advocates from jails.

 

The Trump White House had found MbS the leader to deal with in Saudi Arabia and worked with him on a variety of areas, such as resolving a rift between Qatar and other Gulf nations.

 

As for questions about whether Biden would speak to the crown prince, Psaki said Biden is returning to "counterpart to counterpart" engagement.

 

"The president's counterpart is King Salman and I expect at an appropriate time he will have a conversation with him. I don’t have a prediction on the timeline for that," she said.

 

Psaki said Saudi Arabia has critical self-defense needs and the United States will work with the Saudis on this "even as we make clear areas where we have disagreements and where we have concerns. And that certainly is a shift from the prior administration."

 

Trump was a close ally of Netanyahu and moved U.S. relations to a strong pro-Israel position with little to no contact with the Palestinians.

 

Psaki said Biden's first call with a leader in the region will be with Netanyahu and it will be soon. Critics had accused Biden, a Democrat, of snubbing Netanyahu by not having spoken to the leader of the top U.S. ally in the Middle East.

 

"Israel is of course an ally. Israel is a country where we have an important strategic security relationship, and our team is fully engaged, not at the head of state level quite yet but very soon," she said.

 

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Steve Holland and Alexandra Alper; Editing by Dan Grebler and Leslie Adler)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-02-17

 

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[PatOngo]

Way to go Joe! Nobody has had the gonads to do this till now!  When the Saudi's attacked the World Trade Centre 9/11/2000, Bush attacked Afghanistan???

[Tug]

Whaaaaattttt no groveling at the rich prince es feet?not going to give the folks who did the World Trade Center nuclear technology???thats refreshing I also like him keeping Netanyahu at arms length for a bit just to let him know,joe is after more than votes starting not to feel ashamed to be an American 

[JCauto]

Where are our Republican friends to defend their wonderful ally Prince MbS? You know, the guy you fawned over and had Donald's son-in-law bend over backwards for to exonerate from the obvious murder of a journalist? The guy who invaded Yemen and caused untold suffering to millions of poor people? The guy whose country the vast majority of 9-11 plane hijackers were from? 

What gives? You were all for this guy, why aren't you defending his "honor" or Trump's personal diplomatic triumphs with the Saudis and Yemen?

[John Drake]

Good-bye Petrodollar. Hello Petroyen.

[placeholder]

1 hour ago, John Drake said:

Good-bye Petrodollar. Hello Petroyen.

If the markets or oil producers really had confidence in the yuan, the Petroyen would already be a reality.

[from the home of CC]

and there's a lot of 'recalibrating' to do when you consider the horrific consequences of arming and financially supporting them in the wholesale slaughter of many Yemeni women and children - there's a lot of their blood on the hands of the US and UK that will never wash off.. 

[EVENKEEL]

10 hours ago, Tug said:

Whaaaaattttt no groveling at the rich prince es feet?not going to give the folks who did the World Trade Center nuclear technology???thats refreshing I also like him keeping Netanyahu at arms length for a bit just to let him know,joe is after more than votes starting not to feel ashamed to be an American 

I've been proud to be an American all my life.  Funny how some are so fickle.

[placeholder]

1 minute ago, EVENKEEL said:

I've been proud to be an American all my life.  Funny how some are so fickle.

Being proud to be an American all the time means being shameless at least some of the time. This goes for the citizens of most nations.

[jobsworth]

12 hours ago, PatOngo said:

Way to go Joe! Nobody has had the gonads to do this till now!  When the Saudi's attacked the World Trade Centre 9/11/2000, Bush attacked Afghanistan???

He didn't. He attacked Iraq instead,

 

[Tug]

1 hour ago, EVENKEEL said:

I've been proud to be an American all my life.  Funny how some are so fickle.

So have I but when an administration flushes our American ideals down the toilet disrespects those who serve gets Americans killed in the hundreds of thousands due to incompetence throws our allies to the wolves try’s his level best to destroy our democracy ruins the Republican Party it kinda makes me ashamed oh well guess some of us are kinda fickle go figure........

[spidermike007]

It must come as quite a shock to the serial killing thug, MBS, to not have the American leader expressing fealty like Don and Jared did. As far as I am concerned, the Saudis are an enemy to the west, Wahhabism is the most extreme of Islamic belief systems, and the Saudi support of the Madrasas has continued to this day. They are not to be trusted.

 

Some say they are a valuable ally. That may be. But, MBS is not a man of honor, and he cannot be trusted. Standing up to thuggery is a good thing. Casual elimination of critics is not. He is a wannabe Putin. 

[wpcoe]

10 hours ago, JCauto said:

Where are our Republican friends to defend their wonderful ally Prince MbS? You know, the guy you fawned over and had Donald's son-in-law bend over backwards for to exonerate from the obvious murder of a journalist?

You sure that's the direction he bent over?

[Scouse123]

10 hours ago, from the home of CC said:

and there's a lot of 'recalibrating' to do when you consider the horrific consequences of arming and financially supporting them in the wholesale slaughter of many Yemeni women and children - there's a lot of their blood on the hands of the US and UK that will never wash off.. 

 

Any country that is in the arms business you can say has blood on its hands.

 

However, countries going to war will buy their arms whatever and from whoever will supply them. If the UK refused, the Russians would just step in.

 

Was it not the same as the Argentinians firing French Exocet missiles at the British ships down in the Falklands?.....................It's the dirty business of MONEY!

[Scouse123]

7 hours ago, jobsworth said:

He didn't. He attacked Iraq instead,

 

 

Yes,

 

And later they admitted that they felt it pointless attacking Afghanistan as there was nothing strategically worthwhile bombing!

 

Hence, the wrong war in Iraq, based on lies, and caused by the international terrorists; Bush and Blair.

[donnacha]

12 minutes ago, Scouse123 said:

And later they admitted that they felt it pointless attacking Afghanistan as there was nothing strategically worthwhile bombing!

The Taliban regime in Afghanistan were providing sanctuary for Bin Laden and his followers.

Once Bin Laden took the credit for 9/11 the US demanded they hand him over. They didn't.

That was all the justification required. The strategy was to make it clear that, if you attack America, they will move heaven and Earth to retaliate.

It was the Iraq invasion that was largely pointless, apart from the Neocons settling a few old scores.

 

Edited February 17, 2021 by donnacha

[EVENKEEL]

8 hours ago, Tug said:

So have I but when an administration flushes our American ideals down the toilet disrespects those who serve gets Americans killed in the hundreds of thousands due to incompetence throws our allies to the wolves try’s his level best to destroy our democracy ruins the Republican Party it kinda makes me ashamed oh well guess some of us are kinda fickle go figure........

You've got that bass akwards, fickle is not standing by yours, regardless.

[mr mr]

remind me why they do business with them in the first place ? must be those human rights we so fondly hear of. 

[Jeffr2]

12 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

I've been proud to be an American all my life.  Funny how some are so fickle.

Sad times when a supposedly proud American is ok selling arms to a dictatorship so they can bomb and kill innocent civilians. Yemen deserves better.

 

MBS needs to be held accountable for the brutal killing of an American citizen. How can proud Americans be ok with that? Impossible.

 

P.S. I'm a survivor of 9/11. Changed my life forever. And SA was never held responsible for their support of the terrorists. Horrible country.

[mtraveler]

3 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

You've got that bass akwards, fickle is not standing by yours, regardless.

"Standing by yours, regardless" is a bad policy, in my opinion.  Whether with friends, or family, or with one's country, one should have a set of values, and expect the same from others. I can love my country and hope the best for it, and yet at the same time be critical of its policies or the behavior of its leaders, when they are in contradiction to the values the country stands for. If that's what you consider fickle, well then, I'm happy to be labeled fickle. 

 

 

 

[EVENKEEL]

Just now, mtraveler said:

"Standing by yours, regardless" is a bad policy, in my opinion.  Whether with friends, or family, or with one's country, one should have a set of values, and expect the same from others. I can love my country and hope the best for it, and yet at the same time be critical of its policies or the behavior of its leaders, when they are in contradiction to the values the country stands for. If that's what you consider fickle, well then, I'm happy to be labeled fickle. 

 

 

 

No, you've misunderstood. I'm talking of the folks who state they are ashamed to be an American. Of course one can be critical and angry, it's our right. But to say you're ashamed because things aren't going your way is being fickle.

[placeholder]

3 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

No, you've misunderstood. I'm talking of the folks who state they are ashamed to be an American. Of course one can be critical and angry, it's our right. But to say you're ashamed because things aren't going your way is being fickle.

Oh, that was the problem with, for example, the Iraq invasion. Things weren't going the Americans' way. Lying about the reasons invoked for it was nothing to be ashamed of.

[Jeffr2]

6 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

No, you've misunderstood. I'm talking of the folks who state they are ashamed to be an American. Of course one can be critical and angry, it's our right. But to say you're ashamed because things aren't going your way is being fickle.

Most Americans were ashamed of their country for the past 4 years. Luckily, things are getting better.

 

Edited February 18, 2021 by onthedarkside
off topic comment removed

[Morch]

6 hours ago, Jeffr2 said:

Sad times when a supposedly proud American is ok selling arms to a dictatorship so they can bomb and kill innocent civilians. Yemen deserves better.

 

MBS needs to be held accountable for the brutal killing of an American citizen. How can proud Americans be ok with that? Impossible.

 

P.S. I'm a survivor of 9/11. Changed my life forever. And SA was never held responsible for their support of the terrorists. Horrible country.

 

Successive USA administrations supplied arms to Saudi Arabia and other unsavory regimes. That largely fictional mega arms-sale deal Trump signed with them? Quite a bit of the items on the list were a legacy from Obama's term.

 

If the 'American citizen' was a reference to Khashoggi, then no, he wasn't an American citizen. Still a brutal killing and all that, of course.

 

Not sure how you meant "support of the terrorists".

[Jeffr2]

1 hour ago, Morch said:

 

Successive USA administrations supplied arms to Saudi Arabia and other unsavory regimes. That largely fictional mega arms-sale deal Trump signed with them? Quite a bit of the items on the list were a legacy from Obama's term.

 

If the 'American citizen' was a reference to Khashoggi, then no, he wasn't an American citizen. Still a brutal killing and all that, of course.

 

Not sure how you meant "support of the terrorists".

Yeah, the arms sales have been going on for a long time.

 

He was actually a permanent resident. Thus, under protection of US laws.

 

The WTC terrorists.

 

 

[Scouse123]

11 hours ago, donnacha said:

The Taliban regime in Afghanistan were providing sanctuary for Bin Laden and his followers.

Once Bin Laden took the credit for 9/11 the US demanded they hand him over. They didn't.

That was all the justification required. The strategy was to make it clear that, if you attack America, they will move heaven and Earth to retaliate.

It was the Iraq invasion that was largely pointless, apart from the Neocons settling a few old scores.

 

Yes.

And that is correct and widely known and understood.

 

The point being the USA and UK bombed the wrong country, as was proved later, Saddam on this occasion, had nothing to do with it. He told the world this on many occasions only for it to fall on deaf ears.

 

The popular view was George Bush went a step further as it was felt he was there on unfinished business with Iraq left over and not concluded from his fathers presidency.

 

 

 

Edited February 18, 2021 by Scouse123

[Morch]

4 minutes ago, Jeffr2 said:

Yeah, the arms sales have been going on for a long time.

 

He was actually a permanent resident. Thus, under protection of US laws.

 

The WTC terrorists.

 

 

 

Probably under protection of US laws while on US soil. He was murdered in Turkey. Don't know if his status applies. Doesn't detract from how wrong it was, just pointing out that the USA's obligations in this matter are probably more moral than legal.

 

Yeah, I got which terrorists. Was asking how you meant 'support of'.

[onthedarkside]

A trolling, name calling post and reply have been removed.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1 hour ago, Morch said:

If the 'American citizen' was a reference to Khashoggi, then no, he wasn't an American citizen.

 

Khashoggi was, among other things, U.S. educated and a columnist for the Washington Post. As well as being a long-time critic of MBS and the Saudi king.

 

The Middle East correspondent of The Independent, Patrick Cockburn, wrote that the killing of Jamal Khashoggi "is by no means the worst act carried out by Saudi Arabia since 2015, though it is much the best publicised. ... Saudi leaders imagined that, having got away with worse atrocities in Yemen, that any outcry over the death of a single man in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul was something they could handle".^\

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamal_Khashoggi#Personal_life

[Morch]

25 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Khashoggi was, among other things, U.S. educated and a columnist for the Washington Post. As well as being a long-time critic of MBS and the Saudi king.

 

The Middle East correspondent of The Independent, Patrick Cockburn, wrote that the killing of Jamal Khashoggi "is by no means the worst act carried out by Saudi Arabia since 2015, though it is much the best publicised. ... Saudi leaders imagined that, having got away with worse atrocities in Yemen, that any outcry over the death of a single man in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul was something they could handle".^\

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamal_Khashoggi#Personal_life

 

Well aware of that, but an American citizen, he was not. The US may have a moral obligation to investigate, or take steps against those involved, but I don't think it's compelled to do so (could be wrong). At least not while relying on the citizenship and permanent resident angles.