US president’s attempts to ostracise Saudi crown prince were foiled by a fist bump
For all the careful choreography of Joe Biden’s Middle East tour, the White House made a major miscalculation when the president finally came face to face with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, for the first time.
President Biden and Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman at the summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Saturday.The president stopped in Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories for three days before making his way to Saudi Arabia last week, delighting Israeli leaders with his forthright commitment to the country’s security situation with Iran and disappointing the Palestinians by saying that the “ground is not ripe” for renewing peace talks.
“The fact remains that if you want anything done in the Middle East, you can’t just ignore Saudi Arabia.” Saudi Arabia is home to the second largest proven oil reserves in the world, and is the producer with the biggest influence on its price, but Biden went home on Saturday without being able to make any major announcements on increasing global oil supply. The most the Saudis would publicly commit to was a promise to pump more oil if there are shortages in the market, although there may be more welcome news for the president at next month’s Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries summit.
They are also unlikely to heed the president’s departing message that “the future will be won by countries that unleash the full potential of their populations … where citizens can question and criticise leaders without fear of reprisal”.
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