President Joe Biden visits Middle East: Exploring reasons

Global Lenses

Rekindling ties with royalty, the US president has visited a kingdom he once promised to make a Pariah. Joe Biden says his visit to Saudi Arabia is worth the political cost. Will the visit pave the way for a new partnership with the region?

US President Joe Biden arrived in Saudi Arabia after his harsh comments about the kingdom in the past. "We were actually going to make them pay the price and actually make them the Pariahs that they are." A pledge he made as a presidential candidate after a CIA report revealed that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. His visit aims to restore relations and convince the state to pump more oil to lower fuel prices in the United States.

"I'm doing everything I can to increase the supply to the United States of America…," Biden said.

However, the strained relationship has made it a challenge for Biden to celebrate the victory. A fist bump with the King-- a moment that was not well received in the United States-- was criticized severely. Fred Ryan, Khashoggi's publisher at the Washington Post, called it shameful. And Khashoggi's fiancee on twitter warned Biden that any future victim would have his blood on his hands.

"I'm sorry she feels the way I was straight back then I was straight forward today." He [King Mohammad Bin Salman]  basically said he wasn't personally responsible for it. I indicated that I thought he was.” Biden remarked over the issue of Khashoggi. Earlier in Biden's meeting with the crown prince, the press confronted the two men. “Will you apologize to his [Jamal Khashoggi] family?” a journalist posed question to the King. The Crown Prince appeared to be smiling and left a serious question unanswered.

Why relations got tensed?

Saudi Arabia and the United States have a long-standing strategic partnership. It dates back to 1945 when the US agreed to provide protection to Saudi rulers in exchange for access to oil reserves. During the 1973 Israel-Palestine War, Riyadh imposed an oil embargo on countries that supported Israel, including the United States. In the 1990s, during the Gulf War against Saddam Hussein, Saudi Arabia served as a base for millions of American troops, but the 9/11 attacks caused a setback in relations. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudis, and four years ago the United States imposed sanctions on the kingdom in response to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

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What was the benefit of visiting Saudi Arabia?

The concept came out after the Russian war on Ukraine revealed that no matter how much people try to get away from oil, it's still a very important commodity, and then Saudi Arabia is still not just a major player, but an important global player. Moreover, it also proved itself as a regional player. (Abdulaziz)

This is embarrassing for Joe Biden and the importance of oil:

The president was eager to find increased sources of oil production. But it looks like a major drawback for him and it has certainly surprised many American analysts that a superpower, the United States, looks weak and submissive in such a situation. It's certainly important that the president take some advantage of oil production because oil and energy prices are obviously remain highly important for the American people with the upcoming election, but Biden’s commitment to human rights may lower his reputation-- a beat that will hurt him among progressives in the Democratic Party. (Doug)

An element of GCC?

The problem here is that the president was led by interests more than values. It was a matter of real politics. Both parties were already keen to measure such optics and meetings were already being arranged. The president wants to say that this was mostly a visit to see the GCC with regional countries and not a bilateral with the Saudis.

Saudi Arabia's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs,

Adelaide Jubeir, said the killing of Jamal Khashoggi

was a terrible mistake.

Is it time to move on?

Clearly, both states have moved on, but there remains an element of elite-level frost between Joe Biden and, of course, the crown prince that won't thaw quickly. The fact that Joe Biden was trying to feign his visit to Saudi Arabia is not about the Kingdom, it's actually going to meet with the GCC states. It is about trying to make peace with Israel and the Arab countries which has left a bitter taste in the mouth of the Saudi ruling elite. (Abdulaziz)

A possible alternative to the US?

They could have arranged with Venezuela to bring back its oil or if they had acted more quickly to resume negotiations with Iran last year. The second is to recognize the amount of oil they are likely to receive from Saudi Arabia and the Emirates over the time is not clear that this it is going to have a major impact on oil prices. Further, the problem for the president is that no one in Washington that meeting was aimed at visiting the GCC because Kuwait is an important country, but the president did not visit it to meet the Emir. It, very clearly, was a meeting with the Saudis. (Doug)

Geopolitical perspective?

The commitment to pump oil will

add about 13 million barrels

to that over the long term.

It doesn't seem like it's going to have drastic impact, but he came home saying that I've talked to the Saudis that I'm going to get oil. It's almost a false narrative because basically prices are going down anyway. But it is pertinent to note that this is the same administration that Biden was a part of four years ago that has lost ground in the region and elsewhere and Biden is going to make the most of this trip. It is especially important from a geopolitical point of view not to leave a wide vacuum for Russia and China. Iraq's integration into the wider GCC electricity network is a big step in the direction of gradually moving it out of Iran's orbit. Much of it has geopolitical tendency as the US lost ground in other regions as well like Eastern Europe, partly as a result of Obama administration policies. (Zaid)

Addressing the meeting, Joe Biden said that

Washington was not going away.

They would not leave a vacuum

to be filled by Russia, China or Iran.

Has it been successful for Israel?

This shows that political support for Israel in America is bipartisan. The Democratic side, along with progressives who are deeply interested in championing the cause of Palestinian human rights, are as concerned about maintaining that commitment. While this is certainly politically beneficial in the short term, in the long term the question of what happens in Israel is far more important. It's heading for another election that will undoubtedly be more on the right. What about the Palestinians? According to some estimates, there are currently more Arabs between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. So, the question is how does Israel manage to be both democratic and Jewish? Also, finding a settlement for the millions of people who are under occupation is a critical issue that can be explosive. It seems that nothing will come of this journey. The president made an effort and visited the West Bank, but that didn’t have much impact on the Palestinians. (Abdulaziz)

Saudi Arabia gives airspace to Israeli planes to fly: Smoothening Arab-Israel Ties:

This is a small step for Israel, perhaps a giant step for the region. It is simply acknowledging what is already happening through third countries. Pilgrimage is mandatory for Arabs, Jews and Palestinians in Saudi Arabia. But is this a precursor to the full acceptance of the Abraham accords? Most definitely not. There are some decision makers in Israel who were able to go far enough with Abraham's covenant for very little. In response to the Palestinian question, the president made an urgent visit to the West Bank. He wanted a Palestinian state that was viable, independent, autonomous and, crucially, contiguous. But he’s just making the right noises. Basically, a major step towards regional peace requires major progress on this issue. Five elections have been held in the country in three years. It is most likely that Netanyahu will return despite his tainted legacy and it will be a very different Israel that the Arab world will be dealing with. (Zaid)

Read more: Biden's visit to Asia

This is a very small step that has taken place and it must be contextualized. If we look at the Abraham accords, one thing that can be taken away is that it shifted the burden of concessions from Israel to America. In other words, one aspect that now counts as part of the calculus is not only how much progress has been made on the Palestinian-Israeli issue, but also who is the right person in the White House. Quite frankly, flyover rights are too important for Biden to have positive outcome from the pro-Israel contingencies in America. These flyover rights should be seen as a gesture by the Saudi ruling elite to enable Biden to politicize it the way he wants. In terms of normalization, there are still many things that need to be done and one of those things is having the right person in the White House and Biden doesn't seem like the person the Saudi ruling elite wants to have as the man to achieve that feat. (Abdulaziz)

Does America need to create a new security umbrella in the Middle East that includes Israel, Egypt and the Gulf states?

Certainly, for an American perspective, this would help balance the power in the region where it would not necessarily expect US military involvement for a specific contingency. The American people are wary of wars in the Middle East. So being able to bring together Israel, the Emirates and Saudi Arabia, and probably other GCC members, is an opportunity to help create some form of collective security with a significant military force that is at least initially may be able to deal with problems that arise with somewhat less presence of the US in the region. This would give the United States a potential security advantage to help stabilize the Middle East. (Doug)

Abdulaziz Alghashian, Research fellow at SEPAD, focusing on Saudi foreign policy.

Doug Bandow, Senior fellow at the Cato Institute.

Zaid Belbagi, Managing partner at Hardcastle Advisory, a political consulting firm.

Disclaimer: Global Lenses takes these arguments of renowned personalities from different platforms and it does not necessarily reflect the opinion of editor.

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