Saudi Arabia Welcomes a Likely ‘Reset’ With the U.S.

The Biden administration is pivoting toward more cooperation with the Saudis after more than a year of frayed relations.

By
13

In a now-viral comedy sketch from April, two actors portraying President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris stand at a lectern flanked by American flags to deliver a speech on the Ukraine War. 

“Today, we’re going to talk about the crisis in Spain. No, we’re going to talk about the crisis in Africa. Yeah—Russia,” the Biden impersonator says in accented English, while a man dressed as the vice president whispers the correct lines in his ear. “And I want to talk about the President of Russia,” he trails off, appearing to forget Vladimir Putin’s name before referring to the Harris impersonator as his “first lady.”

The not-so-subtle dig at Biden’s mental acuity quickly picked up international attention, but it wasn’t the work of Russia, China, Iran, or any of the United States’ other adversaries. Rather, the skit appeared on popular Saudi Arabian television show Studio 22 during a low point in the longtime U.S.-Saudi partnership this past spring. Around the time of its broadcast, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS)—Saudi Arabia’s de facto head of state—reportedly refused to take Biden’s calls as the West scrambled to find alternatives to Russian oil. 

Keep reading with a free account
Create a free Dispatch account to keep reading Get Started ALREADY HAVE AN ACCOUNT? SIGN IN
13
By
Comments (13)
Join The Dispatch to participate in the comments.
 
  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    What if we told the Saudis that we’d give them that defense agreement if they meet our demands on human rights and Yemen?

    Collapse
  2. Avatar photo
    Rajeev

    If Saudi Arabia makes significant progress toward becoming a country that respects human rights than I'm all for leveraging mutual interests. But there hasn't been any of that. They have behaved far worse than Iran. The US would be better to keep Saudi Arabia at a further distance. They aren't worth the price of doing business.

    Collapse
  3. Avatar photo
    rlritt

    Biden can't do much about gas prices. Since US oil companies are choosing to make recird profits by squeezing the American people, the only thing Biden can do if see if he can't flood the US market with Saudi oil. Of course it won't happen over night so people won't notice.

    Collapse
    1. Avatar photo
      David Chen

      Wasn't the Saudis that killed Keystone XL.

      Collapse
      1. Avatar photo
        rlritt

        I don't know.

        Collapse
  4. Avatar photo
    Paul Reichardt

    “The Saudis are always ready to fight Iran to the last American” -Robert Gates, 2010.

    In my Saudi-critical view, the issue isn’t about remedying Saudi defensive incompetence—that assumes they would be interested in addressing that. I think the Yemen war has proven to everyone that that’s a lost cause.

    The Saudi government is asking for security guarantees akin to a NATO Art 5. That is, automatic American arms sales, logistical support, and, if necessary, American boots on the ground. So whatever moral atrocities MBS commits and whatever fights he picks with regional rivals, the US government is an automatic underwriter and bound to come bail them out.

    There is no incentive or requirement for the Saudis to avoid such entanglements or pursue peaceful resolutions or embrace liberal views on human rights. I see a lot of moral hazard there and a recipe for the US to stumble into and get mired waist-deep in domestically-unpopular interventions in “the Big Sandy” for another 100 years.

    I could see defending the pro-Saudi position on realpolitik terms, but I can’t help but keep hearing realism being denounced as an operable foreign policy principle by the high-minded idealistic interventionists in Ukraine and Asia. So unless those ideologues and those that are drinking from their punch bowl are just morally-selective opportunistic hypocrites, that line of reasoning is off-limits.

    It reminds me of that dumb Iraq War-eta bumper sticker on every Volvo and Prius declaring “No War for Oil”. In the case of the Saudi demand, it hits pretty close to the mark and reduces the question to its core essence effectively.

    Collapse
  5. Avatar photo
    George.Skinner

    "The Saudis have made significant investments into developing tourism, nuclear energy, and even space exploration sectors. The U.S. has a vested interest—economic and strategic—in getting its foot in the door of these budding industries ahead of Russia and China."
    That's a big claim for a country where most of the real work is done by foreign contractors. The fact is that Saudi Arabia and the other states in the Gulf are of interest to America (and the rest of the world) primarily for their oil resources. The Saudis have an incredible uphill battle ahead to build an economy that will support their burgeoning population when the value of their oil and gas resources dwindles, and they don't have many inherent advantages other that being the site of the Hajj.

    Collapse
  6. Avatar photo
    Rjosephpaquette

    I’m always torn. Saudi Arabia is terrible on human rights and women’s participation in society. Is isolation and boycott better than engagement as a means to export classical liberal ideals? Are we better off buying their oil and having a voice or boycotting Saudi oil till they advance? Smarter people than me will be making the decision—but seems to me carrot and stick work best.

    Collapse
    1. Avatar photo
      David Chen

      How has engagement worked for China? If bad regimes dont want to change, they wont change. If we only want to engage right now because we need a new gas station, that is criminally stupid when we have untapped domestic production. Biden admin really seems rudderless and purely reactionary in all this.

      Collapse
      1. Avatar photo
        Rjosephpaquette

        We do not just buy gas from them. They buy our weapon systems for example.

        Again, isolation of a nation seems like all stick and no carrot. How has isolation worked out in Cuba? Pepsi and Levi’s helped end the Soviet Union.

        Collapse
        1. Avatar photo
          Loganrjudy

          I think part of what makes this complicated is we also don't want Iran becoming more powerful, and you could embolden them by cutting Saudi Arabia off completely, at least from a weapons perspective.

          But there's the rub because Biden's campaign statement about the Saudi government is 100% correct. Foreign policy just frequently leaves you with only crappy options.

          Of course, we're in a worse scenario because of the Biden administration's soft stance toward Iran, energy dependence on Saudi Arabia, *and* Biden's criticism. I like that third one, personally, but it's a real problem in combination with those first two things.

          Collapse
  7. Avatar photo
    Pat Riot

    The Cold War made us do awful things too.

    Collapse
  8. Avatar photo
    MatthewRobin

    I am always glad to see Charlotte covering foreign policy. To dive a bit deeper, we need to figure out a more economical method to counter drones than using the Patriot anti-air system. Given Lithuania's strong action by blocking rail access to Kalingrad, Patriot systems should be placed there instead.

    Also, if we want Saudi Arabia to be a counterweight to Iran we need to completely reform the armed services. That fact that they cannot defeat the Houthis in a conventional war should be embarrassing for them. But it should not be surprising, monarchial armies usually promote royalty over competent non-royals. If MBS would let us (along with Israel and the UAE) to reform their armed services, that could produce the conditions where we confidently reduce our commitments to the Middle East.

    Collapse