Showing that there’s some sanity in the White House, 78-year-old President Joe Biden resisted calls to sanction Saudi ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman [MBS] for the Oct. 2, 2018 murder of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi foolishly went to the Saudi embassy in Istanbul to get papers to clear him for marriage to his Turkish fiancé Hatice Cengiz. Once Khashoggi entered the embassy, he disappeared forever. Releasing a declassified intel report on Khashoggi death Feb. 26, the Office of National Intelligence concluded that his murder was ordered by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Saudi officials insist that while Bin Salman takes responsibility, he did not order or authorize the hit on Khasoggic. Given that backdrop, Biden was under enormous pressure from Democrats and the U.S. press to sanction Bin Salman and key members of the Saudi government.
Biden showed something not seen yet in his first five weeks in office: Get beyond the Trump-bashing to solid U.S. foreign policy. Whether or not U.S. intel agencies got the likely scenario right, Biden must look at the big picture of Saudi Arabia as a loyal and steady U.S. ally, regardless of what happened Oct. 2, 2018. Biden used 74-year-old former President Donald Trump’s lack of response to Saudi Arabia to highlight the former president of negligence. Yet, when push came to shove, Biden realized that sanctioning Bin Salman would harm U.S. leverage in the Middle East and national security. “We are working to put the U.S. Saudi relationship on the right footing,” said State Department spokesman Ned Price, letting the press know that the U.S. would not be sanctioning the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia. Can you imagine the irrationality of the press thinking only that Bin Salman must be punished.
Khashoggi worked as a contributor to the Washington Post, writing pieces largely critical of Bin Salman’s authoritarian rule, as he transitioned as de facto leader from his ailing 85-year-old father, King Salman bin Absulaziz Al Saud. Biden, who held a brief conversation with King Salman Oct. 26, told the monarch that things would be changing when it comes to U.S. Saudi relations. Biden criticized Trump for giving Bin Salman a pass on Khashoggi’s death, continuing business as usual, including arms sales with the Kingdom. Bidien’s inner circle wanted to contrast Joe with Trump but realized that’s all water under the bridge. Trump didn’t apply sanctions to Bin Salman because the Saudi government denied that the Crown Prince was behind Khashoggi’s gruesome murder and dismemberment. Recently released intel report confirmed what was already known, that MBS was behind Khashoggi’s murder.
Price told reporters that the intent of U.S. policy was to “recalibrate” U.S.-Saudi relations not to “rupture” it. Price confirmed that had Biden sanctioned MBS it would “greatly diminish U.S. influence in Riyadh,” Price said. “It appears as though under the Biden administration, despots who offer momentarily strategic value to the Unites States might be given one free murder pass,” said Washington Post publisher Fred Ryan. Khasoggi worked for the Post as an opinion columnist, often disparaging MBS, as he took charge of the Kingdom. State Department officials announced Feb. 26 that 76 Saudis were place on a no-fly list and the Treasury Department imposed financial sanctions on Saudis involved in Khashoggi’s death. Yet the press wasn’t satisfied, expecting Biden to sanction Bin Salman.
Whether the U.S. is energy independent or not, Saudi Arabia is a strategic ally in the fight against Islamic terrorism, including Iran’s state-sponsored terrorism. Losing Saudi Arabia as a key U.S. ally would upend U.S. clout in the Middle East and arounnd the world. “The choices Riyadh makes will have outsized implications for the region,” Price said, resisting calls to sanction MBS directly. ‘Our goal in all of this is to be able to shape those choices going forward. That’s why we’ve have talked about this not as a rupture but as a calibration to ensure that we retain that influence in what we need for our own interests,’ Price said. Biden needs to extrapolate that solid advice into the U.S. treatment of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation. U.S. and European Union [EU] officials have threatened sanctions against the Russian Federation for treatment of 44-year-old dissident Alexi Navalny.
Much as the U.S. would like to play world policeman and moral conscience around the globe, there are practical considerations to alienating U.S. adversaries and allies. Biden did the exact right thing in Saudi Arabia, even if it matches what Trump did in the wake of Khashoggi’s death. Biden no needs to apply the exact same logic when dealing with Putin over the Navalny affair. Navalyny, Russia’s best known anti-Putin Trotskyite, is now in a notorious penal colony 60 miles east of Moscow. In the scheme of things, Biden’s got far more at stake sanctioning Putin than Bin Salman. Putin controls many different hot spots around the globe, capable of helping U.S. foreign policy from the Mideast to Asia and parts between. Sanctioning Putin over a longstanding Russian dissident calling to overthrow Putin would be disastrous. No matter how much pressure from the U.S. press, Biden must do what best for U.S. national security.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
