President Joe Biden, 80, whose foreign policy pitted the U.S. in a bloody war with Russia in Ukraine, decided to send 45-year-old National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan to Saudi Arabia to mend fences. Biden met July 15, 2022 with 37-year-old Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over objections of many Democrat leaders due to Oct. 2, 2018 death of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. U.S. intel agencies say that Bin Salman ordered the murder of Khashoggi at the Saudi embassy in Instanbul. Biden, as a candidate, said he would never recognize Bin Salman as the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia. Then, when U.S. gas prices went through roof after the start of the Ukraine War, Biden betrayed his principles, fist-bumping with Bin Salman in Riyadh, hoping to persuade the Saudi leader to increase oil production to help offset Biden’s boycott of Russian oil.
Bin Salman has close ties with 70-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin, often coordinating with OPEC production levels to maintain the value of crude oil on world markets. Biden visited with Bin Salman hoping for a boost to Saudi oil production, only to see Bin Salman announce a few weeks later that he was cutting production. Biden said publicly that there would be consequences to Bin Salman for not increasing oil production, actually cutting it. Relations with The Kingdom deteriorated to the point that Riyadh recently entered into an economic pact with India and China, causing even more embarrassment to Biden’s foreign policy. Sending Sullivan to meet with Bin Salman shows utter desperation, knowing that U.S.-Saudi relations have hit an all-time low. Biden expected all countries to go along with his sanctions against Moscow for the Ukraine War.
No one demanded that Biden go to war with the Kremlin to express his contempt for the Ukraine War. Biden hoped early on that his punitive economic sanctions would drive Putin to pull out of Ukraine. Joining Ukraine’s war against the Kremlin, Biden trashed decades of U.S.-Russian relations, opting to defend Ukraine over critical U.S. foreign policy interests. U.S. State Department no longer coordinates with Moscow on key foreign policy issues affecting hot spots around the globe. Before Biden, Russia used to cooperate with the U.S. on North Korea, Iran, Yemen, Sudan and other urgent areas round the globe. Sending Sullivan, not 60-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinken, to Riyadh sounds desperate. During the height of the Ukraine War, Bin Salman signed a trade pact March 29 with Russia, China, India, Pakistan and four other South Asian nations, slapping Biden in the face.
Biden’s foreign policy with Blinken and Sullivan has managed to alienate Russia, China and Saudi Arabia to the point of military confrontation. Biden opted to go to war against the Kremlin to defend Ukraine at the expense of U.S. foreign policy. Bin Salman knows Biden’s erratic temperament, threatening The Kingdom with sanctions, all because he wouldn’t jump through Biden’s hoops of increasing oil production. When it comes to Russia and China, Biden thinks he can coerce other nations into following his lead on Ukraine. Biden created a reluctant coalition in Europe to oppose Moscow on Ukraine at the expense of losing China and India, the world’s two most populous countries. When it comes to Russia, Biden can’t stomach the fact that Putin still has longstanding relations with many countries that don’t agree with U.S. foreign policy, especially on the U.S. going to war wit the Kremlin.
Sending Sullivan to meet Bin Salman is a huger risk because of his track record of alienating China. Sullivan and Blinken met with China in Anchorage, Alaska March 18, 2021 for a get-to-know you summit, promptly accusing Beijing of genocide on Muslim Uyghurs. Sullivan and Blinken entered the summit as neophytes, offending Chinese senior diplomats to the point of nearly breaking off diplomatic relations. So, when Biden says he’s sending his “top” adviser to meet Bin Salman there should be considerable anxiety over the outcome. Sullivan isn’t timid about offending foreign leaders, accusing them of all kinds of things. Sullivan said he would “discuss areas of cooperation between New Delhi, and the Gulf, as well the rest of the region,” ignoring the fact that Bin Salman already entered into an economic pact with China and India, both buying Russian and Saudi oil.
If Sullivan goes to Riyadh thinking he’s going to coerce Bin Salman into taking a stand against Putin, he’s got another thing coming. Bin Salman doesn’t take a position on the Ukraine War, if nothing else, seeing the U.S. at fault by arming Ukraine with unlimited lethal weapons. Sullivan claims his agenda involves discussing Yemen’s Houthi rebels that have neared ending any conflict with Riyadh. When former President Donald Trump was in office, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels routinely attacked the Kingdom, firing Cruise missiles at Riyadh’s international airport and at Aramco oil refineries. Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi recently completed constructive talks with Bin Salman at restoring diplomatic relations. Biden has no diplomatic relations with Iran and is on the verge of losing relations with Russia and China. Sullivan needs to listen more, talk less, with Bin Salman.
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.
