Already alienating the Russian Federation and Communist China to the point of war, 79-year-old President Joe Biden takes out his ire on Saudi Arabia, all because Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman won’t increase oil production. Biden propensity to alienate U.S. allies and adversaries has been extraordinary, leaving U.S. national security in the most vulnerable spot since WW II. Biden started a proxy war using Ukrainian troops against he Russian Federation, promising to remove Putin from power and to degrade the Russian military to the point it can no longer wage war. When Putin invaded Ukraine Feb. 24, Biden has been supplying Kiev with combat weapons for months, driving the Kremlin to take what Russian President Vladimir Putin calls “special military operation,” essentially to demilitarize Ukraine. So when Biden started his proxy war against Putin, he’d been supplying Kiev arms for months.
Biden’s tendency to lash out at any country that doesn’t acquiesce to his Once demands present problems for U.S. foreign policy. Saudi Arabia has been a consistent ally in the Middle East to the United States for generations, reliably supply oil until the 1973 OPEC oil embargo drove prices through the roof, at least for that time, creating widespread shortages of gasoline at the pumps. Once the OPEC embargo took place, the U.S. set a long course of energy independence, long before anyone knew anything about global warming or climate change. Under former President Donald Trump’s four years in office, he did everything possible to incentivize the fracking industry to ramp up U.S. oil production. Once Biden took office, he did everything possible to dismantle Trump’s energy independence, making a renewed push for alternative energy industry.
Less than two years later, Biden finds himself heading into a Midterm election that could swing the House and Senate back to Republicans, making the next two years of his presidency gridlock. Biden capitulated with the radical fringe of his party led by 32-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to scuttle the Keystone XL pipeline, approved by Trump, and commited to the fracking industry. Biden’s proxy war in Ukraine boycotted all Russian oil, accounting to 5% of the U.S. import market, creating shortages and skyrocketing prices. Things were far worse in the U.K. and European Union, where Russia supplies some 25% of gasoline and 40% of natural gas. Facing a long cold winter, Europe doesn’t know how it’s going to make up for the loss of Russian energy supplies. What’s known for sure is that energy prices are up over 100% in the U.K. and EU.
Biden’s approach to the Ukraine War didn’t take into account the oil shock created worldwide by a Russian oil embargo. If that weren’t bad enough creating global inflation and recession, Biden now attacks Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for not ramping up more Saudi oil production. Biden’s been told that OPEC has set strict production limits, all designed to boos the price of oil on world markets. Biden blames Bin Salman because he recklessly ended U.S. fossil fuel independence. “There’s going to be some consequences for what they’ve don with Russia,” Biden said of Saudi Arabia, knowing that Russia is an integral part of the OPEC oil cartel. “I’m not going to get into what I’d consider and what I have in mind. But there will be—there will be consequences,” Biden said. Biden said in 2020 that he would never recognize Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Biden and the U.S. press accuse Bin Salman of ordering the Oct. 2, 2018 hit on Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi entered the Saudi Embassy in Istanbul and never came out, at least alive. Biden knows that 86-year-old Saudi King Salman no longer runs the Kingdom. That duty was handed over to Bin Salman years ago. But that didn’t stop Biden from visiting Bin Salman July 15, begging the Crown Prince to increase oil exports to the U.S. Biden’s visit backfired, with Bin Salman knowing Biden accuses him of murdering Khashoggi Oct. 2, 2018. Biden was pushed to visit Bin Salman because high energy prices are killing Democrat prospects in the Midterm election. Whether Biden admits it or not, he blames Bin Salman for no bailing Democrats out before the Nov. 8 Midterm election. Bad economic news has voters looking away from Democrats.
Threatening Saudi Arabia is no way to treat a traditional ally, especially one Biden counts on to deal with future energy needs. With little prospects of Biden returning to Trump’s fracking industry, the U.S. grows more dependent on foreign suppliers for fossil fuels. Biden’s Russian oil embargo has precipitated the worst inflation in over 40 years, prompting the Federal Reserve Board to continue hiking interest rates. Biden’s proxy war against the Russian Federation has created the most dangerous security situation since WW II. Even in the depth of the Cold War, the U.S. never went to war against the Soviet Union. Biden’s proxy war against the Russian Federation has driven the worst inflation in 40 years. Apart from the obvious risks of escalation to WW III on the European Continent, the prospect of worldwide wide recession looms high as the war goes on.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analzying spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
