Saudi Arabia

By Michael Page | Deputy Director, Middle East and North Africa Division | – ( Human Rights Watch ) – President Biden is set to land in Saudi Arabia later this week to meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman amid disturbing media reports that, if true, signal a policy reversal that could lead to […]

Climate Crisis

The Troubling Message of Biden’s Trip to Saudi Arabia

Basav Sen

( Foreign Policy in Focus) – President Biden has set out on his travels to Saudi Arabia. The implications of the trip for the intertwined issues of human rights and energy policy are dire. The Saudi Arabia visit represents a 180-degree turn for Biden, who once called Saudi Arabia a “pariah” while campaigning for president. […]

censorship

Biden once wanted to make Saudi Arabia a ‘pariah’ – so why is he playing nice with the kingdom’s repressive rulers now?

The Conversation

By Jeffrey Fields, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences | – (The Conversation) – Even before setting foot in the Middle East for his first visit to the region as president, Joe Biden felt compelled to defend a portion of the trip. “I know that there are many who disagree with my decision […]

Featured

On Cusp of Biden visit to Saudi Arabia, GAO questions US Accounting for Civilian Harm caused in Yemen by its Weapons

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President Biden is on the cusp of going off to Saudi Arabia as one part of his upcoming Middle East trip. One of the failures of Mr. Biden has been completely disengaging the US from the Saudi-led war on Yemen, which he had pledged to do. Although there has been […]

Apartheid

Saudi Arabia: Biden Visit Risks Fostering Repression: US Should Publicly Seek Rights Commitments, Reforms

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch – (Beirut) – US President Joe Biden’s expected visit to Saudi Arabia to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman risks encouraging new abuses and further entrenching impunity, 13 human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, said today in a joint letter to President Biden. The Biden administration should secure clear and […]

Authoritarianism

Biden Reverses himself on Saudi “Pariah,” needing Riyadh’s Oil to Punish Putin for Ukraine

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President Joe Biden ran on making Saudi Arabia a “pariah,” given that the CIA accused Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman of authorizing the murder in 2018 of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in the Istanbul Saudi consulate. Biden and a bipartisan majority in the US Congress were also upset about […]

Featured

Saudi Arabia Snubs US, Rejects Russia Boycott, as Rumors Fly Biden may meet with the Crown Prince

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Even as the possibility of a visit to Riyadh by President Joe Biden after his upcoming trip to Israel is being rumored, Saudi Arabia is signalling that it cannot be brought on board with the NATO effort to sanction Russia. Last week the Saudi Minister of Energy, Abdul Aziz bin […]

Russia

Did the Ukraine War lead to Turkish-Saudi Rapprochement?

Middle East Monitor

Motasem A Dalloul | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – Turkish President Recep Erdogan visited Jeddah in July 2017 and met Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman to mediate for an end to the blockade imposed on Qatar by the Saudis, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt. “No […]

Featured

Jared Kushner to invest Saudi Funds in Israeli Tech: Is MBS sidestepping his father King Salman on Palestine?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Dion Nissenbaum and Rory Jones at the Wall Street Journal got the scoop that Affinity, Jared Kushner’s investment firm, will invest some of the $2 billion it got from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund in Israel. Kushner told the WSJ that he sees building investment and business ties between the […]