This high-level diplomatic maneuvering sure is confusing stuff!
Posted on 02/17/2021 7:11:42 AM PST by SJackson
President Joe Biden is working to "recalibrate" the American relationship with Saudi Arabia, White House press secretary Jenn Psaki said Tuesday, and plans to communicate with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud instead of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
"We've made clear from the beginning that we're going to recalibrate our relationship with Saudi Arabia," Psaki said during a news briefing.
"And part of that is going back to engagement, counterpart to counterpart. The President's counterpart is King Salman, and I expect that, in appropriate time, he would have a conversation with him. I don't have a prediction of the timeline on that."
The approach marks another notable break from former President Donald Trump, who had been strongly supportive of bin Salman even after US intelligence agencies' concluded that he had personally ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post, had written critically about the prince's policies in the kingdom. US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told lawmakers during her confirmation hearing that she would "absolutely" provide Congress an unclassified report on Khashoggi's murder.
Biden had announced earlier this month that the US will end all support for Saudi Arabia's offensive operations in Yemen. The conflict "has created a humanitarian and strategic catastrophe," the President said, even as he made clear the US will "continue to help and support Saudi Arabia."
The administration has also paused arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as it conducts a wider review of agreements worth billions of dollars made by the Trump administration, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
Secretary of State Tony Blinken confirmed that pending arms sales are under review...
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
The Saudis must learn it's not up to them to determine their leadership. The Big Guy is in town.
IMO, cutting arms sales isn't about Yemin, it's about protecting Iran. A threat to our allies in the region. But in Joe's opinion, a threat to his pet Mullahs. And to interfere with the Abraham Accords, another threat to Iran. And per John Kerry, the second smartest man in the world, impossible to achieve.
At the end of last year, the Trump administration pushed through a number of high-dollar arms sales to Riyadh and Abu Dhabi tied to the Abraham Accords, which were agreements to normalize relations with Israel.The former administration had issued an emergency declaration in 2019 in order to expedite arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE in circumvention of congressional concerns. Lawmakers opposed the sales due to Saudi Arabia's and the UAE's involvement in the bloody conflict in Yemen, as well as the killing of Khashoggi.
This high-level diplomatic maneuvering sure is confusing stuff!
Well played, sir! lol
Riiiiight— “recalibrating” with the demented Saud King who at 85 designated Mohammed bin Salman as leader of the country (it’s called “De Facto”.. i.e. in point of fact, the ruler)==
gonna have the demented joebama recalibrate with the demented Saud King who runs...nothing and lives in a clinic in Geneva.
This is some brilliant crap as these losers try to peel apart the Abraham peace accords that cuts out the Iranians completely. That is to say- is run by Netanyahu and Mohammed bin Salman. And our stupid a@@es like Kerry think they can manipulate this... by exposing the Kashoggi (who was MUCH MORE than a journalist- but a see eye ehhh front arms supplier, the son of Dr. Death— Adnan Kashoggi, and neither of whom were great losses to humanity). Nobody cares about the Kashoggi junior— it is how they cleaned the Saud House of the grifters and rip off princes... like Talwaleed (who was hung upside down in the Ritz “prison” until he coughed up all his accounts he’d skimmed money into- and gave up his lib dem media support, like ABC, and CNN)- and a couple of Princes who were assassinated (one dropped out of a helicopter).
These idiots think they can mess with the Sauds- no, they can’t. The Sauds got rid of both the Houthis and al Qaeda in Yemen BECAUSE McCain, obamaumao, and the idiots in brennanland were aiding two anti-Saudi groups (Houthis and AlQaeda) both of whom were supported fully by... IRAN! Saudis didn’t ask permission, and the bozo Lloyd Austin is back in place trying to correct his massive f up. Incompetents all of them
LOL - Two Dear Leaders, BOTH totally incapacitated by dementia. Can you imagine the conversation...Senile Joe: “Hello King Salmon, this is Joe.” King: “Give me applesauce or you get no oil.” Senile Joe: “You want me to bathe you in applesauce oil?” King: “I would like bath in applesauce oil.” Senile Joe: “Jill, get Kamala, this call is for her”.
With China joe the highest bidder always wins.
At least one of them recognizes it, which is why he has delegated authority. Maybe Joe should let Kamala communicate with MBS
They don’t dare let either of those two talk to MbS.
BiteMe is senile and Heels Up is an idiot.
somebody might want to tell senile old prick that it's NOT UP TO HIM!!! how i hope they tell him to f'off
“IMO, cutting arms sales isn’t about Yemen, it’s about protecting Iran.”
There is that, but in my opinion, it is being used to pressure the Saudi Crown Prince, MBS.
It may be as simple as shaking him down for bribes to get the weapons. Mid-East Arabs are a long standing source of graft for American politicians.
They may have broader geopolitical objectives, like scuttling or halting the spread of the Abraham Accords, engineering different Saudi leadership (even possibly a Muslim Brotherhood overthrow of the monarchy), and/or as you say, supporting the rise of Iran to regional hegemon.
Maybe just showing MBS who’s boss, bringing him to heel, to make him generally compliant with whatever their changing priorities might be in the future.
Two flew over the cuckoo’s nest...Iran rejoicing...
What if the Saudi King doesn’t want communications to be “recalibrated”?
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