US President Joe Biden, who as a candidate vowed to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” in response to the assassination of a prominent dissident Jamal Khashoggi, has decided to travel to Riyadh this month to rebuild relations with the oil-rich kingdom at a time when he is seeking to lower gas prices at home and isolate Russia abroad, The New York Times reported on Thursday.
While the timing was still being discussed, Biden planned to add the visit to a previously scheduled trip to Europe and ‘Israel’, administration officials said, asking for anonymity because the trip had not been formally announced.
During his stop in Riyadh, the US president will meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who was deemed responsible for the dismemberment of the dissident, the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
Biden will also meet with the leaders of other Arab nations, including Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates.
The visit represents the triumph of realpolitik over moral outrage, according to foreign policy experts. In the wake of Russia’s operation in Ukraine, Biden has found it necessary to court other energy producers to replace oil from Moscow and stabilize world markets, the NYT reported.
The group of oil-producing nations called OPEC Plus, led by Saudi Arabia, announced earlier on Thursday that it would increase production modestly in July and August. American officials expect the group to do more in the fall, but it may not be enough to bring down prices at the pump before November’s congressional elections.
The Biden administration had already been stepping up cooperation with Saudi Arabia on a variety of issues even before Russia’s operation in Ukraine roiled world energy markets, particularly in seeking an end to the eight-year-old Saudi-led war in neighboring Yemen. A two-month-old truce was extended on Thursday, and Biden praised Saudi leaders for their role. “Saudi Arabia demonstrated courageous leadership by taking initiatives early on to endorse and implement terms of the U.N.-led truce,” he said in a statement.
The diplomacy and the US president’s trip signify an effort to repair the rupture in relations stemming from the 2018 death of Mr. Khashoggi, the NYT said. American intelligence concluded that Prince Mohammed, the de facto leader of the kingdom, ordered the hit team that killed and dismembered Mr. Khashoggi at a consulate in Istanbul.
Source: NYT
