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Dispatches
1) Simon Tisdall, “Let Saudi Arabia’s friendship with Putin be a wake-up call for the west; Prince Mohammed bin Salman can no longer be allowed privileged access to, and support from, western leaders,” The Guardian, October 13, 2022 (08:12 GMT);
Analysis
Saudi Arabia’s Mohamed bin Salman (MBS) ignored Joe Biden’s and America’s entreaties to maintain or increase its oil production at current levels. Instead, MBS led OPEC in deciding to cut OPEC production by 2 million barrels a day, which is likely to drive gas prices up at the pump before the midterm elections on November 8. MBS recently visited Putin, as the head of the UAE has just done.
They are autocrats. MBS is reportedly the author of the brutal assassination and dismembering of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. Biden forget America’s dedication to human rights when recently he went on bended knee to plead with MBS to maintain oil production.
Saudi and Emirati oil fiels and installations have been effectively attacked by Iranian and Houthi missiles. The countries depend on the U.S. for their air defenses.
Is it perhaps time to let them fend for themselves, and to block military sales to countries that do not comply with the human right requirements of military assistance and sales legislation. They can receive such weapons only if the president “waives” these human rights requirements on grounds of national security.
Next time maybe Biden shouldn’t issue such a waiver.
At the end of the day, Americans may have much more in common with Iran’s future rulers than they do with MBS and his friend in the UAE.
Maybe it’s time for Western companies to consider whether Dubai in the UAE is still the best place to base their businesses in the region.
Surely there are other possible locations, such as Amman (Jordan), Cairo or Beirut. There is no reason for them to keep investing in countries whose leaders are friends of Putin, and of Donald Trump and the authoritarian right in the United States.
The Trenchant Observer
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