The U.S.-Saudi romance is back. That’s at least the story in most reports about the visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) to the White House, and the one the White House is selling: where Trump set aside concerns about Saudi Arabia’s human rights record, especially the murder of Saudi journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi, and put U.S. interests first to get a series of lucrative cooperative deals with the Saudis.
But the new deal with Saudi Arabia is essentially the old one, and MBS is a sideshow. The new initiatives are mostly press releases lacking substance. They reinforce the old, bipartisan set-up with the Saudis—one resting on a myth that U.S. energy security requires buying Saudi goodwill. The U.S. should distance itself from the Saudis instead of cozying up, not because MBS is a thug but because it’s in our interest to do so.
Recall that after the Khashoggi’s 2018 murder in Istanbul, which MBS reportedly ordered, Congress voted to halt most assistance for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen, although President Trump vetoed the law. Joe Biden insisted during his presidential campaign that Saudi Arabia be treated as a “pariah.”
Trump tried to turn the page in his meeting with the Prince, greeting him with royal pomp, denying his role in the killing, and even berating a reporter for asking about it. The message was that we’re back to business with Saudi Arabia in ways that serve U.S. interests, justice be damned.
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