One stop on President Joe Biden’s Middle East trip is in Saudi Arabia, where he will apparently meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known also as “MBS.” You know, the same MBS who ordered Jamal Khashoggi — a U.S. permanent resident who lived in Virginia — to be killed. (Murdered and dismembered, to be specific.)
On the campaign trail in 2020, Biden declared, “the days of cozying up to dictators are over” and vowed to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah.” That, of course, was before we needed more oil. Like, really, really needed more oil. (Never mind that Saudi Arabia won’t be able to drive prices down much.)
Thanks to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and subsequent sanctions and embargoes, the world oil market has been turned upside down and inflation and high gas prices threaten Democrats in the midterm elections. As a nation, it seems we would rather support brutal dictators to get cheap oil than stand by our principles.
There are, of course, numerous realpolitik reasons to stay cozy with Saudi Arabia, but those reasons are getting harder to stomach in the face of thousands of dead children in Yemen, murdered journalists and continued repression in the Kingdom of Head-Lopping.
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