Washington-Riyadh: Ties put under the microscope

The political tensions plaguing US policymakers, political parties, and legislatures, particularly with respect to Saudi Arabia, are perhaps the best expression of the loss of compass in US foreign policy in recent years. So much so that Washington no longer distinguishes sides of the political spectrum. It does not distinguish between friend, ally, and competitor.

It does not even weigh or risk its strategic interests because of its obsession with Russia and China.

US President Joe Biden has left behind the concerns of the United States, the files and issues of American foreign policy, which already have to deal with such serious files as the crises in Ukraine and Taiwan, the decline of American influence and the possibility of nuclear war, and has devoted himself to the dispute with Saudi Arabia, his country’s close strategic ally for decades.

It is true that the strategic files on President Biden’s desk are linked. They share mutual influence.

But the focus on Riyadh and the repeated talk of reassessing relations and the overt or covert hints about breaking off military cooperation, etc., seem excessive and place Riyadh in a position that flies in the face of the history and evolution of relations between the two countries and the basis of existing and potential interests between the two countries.

Common sense is lacking and American presumptuousness dominates the management of relations with other countries, even if it is detrimental to Washington’s own interests. President Biden may be «upset,» as he says, with the Saudi position. He has the right to announce that he is working with Congress to «reevaluate» relations with Saudi Arabia now.

This is an understandable attempt to contain brewing domestic sentiment ahead of the midterm elections. These are positions, by the way, that have nothing to do with Saudi policy, including the recent OPEC+ decision and the search for their country’s strategic interests, regardless of what is right or wrong in that approach.

But I don’t know why the White House reserves all this for itself and doesn’t see that Riyadh also has the right to shape its relations with the US and other countries in the way that serves its interests. I also don’t know where the US gets the idea that Saudi Arabia or any other country should sacrifice its interests to satisfy Washington’s desires or goals in terms of oil or anything else.

And why didn’t the White House think the same way when negotiating with Iran and ignore the interests of Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Gulf? Why didn’t it think to include these states in the talks in Vienna, or at least take their concerns into account? And given the serious threat posed to Saudi oil facilities by the Houthi criminal attacks, why did it not think along the same lines?

It has not once thought of fulfilling the obligations arising from the strategic alliance between Riyadh and Washington. It was content to turn a blind eye and make verbal statements to suit Tehran and avoid the risk of angering it for fear of a breakdown in negotiations to revive the nuclear agreement.

As observers, we noted months ago the disdain the United States has for its allies in the Middle East. Now we see the US putting those allies under the microscope once again. But from a different perspective.

It is singling them out and not trying hard enough to look for the roots and causes of what is happening. It ignores the dynamics that have developed in the foreign policies and governance mechanisms of these countries as young leaders with great ambitions for their country come to the fore.

They seek to use their resources to realize those ambitions and move their country into the strategic position it deserves, away from the legacy of equations on which international relations were built in previous eras, especially since US partners think only of that legacy when they speak of their interests.

I do not know how it can be that American political circles have not recognized the gradual change in allies’ policy. More importantly, it has not tried to examine the causes and deal with them in the light of current facts. The causes all lie in Washington and its corridors.

Not in Riyadh or other Middle Eastern capitals. Besides, Saudi Arabia and other heavyweights are seeing with their own eyes how the new world order is emerging after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and then the outbreak of war in Ukraine.

This requires all of them to act prudently and to shape relations with all major powers according to well-considered calculations and decisions that guarantee the interests of these countries, and not out of blind obeisance to alliances to which the other partner is not itself committed.

Many countries pursue policies similar to those of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and the other Arab and Gulf states. Major regional powers such as India are positioning themselves as neutrally as possible in the Ukraine crisis. Other countries, including most African and Asian states, are taking a similar stance.

Some of these countries have partnerships and alliances with the United States. So what is happening in American politics and legislature regarding Saudi Arabia is nothing but the incarnation of the art of losing friends. Talk of ending military cooperation, etc. is a threat that harms American businesses themselves before it touches Saudi interests.

All of this requires the US to rein in its impulsiveness, rationalize its policies, adjust to change, and understand the background of Saudi attitudes and policies rather than engage in conspiracy theories and other explanations that fuel American hysteria.