Biden like Trump in the Middle East

By Kostas Raptis

It’s not usual for an American president to apologize, in a sarcastic way, to his domestic audience for a major initiative he intends to take in the field of foreign policy. But that’s exactly what Joe Biden did, publishing an op-ed in the Washington Post on Saturday about the Middle East tour that begins Wednesday, with stops in Israel, the West Bank and Saudi Arabia.

Criticism and skepticism in the American audience is obviously about the third destination, since Joe Biden himself treated the crown prince and strongman of the Saud kingdom as a pariah, given the verdict of American intelligence that Mohammed bin Salman was the one who ordered the brutal assassination of exiled Saudi journalist (Washington Post contributor and CIA protégé) Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul;

“From the beginning, my goal was the reorientation (but not the rupture) of our relations with a country that has been a strategic partner for eighty years. Today, Saudi Arabia has contributed to the restoration of the unity of the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, he argues fully the truce in Yemen and is now working with my experts to restore oil markets together with other OPEC producers,” Biden argued in his op-ed, wanting to paint the picture of a change of course on the part of the kingdom.

In fact, the change of course is his own – and he has no trouble presenting the reasons for it himself.

“As president, I have a duty to keep our country strong and secure. We must fend off Russia’s aggression, put ourselves in the best possible position to prevail against China, and work for more stability in a critical region of the world.” the occupant of the White House pointed out in his article.

Since the priorities of the new Cold War prevail over all others, it is not paradoxical that Washington chooses the economy of forces and the mitigation of friction on “value” grounds. However, even in the context of coldly realistic calculations, Biden cannot boast of any success of his , as Saudi Arabia insists on honoring its OPEC+ oil production quota agreements with Russia.

The American president claims that he took over from his immediate predecessor a less stable Middle East. But objective observers point out that his Middle East policy is a continuation, rather than a break, with the Trump era.

What is done is not done: neither has the American embassy in Israel returned from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, nor has Washington distanced itself, as the Biden team initially seemed to want, from the Trump-inspired Abraham Accords between the Jewish state and some Arab monarchies. And most importantly: Trump’s dismantling of the 2015 deal on Tehran’s nuclear program (the most important diplomatic achievement of the Obama presidency) has not been fixed. The talks have been deadlocked due to the reluctance of the American side to lift, as requested by Iran, the Trump administration’s inclusion of the Revolutionary Guards in the list of terrorist organizations.

In fact, the developments of the last months do not contribute to the emergence of a more stable “Middle East”. The overcoming of intra-Arab conflicts between Qatar and the other monarchies of the Gulf Council, the ceasefire in Yemen and the change of rhetoric in the Middle East, the re-emergence of the Palestinian Authority as an interlocutor, with (lukewarm) disapproval of new Jewish settlements and with a re-emphasis on the “two-state solution”, are the reverse side of an attempt to align US regional allies in the perspective of an “Arab NATO” and a possible escalation of the confrontation with Iran, according to the constant wishes of the “priests” within the Israeli leadership, but now also the needs of the planetary bra-de-fer with the emerging Eurasian axis.

And close to the profitable transactions: according to Reuters, the Biden administration is in talks to lift the embargo on the sale of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia, as long as the truce in Yemen is respected. It is recalled that the Kingdom of Saud absorbed 23% of US arms exports between 2017 and 2021.

Things about “American values” can wait. Just as Khashoggi’s fiancee, who sent an open letter to Biden, or the family of Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh, who was killed during Israeli operations in Jenin, will obviously wait. also in her letter on Friday she requested a meeting with the American president.