The White House confirmed this week that US president Joe Biden will travel to Saudi Arabia and Israel from July 13 to July 16.
The announcement from the White House comes at a time when the US requires Saudi’s help to calm the energy market as developing economies as well as economies like China and India turn towards Russian oil.
The announcement made by White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was however not met with warmth from many commentators.
Investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald in a series of tweets this week called out the hypocrisy of the Biden administration as well as the mainstream American media.
Greenwald attacked Biden for reneging on his promise to turn Saudi Arabia into a pariah for its human rights records – while highlighting that the promise was made during his campaign when there was global furor over the death and dismembering of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
As I wrote yesterday, the close US/Saudi partnership shows that the US does not care — at all — if other countries are democratic or despotic. It only cares that other countries' regimes serve US interests. Trump's only sin was he was honest about this.https://t.co/UDCOhIn41O— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 13, 2022
The Biden administration in 2021 revealed in a finding that Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, popularly known as MBS, was the mastermind behind the death of the Saudi critic.
The journalist also attacked mainstream media channels which lean center or left for whitewashing Biden’s recent move comparing it with the criticism Donald Trump received during his presidency when he strengthened ties with MBS and several of detractors said that the US president at that time was insulting American values.
WATCH: Biden, 2020 campaign, on what he vowed he would do — if elected President — to the Saudis and the US/Saudi partnership as punishment for murdering Jamal Khashoggi and slaughtering Yemeni children. pic.twitter.com/CiP4qqRIBP— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 14, 2022
Greenwald said that US foreign policy still focuses on serving its own interests. He says that Trump was chided because he was honest about it.
Greenwald also pointed out that months after Biden assumed his role, he sold air-to-air missiles to the Saudis in 2021, violating his own promises.
Biden, however, will visit Saudi Arabia in a bid to tame the domestic oil market and inflation which signals a Democratic drubbing in the upcoming midterm elections.
He will also attend the Gulf Cooperation Council meeting with leaders from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as being joined by the leaders of Egypt, Iraq and Jordan, people familiar with the developments told news agency AFP.
He also will meet leaders of India, Israel and UAE for a virtual summit of the so-called I2-U2 diplomatic group.
(with inputs from AFP)
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