Who Lost Saudi Arabia?

So, the Wall Street Journal asks how Joe Biden lost Saudi Arabia. It is not a trivial issue. In the grand scheme of great power politics, Saudi Arabia is a major player. As the Journal reported and as we dutifully noted here, if the Saudis decide to replace the Petrodollar with the Petroyuan, the American dollar’s reserve status will be seriously threatened.

Among the reasons for the Saudi dissatisfaction with the Biden administration is the simple fact that Biden is hellbent, regardless of the cost, of reviving the Iranian nuclear deal. More power to Iran, less power to Saudi Arabia, to the Emirates and to Israel. That this action bespeaks a flagrant form of anti-Semitism should be obvious to everyone. Of course, it is not.

How bad are administration relations with the Gulf Arab states? Firas Maksad explains in a Journal op-ed:

When the leaders of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates decline phone calls from the president of the United States, rebuff his requests to help lower oil prices, and shy away from condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and when the U.A.E. hosts Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in Abu Dhabi, there is no doubt that a major crisis in U.S.-Arab Gulf relations is under way.

We might add that when Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the Saudis and the Emiratis and proposed to meet with them in person, they rebuffed him. That is a very bad sign.

The Journal editorialized about the situation:

In case you missed it amid the war news, the Journal this week reported that Saudi Arabia is edging closer to accepting the yuan as payment for oil shipments to China. This is one more cost, and a potentially significant one, of the Biden Administration’s bungled handling of a strategically important ally.

Details of the potential new Saudi-Chinese oil-trading arrangements remain vague. The two sides have talked for years about pricing some oil sales in yuan, and it may not happen. Some 80% of global oil sales are priced in U.S. dollars, the yuan is not freely convertible as a reserve currency must be, and Saudi Arabia’s currency, the riyal, is pegged to the dollar.

So, the Biden administration wants more Iranian energy resources for Europe, but it has shut down an Israeli pipeline project that would have sent natural gas to Europe. 

Dare we mention that the Biden administration removed the Houthi rebels from the terrorist list, only to see the group launch rocket attacks against the Saudis and the Emiratis. Moreover, Biden also held up arms shipments that the Trump administration had promised to the Emirates and also those that were requested by the Saudis.

The policy is not just stupid. It is clearly biased toward Iran.

Just the News reports on the Israeli pipeline project, killed by the Biden administration:

In that process, the Biden administration has turned to Iran as a potential supplier — just two months after effectively killing an Israeli pipeline project that would have supplied natural gas to Europe.

What happened to the Israeli pipeline project?

Meanwhile, as Western countries try to wean themselves off Russian energy, there are growing calls to revive the EastMed pipeline, which would have connected Israel's extensive offshore natural gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean with Europe via Greece and Cyprus. Most of the 1,300-mile pipeline would be undersea.

The Trump administration supported the pipeline, which the European Union deemed a "special project," as a boon to Europe's energy independence.

The Biden administration thought differently, informing Greece and Israel, both U.S. allies, of its opposition to the project in January. The State Department conveyed the new U.S. position to both countries, expressing concerns about the pipeline's economic viability and effect on the environment being antithetical to the administration's climate goals.

While the U.S. was not providing any funding, estimated at $7 billion, its support was considered crucial to move forward. The administration's opposition pulled the plug on the project, which was expected to be completed by 2025.

Yes, of course, climate change-- whatever. You would need to possess a single digit IQ to believe the administration line. Clearly, the Saudis and the Emirates and even the Israelis have gotten the message. Refusing to take Biden's calls, refusing to receive the American Secretary of State-- what more do you want?

Moreover, the Biden administration is markedly anti-Israel. Hamas understood the point perfectly well-- which is why it greeted the new administration with a four thousand rocket barrage from Gaza into Israel.  

Even as Europe is losing access to Russian gas, the Biden administration would rather suck up to the ayatollahs than support an Israeli project, or, for that matter, to improve relations with Gulf Arab states. Perhaps it’s because the ayatollahs share their values.

In the meantime, Israel and Egypt and the Emirates held a meeting on Monday in Egypt-- to firm up their alliance and to discuss what to do about the Biden pro-Iranian policy tilt.

This, from the Israeli site, Debkafile:

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett made a surprise trip to Cairo on Monday. His meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fatteh El-Sisi at Sharm el-Sheikh was later joined by United Arab Emirates ruler, Sheikh Muhammed Bin Zayed. A diplomatic source said the trilateral meeting was prearranged. The trio discussed “shared security interests in all their aspects.” All three have taken a stand against any US plan to de-list Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist organization for the sake of a revived nuclear deal with Tehran.

That's the state of play at this moment. It's what happens when American foreign policy is conducted by fools and bigots.