15 Dec Dream-World Foreign Policy
We hate to say we told you so, but…well…you know.
About two months ago, just after President Biden visited Saudi Arabia to ask the royal family to help the Democrats in the midterms by cranking up the production of oil, we warned that the United States was in a rather precarious position. The Saudis had, of course, rejected Biden’s entreaty, and neither the President nor his allies in Congress and the media were taking it particularly well. We noted that Biden et al. were behaving like petulant children and that, in so doing, they risked making an already unstable situation far more volatile. Specifically, we wrote:
To be clear, we have no affection for the Saudis. The “royal” family has created a brutal and savage regime based on the tenets of a brutal and savage sect of Islam. It is misogynistic, anti-Western, and aggressively missionary. And let’s be blunt: the Saudis did 9/11.
Nevertheless, history has shown that solid relations and an ability to cooperate with the Saudis are the keys to using energy as an effective national security tool. Reagan proved this, and both Bushes reinforced it.More to the point, at this particular moment, the present-day Axis of Evil in serious trouble. Russia is losing its war against Ukraine and is entering a severe recession. China is also facing serious economic turmoil, which will likely be exacerbated by the inevitable COVID shutdowns that accompany the return of winter. And Iran? Heck, the Iranian regime may fall before we finish typing this sentence.
The United States needs strong allies right now, especially allies who are the largest producers of oil in the world.
Destroying the country’s decades-long relationship with Saudi Arabia would, at any normal moment, be highly questionable and likely quite foolish. Destroying it now, however, at a time when strong allies could be quite useful and the world appears on the verge of either a massive war or a massive realignment, is downright INSANE.
We’re not entirely sure what the White House or its allies thought was going to happen when they stomped their feet, threatened arms sales to Saudi Arabia, and promised the “revisit” the relations between the two nations. They must have assumed that they had some leverage, that they could – despite all appearances to the contrary – keep the relationship intact even while convincing the Saudis to surrender to their new, more Democrat-friendly demands.
Chinese President Xi Jinping set foot on Saudi Arabian soil this week for the time since January 2016, on a trip that seeks to take advantage of tensions between Riyadh and Washington to further court the oil-rich kingdom while strengthening China’s footprint in the Middle East.
The countries have inked a “comprehensive strategic partnership” in areas that include energy and telecommunications technology. Saudi Arabia also signed a memorandum of understanding to receive technology from China’s Huawei Technologies, as well as on direct Chinese investment in the kingdom and on hydrogen power.
Saudi state media reported the two sides are to sign more than 110 billion riyals’ ($29.3 billion) worth of deals during Xi’s trip, which began Wednesday….
Xi also called for greater cooperation on the exploration and development of new oil fields, expressing an interest in involvement by Chinese state companies….
Signs of warming ties have been evident throughout Xi’s trip. The crown prince initiated a handshake with Xi before their meeting, in contrast to the fist bump he gave Joe Biden during the U.S. president’s visit to Saudi Arabia in July. Meanwhile, Xi agreed to a meeting in close quarters, despite having kept his distance from most foreign leaders recently over COVID-19 concerns….
“At a time in which Saudi Arabia is upset with various aspects of U.S. foreign policy, especially since Biden’s presidency began almost two years ago, hosting Xi sends a strong message to Washington that Riyadh has other powerful friends,” said Giorgio Cafiero, CEO of Washington-based geopolitical consultancy Gulf State Analytics.
China has taken advantage of this chill to advance ties with Saudi Arabia. The country is now Saudi Arabia’s largest trading partner, accounting for nearly 20% of exports and imports.
Sigh.
As if that weren’t enough, when China and the Gulf states signed a joint declaration at the end of Xi’s visit, they made certain to clarify that their new friendship did indeed mark a significant change in the Middle East order:
A joint statement released Friday after the meeting of China and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations referred to Iran as a supporter of regional terrorist groups and a proliferator of ballistic missiles and drones. It also noted the importance of addressing “the Iranian nuclear file and destabilizing regional activities.”
The inclusion of destabilizing activities has shocked Iranian officials, who have long held that the nuclear negotiations should be solely about its nuclear program.
Furthermore, the joint statement raises the issue of three islands located in the Strait of Hormuz — Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa — which are administered by Iran but claimed by the United Arab Emirates. The statement said: “The leaders affirmed their support for all peaceful efforts, including the initiative and endeavors of the United Arab Emirates, to reach a peaceful solution.”
The statement caught Iranian officials by surprise….
Matthew Bryza, a former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, told Nikkei Asia that China is “sending signals to all of us that China has much broader economic and strategic interests than we always assumed.”
The Iranians understand that they may be collateral damage in this geopolitical game.
The Iranians are collateral damage. The Americans, on the other hand, are the intended damage, the inarguable targets of this outreach – from both the Chinese AND the Saudi perspective.
It’s funny, the intellectual Left in this country has spent the last half-century complaining that Americans are geopolitical bullies, that they go wherever they want and do whatever they want and don’t care at all about the consequences of their actions on indigenous populations. In many ways, the political Left has proven their intellectual fellow travelers’ point.
Candidate Biden told the world that he’d had enough of the Saudis, their barbarism, and especially their Black Gold. He promised that, once elected, he would give ol’ MBS a good square kick the royal family jewels. Do as I say, he told the climate-change-causing, journalist-butchering, homophobic religious fanatics. President Biden, by contrast, has insisted that the Saudis do almost the complete opposite. He still wants them to do as he says, but he wants them to be willing to change what it is they’re doing on a whim – HIS whim.
As we noted back in October, when we first addressed this matter, this is all part and parcel of the Left’s dream-world approach to foreign policy. Moral insanity is hailed as virtuous.
And then it gets even worse.
