“The fist bump is a very natural gesture between the crown prince and President Biden,” Saudi Media Ministry adviser Fahim al-Hamid says of the move broadcast on global television, some kinesiologists believe that it started as a pre-game greeting to avoid blood between dart players. a handful of sharpened arrows. The kingdom’s 2018 Classified Darts Invitational Tournament, a small part of MBS’s effort to bring fun, games and vacationers to the place, was held shortly after Khashoggi’s assassination. As the managing director of the Saudi Tourism Authority, Fahd Hamidaddin, sells it, “Saudi Arabia is the largest investment destination in the tourism sector.” However, reports indicate that the dart competition has resulted in an unusual number of “slops”, which occur when a player’s dart hits a number they are not aiming for. People hold posters depicting murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
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The long-suffering Biden aimed in the Jeddah heat was to convince the tribal monarch to offer full support to Ukraine in its war against Russia and to immediately pump enough oil to relieve soaring and politically damaging gas prices ahead of the midterm elections. in the homeland. As Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan said, Biden’s frosty three-hour bilateral meeting in a chilled conference room with MBS missed the mark. “The US remains our main strategic partner, but that does not mean we are not able to develop strong partnerships with others around the world,” says Farhan. “OPEC Plus (the 23-nation oil cartel that includes Russia) has reacted to market conditions and will continue to assess.” Even by the basic tenets of the House of Saud — which has overseen 92 beheadings so far this year — there is something absurd about a country with a $620 billion investment fund and an arsenal of sophisticated American weapons finding it necessary to ask the Russians what they think of the kingdom. covering the global deficit created by Putin’s slaughterhouse of Ukraine. President Joe Biden punches Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at Alsalam Royal Palace in Jeddah.
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The Biden administration’s rebukes are just as naive about Russian realpolitik, which is rooted in the principle that nothing should be left to an invaded people but to weep. “The punch between President Biden and Mohammed bin Salman was worse than a handshake — it was embarrassing,” said Washington Post publisher and CEO Fred Ryan. “It showed a level of familiarity and comfort that offered MBS the unapologetic redemption he desperately sought.” The executive director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, twisted the knife. “The only way Biden could avoid legitimizing the Saudi crown prince despite the fist bump and meeting he’s had as usual would be to publicly and in detail condemn MBS’s continued abysmal human rights record,” he said. Roth via Twitter. “Biden has finally failed.” That’s certainly not Biden’s interpretation of what happened during his visit to what he calls a “pariah” nation. Asked how he could be sure that another assassination like what Saudi Foreign Minister Farhan called a “terrible mistake” would not happen again, Biden smiled and said: “God loves you. What a stupid question. How can I be sure of anything?’ He also declined to answer a question about the first hit when he hit the South Lawn back home at the White House. “Why don’t you talk about something that matters?” President Joe Biden welcomes Makkah Governor Prince Khaled al-Faisal and Princess Reema bint Badar Al-Saud, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Washington, at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah.
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The reason, of course, is that MBS is also the new hipster leader of Saudi Arabia and really understands the importance of the fist. “What’s important is that Biden came, that he backed down,” said a Saudi official who was not authorized to speak. Maybe someone should remind Biden to never eat at a place called Mom’s, never play cards with a man named Doc, and never imagine that Russian President Vladimir Putin is seeking to end his war against Ukraine and Western powers without stifling the former Soviet satrap and continuing his threats against the 27 countries of the European Union. Biden’s affliction in Jeddah was his dismal inability to dress realism with morality and persuade the Saudis and their critics to buy into the high-fashion diplomatic deal needed to halt Russian aggression, end the war’s deadly impact on global economy and stop the inflationary rise in the cost of energy and other commodities that all polls show will cost his Democrats the 2022 midterm elections. The heir apparent begs to differ. “Unrealistic energy policies will only lead to inflation,” is MBS’s reckoning. It’s a valid point, but the president and crown prince, now nearly six months into Putin’s Ukrainian horror show, share a reluctance to report that the Russian leader’s hostility is global and laced with all the economic indicators needed to sink both nations at war. economy, the complete reorganization of a country’s productive capacity and the distribution of goods in a period of conflict. The kingdom’s fastest-growing wheat imports, for example, come from Poland and Russia, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity. To be sure, Khashoggi’s assassination was not a routine human rights violation. Moreover, the order to kill MBS resonates as a silly reminder of Putin’s flurry of decrees for the extraterritorial execution of his political opponents. But if Biden intends to persuade the Saudis to join the race, such distinctions are not lost on MBS. The Saudi heir with a law degree from King Saud University criticized Biden for the torture and killing of Muslim prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison during the Iraq war, as well as the death of Shireen Abu Akleh, the veteran Palestinian-American correspondent. by Al Jazeera. , who was reportedly killed by an Israeli sniper while covering a demonstration in the Jenin refugee camp in the Occupied West Bank in May. But the Saudis and Americans throwing darts at each other has always been a blood sport between friends, with the nearly 80-year-old Biden telling his shooters that “the United States is going nowhere.” The Saudis need not be reminded that the 36-year-old MBS is not out of the game.
