Comment The Biden administration faces heightened human rights reckoning as the emergence of a belligerent Russia and an increasingly powerful China place new, often contradictory demands on President Biden’s promise to put American ideals at the center of US dealings with the world. Biden’s talks with Middle East leaders this week will provide a vivid display of the competing rationales between that commitment and what officials describe as an existential “great power” contest — most acutely in the president’s meeting with the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, whom the US government has indicted for the brutal murder of journalist and US resident Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. The choreography of the meeting with Saudi King Salman and his royal entourage will be closely watched: Will Biden, who as a candidate pledged to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” state, and the 36-year-old prince, now de facto head of the kingdom, speak one to one? Will they pose for a photo? “It must be said that President Biden’s handshake with Mohammed bin Salman on his trip to Saudi Arabia this month will be quite a sad sight, not only for Khashoggi’s family, but also for human rights defenders in the region and for all. the world,” said Michael Breen, president of Human Rights First. The visit, however, takes place in a context of competition in the region with China. Beijing has pledged to deepen ties with Saudi Arabia, while the Gulf kingdom, amid a lingering rift with the United States, has increased its arms purchases from China and explored denominating some of its massive oil sales to China in yuan. , potentially threatening the supremacy of the dollar. US officials have also been frustrated by what they see as lukewarm Gulf support for the Western campaign to isolate Russia over Ukraine, including decisions by some countries to abstain from US-backed measures at the United Nations. In addition, rising energy prices have cushioned Russian President Vladimir Putin from the effects of sanctions, and Saudi Arabia and other producers have been reluctant to do much to boost production. Khashoggi has become a – possibly secondary – item on the agenda, analysts say. “In Biden’s case, I’m afraid he’s basically saying, ‘Let’s forget about Jamal Khashoggi. Let’s forget the crackdown on all domestic activists in Saudi Arabia. let’s forget about bombing Yemeni citizens for a slightly cheaper tank of gas,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “This sends a devastating message.” But a senior State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy, said Biden sees no tension between values like human rights and harder American interests and argues that they can actually to reinforce each other. “This changes the concept of how you do diplomacy and how you set priorities,” the official said. As the war approaches its 5th month, Blinken keeps the Russian diplomats at arm’s length Declaring that the United States is back, Biden took office promising to restore global cooperation and put American ideals like the rule of law at the core of US engagement with the world. Some of Biden’s top aides, including Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, have deep experience with refugee and rights groups. And supporters credit the Biden administration with taking steps to reverse some of President Donald Trump’s actions, restoring U.S. membership to the United Nations Human Rights Council and providing new levels of support to the International Criminal Court in its bid to hold accountable Russia for possible war crimes after February 24 invasion of Ukraine. Biden has also rejected Trump’s embrace of authoritarians, including North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. But those supporters also say Biden’s actions have been a far cry from his rhetoric in other areas, arguing that high-level engagement with the leaders of India, Egypt and Cambodia gives the appearance of condoning abuses in those countries. They warn that the emergency officials have embraced building a global alliance to counter Moscow, as well as the administration’s growing focus on checking China’s rise, risks undermining that agenda even further. Officials billed the Middle East trip as an opportunity for Biden, whom Republicans blame for high fuel prices ahead of November’s midterm elections, to discuss energy security with top producers and deepen ties with nations that are key to deterring Iran. They say the visit is also aimed at helping end the war in Yemen, where the Saudi-led coalition has been fighting Iran-backed Houthi rebels since 2015, causing widespread civilian suffering. Before arriving in the coastal city of Jeddah for a meeting of regional leaders — where Biden is also expected to hold talks with Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has presided over a period of intense repression in the Arab world’s most populous state — Biden will visit the West Bank and Israel, which has been attacked by human rights groups for its treatment of Palestinians. Before the trip, Biden said fundamental freedoms would be on his agenda, but emphasized what the administration sees as geopolitical realities. “We must confront Russia’s aggression, put ourselves in the best possible position to outmaneuver China and work for greater stability in a consequential region of the world,” Biden wrote in a Washington Post op-ed. “To do these things, we need to engage directly with countries that can influence these outcomes.” While Saudi Arabia has relaxed some social and gender restrictions under the crown prince’s influence, it continues to imprison activists and critics, punish family members of people accused of crimes, and withhold rights for minorities and women. The government is also accused of using surveillance technology to track and threaten critics and activists living abroad. Top Democratic lawmakers, citing Putin’s reliance on high oil prices to help finance his invasion of Ukraine, complained in a letter to Biden last month that “the oil-rich kingdom’s refusal to stabilize global energy markets helps in financing Vladimir Putin’s war crimes in Ukraine. while causing economic pain to everyday Americans.” Saudi dissidents called the visit a betrayal. Khadija Cengiz, Khashoggi’s fiancee, pleaded with Biden to cancel the trip, which she said would encourage the prince. In a letter last month, more than a dozen human rights groups called on Biden to condition any meeting with the crown prince on concessions by Saudi Arabia, including the release of jailed dissidents and activists and an end to politically motivated travel bans. “Certainly those are things that the United States can, at least, expect to happen as a result of these talks,” said Breen of Human Rights First. The administration has defended its record, pointing to the declassification of the US government’s assessment of Khashoggi’s assassination, which was carried out by a team of Saudi agents at the country’s consulate in Istanbul. It also imposed sanctions and travel bans on a group of Saudis in connection with the assassination — but not, notably, the crown prince. The kingdom has convicted five men of the murder, but has denied any involvement of the prince. US officials say the visit is in line with their broader approach to human rights, arguing that their engagement with the leaders has marked real victories for the people of the region, despite Saudi Arabia’s dismal record on democracy and basic rights . Without the Saudis getting involved, they say, they would not have made progress toward ending the war in Yemen, a goal that would have huge implications for civilians in Yemen and in Saudi Arabia, which Houthi forces have pounded with missile attacks. Without Egypt’s involvement, they argue, it would not have been possible to broker an end to the conflict in Gaza in 2021. They also point to the central roles played by Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in evacuating thousands of Afghans after the Taliban took over last year . “Face-to-face diplomacy is critical with your friends, with your enemies, with all the countries in between,” the official said. The administration is framing lower gas prices as a rights issue in the United States and beyond, citing inflation and the possibility of a recession and job losses. While officials say Biden was planning a trip to the Middle East even before the conflict in Ukraine sparked a spike in global food and fuel prices, they also acknowledge that the war, as a senior administration official put it, “has spotlight the importance of the Middle East, from shipping lanes to energy.” “That’s just the reality,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. “So that affects the conversations we’re having with those countries.” Africa’s Desperate Famine: War in Ukraine Pushes Somalia to Famine Human rights groups say the shifting calculus prompted by Russia’s war in Ukraine is not unique to the United States. They point to the European Union’s recent gas deal with Egypt, which was designed to help the continent reduce its dependence on Russian energy, and say the bloc has failed to respect rule of law conditions in providing capital to Poland and Hungary at a time when their support is critical. to repel Moscow. National security adviser Jake Sullivan, outlining his philosophy last year, said no government can claim that human rights are the only factor in its foreign policy. “Nobody could ever sit here and say with a straight face that we’re going to have a 100 percent rating on this, and I’m not going to claim that we could,” he said. “On the one hand, you could say, ‘Well, you haven’t taken enough account of human rights.’
