Follow us on social

Mbs-mbz-scaled

WSJ: UAE and Saudi deny visit to Biden, say they want more from US first

Washington is desperate for more OPEC oil production and our 'friends' know it. Some might call this extortion.

Analysis | Europe

According to the Wall Street Journal tonight, officials from the UAE and Saudi Arabia have both declined a visit from the Biden Administration, preferring to hold out their oil for self-interested demands, like immunity for crown prince Muhammed bin Salman, who is tied to the murder and dismemberment of American journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

Some would call this good old fashioned geopolitics. Others would call it extortion. Others may call it Washington getting what it paid for.

WSJ:

The Saudis have signaled that their relationship with Washington has deteriorated under the Biden administration, and they want more support for their intervention in Yemen’s civil war, help with their own civilian nuclear program as Iran’s moves ahead, and legal immunity for Prince Mohammed in the U.S., Saudi officials said. The crown prince faces multiple lawsuits in the U.S., including over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

The Emiratis share Saudi concerns about the restrained U.S. response to recent missile strikes by Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen against the U.A.E. and Saudi Arabia, officials said. Both governments are also concerned about the revival of the Iran nuclear deal, which doesn’t address other security concerns of theirs and has entered the final stages of negotiations in recent weeks.

Biden is asking for a boost in oil production in the wake of the Russian-Ukraine crisis and his decision today to cut off all Russian oil imports into the U.S. The price of Brent crude had already spiked to $132 on Tuesday in anticipation of Biden’s announcement. According to my colleague Annelle Sheline:

Although Saudi fossil fuel only accounts for about 7 percent of U.S. imports, the Saudis have spare capacity and can significantly influence the global price of fuel. However the Saudis and the other members of OPEC+, including Russia, have maintained an agreement to keep production caps in place.

The idea that Biden is not supporting the UAE-Saudi war in Yemen is absurd on all fronts. Instead of stopping U.S. assistance in the destruction of that country like he pledged to do at the beginning of his term in 2021, Biden’s administration has approved the sale of $23 billion in weapons to UAE, and $650 million to Saudi Arabia.  The president and his officials have promised to continue assistance to both countries so that they can “defend themselves” against the Houthis in Yemen. That included sending the USS Cole, a guided missile destroyer, as well as 5th Generation fighter aircraft to the region in February. As a result, the Saudis have stepped up their air campaign, pounding the country in recent weeks, and continue their crippling economic blockade unabated.

Right now, according to the World Food Programme (WFP), some 16.2 million Yemenis, or about 45 percent of the population, are food insecure, with more than five million people on the brink of famine. Increased air strikes and violence on the ground have resulting in an uptick in deaths (adding to the 377,000 Yemenis killed from 2015 to the end of 2021) and displacement.

What both the UAE and the Saudis want is to designate the Houthis a terrorist organization which would not only cut off resources to the opposition but deliver what could be a death blow to millions of Yemenis as it would inevitably cut off more aid to the country. 

"The designation would place responsibility for the starvation of Yemenis squarely on the shoulders of the U.S., absolving the Houthis of their significant role in contributing to Yemen’s misery,” Sheline wrote last month. “The move could even bolster the group’s credibility, which they seek to establish on the basis of defending Yemen against Saudi, Emirati, and American aggression.”

One hopes that the Biden administration does not fall for these disgusting bribery schemes but he has backed himself into a corner, cutting off Russian oil to punish Putin for a humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, with no alternative but to horsetrade with autocrats over the fate of Yemenis a half a world away. If this is geopolitics, heaven forgive us.


UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan receives Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the Presidential Airport in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates November 27, 2019. WAM/Handout via REUTERS
Analysis | Europe
Trump and Keith Kellogg
Top photo credit: U.S. President Donald Trump and Keith Kellogg (now Trump's Ukraine envoy) in 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Trump's silence on loss of Ukraine lithium territory speaks volumes

Europe

Last week, Russian military forces seized a valuable lithium field in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, the latest success of Moscow’s grinding summer offensive.

The lithium deposit in question is considered rather small by industry analysts, but is said to be a desirable prize nonetheless due to the concentration and high-quality of its ore. In other words, it is just the kind of asset that the Trump administration seemed eager to exploit when it signed its much heralded minerals agreement with Ukraine earlier this year.

keep readingShow less
Is the US now funding the bloodbath at Gaza aid centers?
Top photo credit: Palestinians walk to collect aid supplies from the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. REUTERS/Hatem Khaled/File Photo

Is the US now funding the bloodbath at Gaza aid centers?

Middle East

Many human rights organizations say it should shut down. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have killed hundreds of Palestinians at or around its aid centers. And yet, the U.S. has committed no less than $30 million toward the controversial, Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

As famine-like conditions grip Gaza, the GHF says it has given over 50 million meals to Palestinians at its four aid centers in central and southern Gaza Strip since late May. These centers are operated by armed U.S. private contractors, and secured by IDF forces present at or near them.

keep readingShow less
mali
Heads of state of Mali, Assimi Goita, Niger, General Abdourahamane Tiani and Burkina Faso, Captain Ibrahim Traore, pose for photographs during the first ordinary summit of heads of state and governments of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) in Niamey, Niger July 6, 2024. REUTERS/Mahamadou Hamidou//File Photo

Post-coup juntas across the Sahel face serious crises

Africa

In Mali, General Assimi Goïta, who took power in a 2020 coup, now plans to remain in power through at least the end of this decade, as do his counterparts in neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger. As long-ruling juntas consolidate power in national capitals, much of the Sahelian terrain remains out of government control.

Recent attacks on government security forces in Djibo (Burkina Faso), Timbuktu (Mali), and Eknewane (Niger) have all underscored the depth of the insecurity. The Sahelian governments face a powerful threat from jihadist forces in two organizations, Jama‘at Nusrat al-Islam wa-l-Muslimin (the Group for Supporting Islam and Muslims, JNIM, which is part of al-Qaida) and the Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP). The Sahelian governments also face conventional rebel challengers and interact, sometimes in cooperation and sometimes in tension, with various vigilantes and community-based armed groups.

keep readingShow less

LATEST

QIOSK

Newsletter

Subscribe now to our weekly round-up and don't miss a beat with your favorite RS contributors and reporters, as well as staff analysis, opinion, and news promoting a positive, non-partisan vision of U.S. foreign policy.