MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : JOE BIDEN’S GREAT FAVOR TO IRANIAN MULLAHS

BALANCING ACT: BIDEN MUST REDEFINE THE US-SAUDI RELATIONSHIP
by Dennis Ross and Robert Satloff  – The Hill – February 25, 2021

The administration’s instinct to cancel Riyadh’s blank check is right, but engaging a flawed partner is not the same as confronting a determined adversary.

The expected release of a declassified intelligence report that will probably conclude with “moderate confidence” that Saudi crown prince Muhammad bin Salman—known as MbS—ordered the killing of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi is sure to heighten anger with the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. How the Biden administration responds will have huge ramifications for its broader Middle East policy. The U.S.-Saudi relationship is a classic case in which Washington has had to reconcile concerns, needs and interests. For more than 70 years, there was a basic bargain: We provide the Saudis security, they provide a stable oil market and support against common adversaries. But with the waning of our dependence on Middle East oil and our growing fatigue with regional conflicts, this relationship has come under much greater scrutiny…

Robert Satloff is executive director of The Washington Institute. Dennis Ross, the Institute’s counselor and William Davidson Distinguished Fellow, formerly served as special assistant to President Obama, special Middle East coordinator under President Clinton, and director of the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff in the first Bush administration.

THE WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY
1111 19TH STREET NW, SUITE 500

Balancing act: Biden must redefine the US-Saudi relationship | TheHill