Double standards

President Biden has made a trip to the Middle East that has taken him to Israel, the Palestinian Territories and Saudi Arabia. It was not supposed to be an easy trip, and it was not.

After calling Saudi Arabia's crown prince a "pariah" for his involvement in the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has forced Biden to bite the bullet and travel to Jeddah to ask Mohammed bin Salman, or MbS for short, to increase oil production in order to curb the rising prices that threaten his hopes for the November elections. This is because the sanctions against Russia affect its exports, and as it produces 11% of the world's oil, its exit from the market is causing a contraction in supply that has pushed up the price of a barrel of crude. That is why Washington has restarted a timid dialogue with Venezuela's Maduro and would also do so - if it could - with the devil himself, that is, with Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei, who for now remains off limits.

The problem is twofold: on the one hand, it is not possible to find enough oil to compensate for the 3 million barrels per day of Russian crude leaving the market. There simply isn't enough. Saudi Arabia can increase some, but very little, and the same is true for Venezuela, because years of Chavista misrule have left its oil industry in the bones. The second problem is that these countries - like Russia - benefit from the higher prices we pay at the pump and are not interested in producing more to lower prices. For example, Algeria's oil revenues have doubled from last year to this year. They have money to spare and Riyadh is comfortable with its OPEC+ agreements with Moscow, not to mention the fact that the American disengagement means that Middle Eastern countries are looking to strengthen their relations with China and Russia. For what it may be worth.

So the main objective of the trip was not achieved and the rest really just seemed like filler. Biden reiterated his commitment to Israel's interim government, nothing new, and told the Arab leaders gathered in Jeddah that the US is not withdrawing from the region when it is clear not only that it is doing so but also that it is willing to do so, and therefore supports the rapprochement between Israel and the Gulf Arab monarchies, which comments on the shared fear of Iran. In this context Biden highlights the opening of Saudi skies to Israeli commercial aviation as a major achievement.

The worst thing is that this trip has revived the old controversy of Western double standards that the South African ambassador to the UN denounced not long ago when, without hiding his sympathies for Russia, he said that we in the West were tearing our hair out and imposing sanctions for the invasion of Ukraine while we did nothing when the US invaded Iraq. And when Biden reminded him of his responsibility for the murder of Khashoggi, MbS had the nerve to reply that not only did he have nothing to do with it, but that he could show the same interest in the death of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by a shot fired by Israeli troops, which Washington is trying to silence by saying that it was not intentional. These cases have nothing to do with each other. But Biden has shown no interest in reviving the peace process, saying that "the time is not ripe" to talk about two states, and thus giving the green light for the continuation of Israeli policy in the occupied territories that is increasingly being used the odious term "apartheid".

All this affects the image of the US and democracy in the world. I sincerely do not believe that sacrificing principles in exchange for short-term advantages, as Pedro Sánchez has also just done in the Sahara, is the way to achieve this. Even if it is disguised as realpolitik.

In the end, "the news of the trip" is that Biden did not shake hands with the Saudi prince, but rather they just shook hands. A poor result for a tour that raised many doubts from the outset.

Jorge Dezcallar Ambassador of Spain
 
Published in the Diario de Mallorca, el Periódico de Catalunya and Cadena de Prensa Ibérica on Sunday 24 July 2022