{"id":8410,"date":"2022-07-20T16:23:53","date_gmt":"2022-07-20T16:23:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=8410"},"modified":"2022-07-20T16:23:53","modified_gmt":"2022-07-20T16:23:53","slug":"what-biden-wanted-in-the-middle-east-and-what-he-actually-got","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=8410","title":{"rendered":"What Biden wanted in the Middle East \u2014 and what he actually got"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\n“Biden, who says he went to the Middle East to address<\/a> \u201cthe needs of the free world,\u201d has explained the strengthening of relationships with Arab states and Israel as a success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s worth taking a look at what concrete victories that closeness produced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saudi airspace will be opened to Israeli planes \u2014 an incremental step toward normalizing relations between the two countries, yes, but more of a victory for jetliner rights than human rights. A new peacekeeping arrangement was announced for the Red Sea Islands<\/a> between Egypt and Saudi Arabia; the islands have been a regional geopolitical touchpoint, but the deal is hardly a major win beyond the region. There was talk<\/a> of bringing Iraq closer to its neighbors, with a new electricity initiative to connect Iraq with the Middle East. Infrastructure projects totaling about $100 million were announced for Palestinians, including 4G networks<\/a> for the occupied West Bank. The latter two, while worthwhile, are minor compared to other US development and foreign aid streams of funding \u2014 and minuscule compared to annual military aid to Israel<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A moderate success was Saudi Arabia\u2019s ongoing commitment to maintaining a ceasefire in Yemen, a worthy goal considering the destruction wrought there, in part with the support of American weaponry<\/a>, though hardly an issue that demanded a presidential visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for oil, we haven\u2019t seen any grand announcements. Ahead of the trip, a US official told reporters there wouldn\u2019t be any big energy news, and instead pointed to an announcement<\/a> a month prior from OPEC that the group of oil-producing nations would increase production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has left observers wondering exactly why Biden made the journey.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A senior Biden administration official, on the last day of Biden\u2019s Middle East trip, described<\/a> human rights at the center of America\u2019s goals \u2014 \u201cI\u2019d go so far, literally, to say right at the forefront of our foreign policy,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But human rights is not even at the forefront of the administration\u2019s press releases, fact sheets, and meeting summaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The official touted a \u201cBiden doctrine\u201d for the region. In the document<\/a>, values rank lowest \u2014 fifth \u2014 after bullet points about partnerships, deterrence, diplomacy, and integration. So partnerships (with unsavory leaders) and deterrence (through our security assistance) are the priorities here.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This Biden trip is a preview of US foreign policy in an era of great power competition<\/a> with China and new fault lines of a world divided by Russian aggression. There are trade-offs. \u201cYou sanction Russian oil, and you give power to Middle Eastern autocrats,\u201d Khalidi told me. \u201cThe only reason he\u2019s sidling up to these human rights abusers is because of the knock-on effects of the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, and the energy impact of that invasion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or, as Freeman put it, \u201cThe message to the people in the region is we only care about you in the context of our great power rivalry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the emphasis on Russia, there was little movement on solidifying a Middle East coalition in support of Ukraine. The United Arab Emirates is a major hub<\/a> for Russian businesspeople and dirty money, and that seems unlikely to change. Egypt is a hot spot<\/a> for Russian tourists. Saudi Arabia and Israel are still fence-sitters<\/a> in the Ukraine conflict, hesitant to definitively take a side. While Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE voted<\/a> to condemn Russia\u2019s invasion in the UN resolution, none<\/a> has joined the US-led sanctions against Moscow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet all of these regional powers are making demands of the US to take a harder line on Iran and enable them militarily. (Wait, wouldn\u2019t realpolitik be crafting a deal with Iran, and getting more oil production online in the process?)”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2022\/7\/19\/23220600\/biden-middle-east-policy-human-rights<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Biden, who says he went to the Middle East to address \u201cthe needs of the free world,\u201d has explained the strengthening of relationships with Arab states and Israel as a success.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s worth taking a look at what concrete victories that closeness produced.<\/p>\n

Saudi airspace will be opened to Israeli planes \u2014 an incremental step toward normalizing relations between the two countries, yes, but more of a victory for jetliner rights than human rights. A new peacekeeping arrangement was announced for the Red Sea Islands between Egypt and Saudi Arabia; the islands have been a regional geopolitical touchpoint, but the deal is hardly a major win beyond the region. There was talk of bringing Iraq closer to its neighbors, with a new electricity initiative to connect Iraq with the Middle East. Infrastructure projects totaling about $100 million were announced for Palestinians, including 4G networks for the occupied West Bank. The latter two, while worthwhile, are minor compared to other US development and foreign aid streams of funding \u2014 and minuscule compared to annual military aid to Israel.<\/p>\n

A moderate success was Saudi Arabia\u2019s ongoing commitment to maintaining a ceasefire in Yemen, a worthy goal considering the destruction wrought there, in part with the support of American weaponry, though hardly an issue that demanded a presidential visit.<\/p>\n

As for oil, we haven\u2019t seen any grand announcements. Ahead of the trip, a US official told reporters there wouldn\u2019t be any big energy news, and instead pointed to an announcement a month prior from OPEC that the group of oil-producing nations would increase production.<\/p>\n

It has left observers wondering exactly why Biden made the journey.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“A senior Biden administration official, on the last day of Biden\u2019s Middle East trip, described human rights at the center of America\u2019s goals \u2014 \u201cI\u2019d go so far, literally, to say right at the forefront of our foreign policy,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

But human rights is not even at the forefront of the administration\u2019s press releases, fact sheets, and meeting summaries.<\/p>\n

The official touted a \u201cBiden doctrine\u201d for the region. In the document, values rank lowest \u2014 fifth \u2014 after bullet points about partnerships, deterrence, diplomacy, and integration. So partnerships (with unsavory leaders) and deterrence (through our security assistance) are the priorities here.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“This Biden trip is a preview of US foreign policy in an era of great power competition with China and new fault lines of a world divided by Russian aggression. There are trade-offs. \u201cYou sanction Russian oil, and you give power to Middle Eastern autocrats,\u201d Khalidi told me. \u201cThe only reason he\u2019s sidling up to these human rights abusers is because of the knock-on effects of the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, and the energy impact of that invasion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or, as Freeman put it, \u201cThe message to the people in the region is we only care about you in the context of our great power rivalry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the emphasis on Russia, there was little movement on solidifying a Middle East coalition in support of Ukraine. The United Arab Emirates is a major hub for Russian businesspeople and dirty money, and that seems unlikely to change. Egypt is a hot spot for Russian tourists. Saudi Arabia and Israel are still fence-sitters in the Ukraine conflict, hesitant to definitively take a side. While Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE voted to condemn Russia\u2019s invasion in the UN resolution, none has joined the US-led sanctions against Moscow.<\/p>\n

Yet all of these regional powers are making demands of the US to take a harder line on Iran and enable them militarily. (Wait, wouldn\u2019t realpolitik be crafting a deal with Iran, and getting more oil production online in the process?)”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[390,235,272,355,1218,1341,1042,314,194,780,391,576,1265,578,222,315,575,311],"class_list":["post-8410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-diplomacy","tag-energy","tag-foreign-affairs","tag-foreign-policy","tag-gas","tag-gas-prices","tag-human-rights","tag-international-relations","tag-israel","tag-joe-biden","tag-middle-east","tag-oil","tag-oil-and-gas","tag-oil-price","tag-president","tag-russia","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-ukraine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8410"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8411,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8410\/revisions\/8411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}