Saudi Arabia is one of POMED’s focus countries. Our work on Saudi Arabia covers topics such as authoritarianism, political detentions, democracy and human rights advocacy, and U.S. policy.
“There is no way around it—this is a big deal. . . . Yes, the United States could not have brokered such a deal right now with Iran specifically, since we have no relations. But in a larger sense, China’s prestigious accomplishment vaults it into a new league diplomatically and outshines anything the U.S. has been able to achieve in the region since Biden came to office.”
“The NSC Democracy Directorate reliably asserts that democracy and human rights are not just values, but vital national security interests. It remains difficult to get other national security officials on board with this approach. . . . It would require people willing to break with the status quo to implement democracy and human rights as the center of our foreign policy.”
“The US continues to provide certain types of equipment. They have announced several arms sales just within the last year. There is logistics support and maintenance. All these things to my mind should be on the table [for leveraging].”
The Saudi and Egyptian governments “were concerned coming into this administration with the strong rhetoric that [Biden] presented centering democracy and human rights. In many respects, they’ve called the Biden administration’s bluff.”
“[Biden has] less of the superficial, showy embrace that we got from Trump, but he’s basically going back to the pre-Trump status quo of embracing the Saudi regime…completely unabated in terms of transactions and weapons sales.”
“The administration is falling far short of its stated emphasis on human rights and the need to hold the [murderers] of Jamal Khashoggi accountable… It’s hard to see how this is even a ‘recalibration’ of the relationship.”
“I also don’t think the administration has explained why we cannot sanction him and [also] not rupture the relationship. The US could still engage with security officials and other diplomats as we need to, without excusing MBS.”
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Commentary – Democracy Over Autocracy: The Missing Middle East