On Tuesday, President Joe Biden announced he will visit Saudi Arabia next month. This is a reversal calling the Kingdom a “pariah” during his presidential campaign.
The trip is scheduled for mid-July and the president will also stop in Israel and the Palestinian West Bank. Biden is scheduled to talk with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
This comes after the White House has played coy for months on scheduling the trip. Even yesterday, Biden said he wasn’t going to go and then turned and said “that’s the reason I’m going” when talking with reporters.
“The President looks forward to outlining his affirmative vision for US engagement in the region over the coming months and years,” said a statement from White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. “The President appreciates King Salman’s leadership and his invitation. He looks forward to this important visit to Saudi Arabia, which has been a strategic partner of the United States for nearly eight decades.”
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Up until now, the White House had refused to confirm exactly when they would take a mid-east trip. They did admit to planning it for the end of June, but it has now been bumped until mid-July to accommodate meetings in Europe with the G7 and NATO.
“We’re now in a place where we feel this has come together in a very constructive way for everyone involved and the President’s looking forward to it,” a senior White House official told the press Monday.
Biden will meet with Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and will most likely visit Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank.
The Saudi’s responded to Biden’s trip announcement saying, “The Crown Prince and President Biden will hold official talks that will focus on various areas of bilateral cooperation.”
Biden is trying to resuscitate relations with the Saudi crown after he previously called for making the country a “Pariah” over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. He said during his 2020 campaign that he would “punish” Saudi leaders for it and named the crowned prince in his statement. Watch.
Biden is now seeking to ask for the oil-rich country to help him in bringing down gas prices in the United States.
The Saudi Embassy in Washington confirmed that Biden would meet with King Salman and Prince Mohammed and welcomed the trip as a way to “strengthen the historical bilateral relations and the distinguished strategic partnership between” America and the Kingdom.
“The kingdom of Saudi Arabia looks forward to welcoming President Biden and defining the next chapters of our partnership,” the Saudi Embassy said in a statement. “At a time of global challenges related to the global economy, health, climate and international conflict, the partnership between our two countries is as critical as ever to the promotion of peace, prosperity and stability around the world.”
In June, Saudi Arabia agreed to increase oil production in July and August and to extend a cease-fire in its war with Yemen that’s lasted seven-years.
It’s interesting that Biden has flipped so hard on this. The left-wing media will likely not cover it because it makes Biden look bad and shows his duplicitous statements. Do you think this means that Biden is a liar or is it a good sign that maybe gas prices will be coming down soon?
