Joe Biden is an ongoing disaster for the United States of America. More so, for the Middle East – Joe Biden’s presidentship has alienated America amongst Arab powers like never before. The USA currently has a strained relationship with Saudi Arabia. Just a year ago, under Donald Trump, this relationship was flourishing. It is no secret that the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed Bin Salman is the de facto rule of the Arab kingdom. His father, King Salman – owing to old age and ill-health has become a mere showpiece. Yet, in order to snub MBS, Joe Biden went ahead and decided to deal with the King himself. Still, MBS did not really make a big fuss about it. Now, however, MBS is exacting his revenge.
Joe Biden is on his knees, yet, he remains adamant about not speaking with Mohammed Bin Salman. Unlike previous instances, Biden’s refusal to meet MBS now stems from shame and embarrassment, since the Saudi crown prince has emerged as a man who can single-handedly lead the United States into inflation, and also out of it. So, how can Biden meet MBS now, when he has become such an insignificant figure before the crown prince?
Biden Administration Pleads Saudi Arabia to Release Oil, MBS Refuses
According to Bloomberg, American envoys had recently spent weeks trying to convince the Saudis to pump more crude – and quickly while at it. “The diplomatic pressure was ultimately directed at a 36-year-old man who has the capacity to change the price of oil – and the fortune of politicians in consuming nations – on a whim: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman,” Bloomberg said in its report. However, MBS was willing to have none of it.
Prince Mohammed was more worried about oil’s supply and demand fundamentals than the political needs of Washington. MBS was willing to budge on only one condition – that Joe Biden meets him for a one-on-one bilateral conference. MBS knows Biden is at his weakest right now, and when faced by the might of the Saudi kingdom in the form of MBS, will say ‘yes’ to just about anything. Biden is no novice. He is a scheming gold fellow. So, by refusing to meet MBS, Biden barely dodged a bullet.
Now, MBS is in no mood to release more oil, only to ease up the domestic mess which Joe Biden has created in the United States. Saudi Arabia has become a champion of diplomacy under the leadership of MBS, through which it is now improving its relationship globally. The country is no longer simply a merchant of oil but is becoming successful in its efforts to establish itself as a major trading centre in the coming decades and a geopolitical juggernaut. With an economic diversification programme underway, which is making Saudi Arabia’s economy independent of oil, MBS could not care less of what Joe Biden and his miserable fellow Democrats think of him.
Biden Has Been Tamed
“We are going to make them pay the price and make them, in fact, the pariah that they are,” Biden had said in an election campaign last year. Biden did try to walk the talk after he assumed the presidency and announced to release the confidential intelligence reports signalling MBS’ glaring role in Khashoggi’s murder.
MBS, however, soon turned to Russia, and right now, Russia and Saudi Arabia-led OPEC have a monopoly over the world’s energy requirements. How did the two land in this position? Well, Joe Biden has a lot to answer for on this count.
Make no mistake. The United States is not facing an oil crunch because of Saudi Arabia. The reason behind Americans’ oil woes is Joe Biden alone, who has stopped fracking operations in the country. By 2035, the United States was supposed to become energy independent as the fracking industry would produce enough shell oil for USA’s needs. However, soon after coming to power, Biden banned fracking, and now, Americans are facing a shortage of gasoline.
Biden has, therefore, brought America back to square one. If Biden did want to decouple from Saudi Arabia, he could have – if only he had allowed fracking to continue. But being the failure of a President that he is, Biden failed at that too, and now, Mohammed Bin Salman has a monopoly over America’s energy supplies and gasoline rates.
One can only hope that the entire experience has been humbling for Joe Biden.