CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) During his non-productive trip to Saudi Arabia last summer, Joe Biden was seen fist-bumping with the Saudi Crown Prince. It was done in public, no doubt for the cameras, to give the appearance of a solid, productive international partnership.
It is no such thing. Saudi Arabia backed a 2-million-barrel-a-day reduction in oil output, up from a proposed 1-million. Our Secretary of State called Saudi Arabia last week, asking that the cut be delayed for a month. The response was instantaneous: “no.”
The Saudis know the score. We depend on crude oil for everything. Russian oil is off the western markets. So is Iran’s. So is Venezuela. And Saudi Arabia is the only country in the Middle East with excess pumping capacity. They are the price-setters.
What Saudi Arabia remembers is what candidate Biden said about the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. For those with short memories, Joe Biden said he’d make Saudi Arabia a pariah nation; outcast in the global community. And there could be no stronger condemnation for Saudi Arabia than that. It’s a kingdom that is not a democracy. Each Sunday citizens are invited to gather ‘round while police cut off the hands of common thieves and more-severe criminals are hung by construction cranes. The royal family employs a royal executioner, who wields a sword and removes the heads of political opponents and blasphemers. This is a kabal that came to power by hiring mercenaries with the money it made when oil was discovered in the desert. They are not a legitimate nation. Candidate Biden cut them to the quick.
A smart politician knows when to use hard power and when to use soft power. Our condemnation of Jamal Jhasoggi’s murder called for soft power: a behind the scene discussion that such barbarism won’t be tolerated. And now we are seeing the use of hard power: we publicly plead for more oil, as the royal families tell us to pound sand.
Chris Conley
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