Joe Biden’s Middle East policy looks a lot like his predecessor’s
The nuclear deal is out, the Saudis are in, and human rights are barely on the table
Joe biden wants you to know his trip is not about oil. You may think otherwise. He once vowed to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” and has refused to talk to Muhammad bin Salman, the crown prince. Now he is rushing off to the kingdom, the world’s second-biggest oil producer, at a time of sky-high oil prices, and will meet the prince after all. But his administration insists that oil is not the focus of his flying visit. “It has to do with much larger issues,” Mr Biden said on June 12th.
This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “Change you can’t believe in”
From the June 18th 2022 edition
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