Saudi Arabia’s ‘Hostile Act’ Proves Biden’s Critics Right – and His Advisors Very Wrong
President Joe Biden has a lot of reasons to be furious with his national security team who, against his better judgment, systematically pressured him for 18 months to do an about-face on Saudi Arabia.
The White House has reportedly been in a state of “spasm and panic” since Wednesday, when it became clear that several of the U.S.’s Persian Gulf partners, led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, were set to commit what the White House considered “a hostile act”: an extensive cut in oil production coordinated with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, which will send oil prices soaring and very likely harm Democrats in the U.S. midterm elections in November.
Instead of pressing the kingdom to stop undermining U.S. interests, Biden was told to mend fences with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. In response to the American president bending the knee to him (who can forget the infamous fist bump), MBS put a dagger in Biden’s back.
Falling gas prices over the past months gave the Democrats much needed political momentum to prevent a Republican “red wave” in November. That momentum may now fizzle away as oil prices are now likely to climb above $100 a barrel, which analysts believe will result in Americans paying 10% more at the gas pumps.
Read the full piece in MSNBC.