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Tensions between Joe Biden and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had been high ahead of their first meeting in Saudi Arabia, especially after Biden's administration last year released an assessment by the intelligence community that Prince Mohammed "approved" the operation that led to Khashoggi's killing and dismemberment in the kingdom's Istanbul consulate. For more analysis on Biden's first visit to the Saudi Kingdom, FRANCE 24 is joined by Mohammed Soliman, Non-Resident Scholar at the Middle East Institute (MEI) in Washington DC. He does not believe that Biden's visit will significantly change its relationship with the US nor will it dramatically...

We all knew this would be a train wreck. White House Steward Joe Biden has left Saudi Arabia humiliated. In 2020, Biden declared that the kingdom was a "pariah" after the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. I couldn't care less. The man walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to collect certain documents regarding his pending marriage. He probably knew the risks. The nasty part about this story isn't the sordid tales of torture and dismemberment that reportedly happened to Khashoggi. It's the reaction. Everyone acted as if Walter Cronkite was the person butchered. The outrage was more...

Gaffe-prone President Biden evoked winces from his entourage Saturday as he spoke of the “selfishness” of American troops on the final day of his trip to the Middle East. “For the first time since 9/11, an American President is visiting this region without American troops being engaged in combat — in a combat mission in the region,” Biden said during a speech to the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. “We’ll always honor the bravery and selfishness — selflessness of the — and sacrifices of the Americans who served, including my son, Major Beau Biden, who...

Hatice Cengiz, the fiancée of murdered Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, called President Biden's planned visit to Saudi Arabia "heartbreaking" and "disappointing." Driving the news: Biden, who once vowed to make Saudi Arabia a "pariah," is set to meet with the crown prince on Friday, a move that Cengiz described as "a huge backing down" in an AP interview. "It’s heartbreaking and disappointing. And Biden will lose his moral authority by putting oil and expediency over principles and values," Cengiz said. Cengiz also said that Biden should urge Saudi Arabia, which she said is a "terrible ally," to embrace a...

Saudi Arabia said it will continue to bolster its partnerships with both the United States and China as US President visited the kingdom for his first visit since he became president. "We build bridges with people; we don't see one as exclusive of the other," Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Adel al-Jubeir, said in an interview with CNBC network on Saturday. “China is our largest trading partner. It’s a huge market for energy and a huge market in the future. And China is a big investor in Saudi Arabia,” he added. "The United States is of course our number...

After the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi Joe Biden promised in 2019 to make Saudi “the pariah that they are.” At the time, Mike Pompeo called that "an enormous mistake." But that was before the US needed to replace the oil from the SPR that Biden was selling to China and others (In my opinion Biden is intentionally draining the SPR to remove the US petroleum safety net). Now Biden arrives in Saudi with a fist bump for MBS, ready to get on his knees and beg for more oil. Joe would have Americans believe it is...

CNN's Wolf Blitzer presses Saudi diplomat Adel al-Jubeir, who was in the room during President Joe Biden's meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, about the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Video at source.

Lina al-Hathloul is an activist from Saudi Arabia whose sister, Loujain, was imprisoned and tortured from 2018 to 2021. She traveled to Washington this week to explain to policymakers just how devastating it is that President Joe Biden has traveled to the Middle East to meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, known as MBS. “The thing is, Saudi Arabia is now a police state. So whatever reforms they brag about having, concretely, it really depends on the will of MBS,” Lina al-Hathloul told me. “It’s a dictatorship and a dark era for Saudi that we’ve never experienced...

.....Speaking to CNBC’s Hadley Gamble on Friday, Prince Turki Al-Faisal said Biden was coming in as a “much diminished president” compared with when he was inaugurated in January 2021.“As an example, on energy issues, he came in with a policy to stop completely fossil fuel usage not only in the United States, but worldwide, and now he is finding himself having to rely on fossil fuels as a means of meeting the energy shortage that has come about, not only because of the Ukraine war, but also because of U.S. policy itself that shut down pipelines and stopped issuing ......

President Biden on Friday drew backlash for his casual greeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman upon arriving in Saudi Arabia. Biden, upon arriving at the royal palace in Jeddah, offered a fist bump to the crown prince, who U.S. intelligence officials concluded was involved in plotting the killing of Washington Post journalist and Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi. Critics viewed the gesture, which was followed by a face-to-face meeting with the crown prince, as elevating Salman on the world stage despite Biden’s campaign pledge to make the kingdom a pariah. Fred Ryan, the publisher and CEO of The Washington...

President Biden gave Saudi Arabia’s killer crown prince Mohammed bin Salman a fist-bump Friday as he arrived at a royal palace for meetings — moments after the president shook hands with other Saudi officials at a nearby airport. It was unclear if Biden would shake bin Salman’s hand due to the assessment of US spy agencies that the crown prince had ordered the 2018 operation that murdered Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. The White House reportedly planned for Biden to only give fist-bumps during his two-country Mideast tour as a way to wriggle out of looking too chummy with bin...

President Biden appeared to quickly drop his "no handshake" policy during his Middle East tour, leading some to speculate that the White House adopted the policy merely to avoid a politically uncomfortable encounter later in the trip. White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan announced Wednesday that the president would avoid shaking hands during the four-day trip out of an abundance of caution due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The president appeared to abide by the policy when he arrived in Israel, greeting Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and other officials with fist bumps. But not long after that Biden shook...