Statesmanship 101: Distinguishing Between Friends and Enemies - Mackubin Owens
Mackubin Owens - MINDSETTER™
Statesmanship 101: Distinguishing Between Friends and Enemies - Mackubin Owens
Take the administration’s treatment of Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom is certainly flawed and cannot be mistaken for a liberal democracy. But in this volatile region we share many interests. However, despite those shared interests, Biden made clear his disdain for Saudi Arabia, declaring during a presidential debate in 2019, “I would make it very clear we were not going to, in fact, sell more weapons to them…. We were going to make them pay the price, and make them, in fact, the pariah that they are.”
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But Biden’s ire was really raised when the Saudis declined the President’s recent requests to delay announcing the OPEC+ production cut of two million barrels a day until after the November election. Of course, Biden could have avoided the problem had he not launched his full-scale attack on US domestic energy production. Under his predecessor, the United States had become the largest producer of oil and gas and was a net exporter of both.
When the Saudis refused Biden’s request and announced the production cut, the White House accused Saudi Arabia and the oil cartel of siding with Russia. Of course, Russia is a member of OPEC+ and is indeed its de facto leader. In response, Biden promised that there would be “consequences” for the Saudis, stating that it was time for us to “reevaluate” US-Saudi relations.
Democrats in Congress piled on. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) urged Biden to “immediately freeze all aspects” of U.S.–Saudi relations. Three members of Congress, Reps. Susan Wild, Sean Casten, and Tom Malinowski, want Biden to remove all U.S. troops from Saudi Arabia.
Such steps are shortsighted. We have trained Saudi forces, especially its air forces, for decades. We have sold them weapons that allow them to counter Iran. Our bases in Saudi Arabia help to deter Iranian aggression. This is a recipe for opening the way to increased Russian influence in the region.
Contrast our treatment of Saudi Arabia with that of Iran. The Obama administration seemed to believe that the key to peace in the Middle East was to appease Iran, which it did to the detriment of our allies in the region, especially Israel. In 2015, the Obama administration helped negotiate the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), known colloquially as the Iran Nuclear Agreement, which its sponsors claimed would curb Iran’s development of a nuclear weapon. Opponents criticized the JCPOA for its concessions to Iran and its lack of means to inspect various sites and verify compliance. Even the tens of billions of dollars that flowed into Iranian coffers did not curb Iranian aggression: the mullahs continue to fund and support terrorism by Hezbollah and create chaos in Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen.
But now, Iran is supporting Russia in Ukraine. As a quid-pro-quo for Russian collaboration on its nuclear program and its help in reviving the Iran nuclear deal, Iran has supplied the Shahed-136, Mohajer-6, and Arash-2 drones that have devastated Ukrainian cities and the country’s energy grid. In addition, according to National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, the United States has “information” that the Iranian government is preparing to provide Russia with up to several hundred more drones “on an expedited timeline” and that Iran will provide instructors to train Russian soldiers to use them. The Washington Post reported on October 16 that Iran will also likely supply additional weapons to Russia, including the Fateh-110 and Zolfaghar short-range ballistic missiles.
Our partners, actual and potential, around the globe are watching how the United States is treating friends and allies in the Middle East. As the White House persists in penalizing our allies there, countries the world over are no doubt reassessing their own relationship to America.