Saudi Prince Tests Nonaligned Policy

 

"RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Flush with cash from an oil boom, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is making foreign-policy and business moves that test whether it is possible not to take sides in the rivalries between the U.S. and Russia and China.

Last week's China-brokered agreement to renew diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia's rival Iran demonstrated a shrewd pragmatism from the 37-year-old de facto ruler, whose decision making has been criticized in the past as erratic. The deal would cool tensions across the Persian Gulf and bring Saudi Arabia closer to its biggest trading partner, China, without alienating its top security partner in Washington, where officials said they saw the detente as positive.

Like India, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia is a midsize power looking for advantages as the U.S.-led world order is challenged by events in Ukraine and China's more-assertive foreign policy, some analysts said. Saudi leaders are also intent on using high oil prices to fund the country's ambitions of becoming a global business player with a thriving non-oil economy.

To that end, Prince Mohammed announced a new Saudi national airline after The Wall Street Journal reported that the kingdom's sovereign-wealth fund was closing a deal for $35 billion in commercial aircraft from Boeing Co., a boost for a major American manufacturer that would create tens of thousands of jobs in the U.S.

Saudi advisers said the Boeing deal is aimed partly at boosting the kingdom's status in Washington. It showed that Riyadh remains on friendly terms with Washington, even after the Saudi-led Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its Russia-led allies agreed to an oil-production cut in October against Washington's wishes, leading the White House to accuse Riyadh of aligning with Moscow.

Underpinning Saudi Arabia's growing global influence and willingness to buck U.S. interests is a strong financial position generated by buoyant oil prices. The kingdom's economy has expanded at one of the fastest rates globally, as the U.S., Europe and many developing economies are facing rising inflation and recessions.

Driving it all is the belief espoused by Prince Mohammed that Saudi Arabia should have greater clout on the world stage, befitting its status as a Group of 20 power.

"It's very much a Saudi-first ideology," said Karen Young, a senior research scholar at Columbia University.

Riyadh has long regarded its biggest security threat as coming from Tehran and the armed groups it supports in neighboring countries. That danger was reinforced by drone-and-missile strikes against Saudi oil sites in 2019, which temporarily knocked out 5% of global energy supplies but drew no overt military response from the U.S.

The attack galvanized Prince Mohammed's belief that Saudi Arabia could no longer count on security guarantees from the U.S. To safeguard his economic-development plans, the crown prince realized he needed to look east for additional partners, Saudi officials said.

In recent years, China has helped Saudi Arabia build its own ballistic missiles, consulted on a nuclear program and begun investing in Prince Mohammed's projects, such as Neom, a futuristic new city. China has also pitched to Saudi officials on setting up a local defense-manufacturing industry, while Russia has signed a nuclear cooperation deal with the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia's new approach to foreign affairs, which for decades had been firmly supportive of U.S. policy and disinclined to dramatic shifts, began to take shape early on in Prince Mohammed's rapid rise to power. He intervened in Yemen's civil war, then joined neighbors in blockading Qatar and strong-armed Lebanon's prime minister into resigning.

Those moves drew international criticism, but it was the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi by men close to Prince Mohammed that precipitated an extended period of diplomatic isolation for the crown prince. That largely ended last July with the visit to Saudi Arabia by President Biden, who had pledged on the campaign trail to treat the kingdom as a pariah. In February, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and two other GOP lawmakers visited the kingdom to meet the crown prince.

The events in Ukraine has provided the Saudis with what they see as an opportunity to assert their own interests in a world where the U.S. isn't the undisputed superpower, saying they can support Ukraine and work with Russia in OPEC+.

In private, Saudi officials said, the crown prince has said he expects that by playing major powers against each other, Saudi Arabia can eventually pressure Washington to concede to its demands for better access to U.S. weapons and nuclear technology." [1]

 

Prince proved that if you're not a rag that every passer-by can use to wipe their feet, you can get what you need. The leaders of the European Union, major European states and Lithuania are currently such rags. That's why the rug is pulled out from under our feet so quickly.

 

1. World News: Saudi Prince Tests Nonaligned Policy
Kalin, Stephen; Said, Summer.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 15 Mar 2023: A.9.