Joe Biden’s meeting with the Saudi prince tarnished his image as a “champion” of human rights

by time news

It took less than 24 hours in Saudi Arabia for the president of the United States, Joe Biden, tarnish his image as a staunch defender of human rights that you have been trying to carve out for a long time.

The life of any politician is dotted with campaign promises that they end up breaking, and for Biden that list now includes the one made in 2019 of treating Saudi Arabia as a “pariah” because of its human rights record.

There is also his solemn statement, delivered on July 4, 2021, about America’s place on the international stage: “We lead by example, not by showing our strength. We are part of something bigger than ourselves. We are a compass to the world.”

For many it is difficult to reconcile those words with the most shocking photograph of Biden’s first tour as president to the Middle East, in which he is seen bumping fists with Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salmán.

Joe Biden and Mohamed bin Salman. AFP Photo

Character

US intelligence services believe that the crown prince, the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia, “approved” the 2018 operation that led to the murder and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The photograph, taken in front of a palace in the Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah, was distributed immediately by official Saudi media before circulating on social media.

And it was published by several newspapers, including by The Washington Post, where Khashoggi was a columnist.

Before Biden’s arrival in Jeddah, the White House took several measures to try to mitigate the repercussions of this meeting.

USA believes that leader

The US believes that the leader “approved” the murder and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. AFP Photo

The American president published a column in the Post in which he explained his reasons for making the trip, saying that he wanted “strengthen a strategic partnership”insisting that “fundamental freedoms are always on the agenda when I travel abroad.”

At the start of his tour, which took him to Israel, the Palestinian territories and Saudi Arabia, his communication team said that Biden would limit physical contact with people he would meet, due to covid-19.

The controversial greeting

Some journalists speculated that the measures – which Biden ended up not fully complying with – were motivated less by health and more for the fear of an uncomfortable photo with Prince Mohamed, which is popularly known by its initials MBS.

In the end, the fist bump with MBS “It was worse than a handshake, it was embarrassing.”estimated the Post’s general manager, Fred Ryan, in a statement.

Biden told the press that spoke about Khashoggi’s murder “at the beginning” of his meeting with Prince Mohamed. I told him “clearly what I thought then and what I think now,” he said.

On Saturday, Biden told the leaders of nine Arab countries gathered at a summit that “the future belongs to countries … where citizens can question and criticize leaders without fear of reprisal.”

But the fist bump with MBS it has already become the image that defined his tour.

Beyond human rights, Biden explained that his trip was aimed at “advancing the interests of the United States”, a probable allusion to the need to promote greater oil production from the world’s largest oil exporter, since rising gasoline prices he is hurting his party’s prospects ahead of November’s midterm elections.

“Autocrats must be smiling, Biden’s support for human rights can be sold for a drop of oil,” Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said on Twitter on Saturday.

AP Agency

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