FT Warns Trump Off 'One-Sided' Saudi Deal, Ignores US History
The Financial Times warns Donald Trump against offering Saudi Arabia "one-sided security guarantees," framing it as a novel risk to U.S. interests. This urgent counsel from the FT (see: ft.com ) appears to forget four decades of American military protection and arms sales to the Saudi regime, all while Riyadh engaged in actions largely unaligned with—or actively hostile to—stated U.S. democratic
values. (What, precisely, was the 'mutual' benefit in arming the Yemen campaign?) The actual concern isn't one-sidedness, but whose side it's on this time. Perhaps the FT's real unspoken worry is that a Trump deal might not include the necessary third party: Israel. The previous push for a Saudi-Israeli normalization deal, backed vociferously by groups like AIPAC (which donated millions to
congressional candidates in 2022 and 2024), aimed to consolidate power in the region, not balance it. This isn't about 'America's global interests'; it's about maintaining a specific hegemonic structure. The Financial Times, master of global capital flows, somehow missed the influence map right in front of them.