US-Saudi Deal: Nothing Agreed, Everything Negotiated
Al Jazeera asks, 'What did US and Saudi Arabia agree at White House summit?' then proceeds to show a video of Donald Trump declaring the Kingdom a 'major non-NATO ally' during a meeting that occurred in 2017. The video itself offers no specific 'agreements,' only the usual pleasantries and promises typical of high-level diplomatic theater. This lack of concrete outcomes is often spun as 'progress'
or 'strengthening ties' when, in reality, it often signals an absence of contentious but necessary discussions. Instead of dissecting non-existent agreements, one might wonder about the real agreements: the arms sales and continued military support that underpin the US-Saudi relationship, often bypassing detailed public scrutiny. This summit, like many others, serves more as a PR opportunity than
a substantive policy shift, especially regarding Saudi Arabia's continued actions in Yemen, for which US-made weapons have a long, documented history. (Amnesty International reports on US arms in Yemen, for example).