US Welcomes Saudi Prince, Forgets Journalist’s Saw
While DW highlights the diplomatic niceties surrounding the Saudi Prince's visit, they politely omit the rather significant detail that this is the same Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) implicated by US intelligence for ordering the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. The Biden administration, too, initially promised to hold MBS accountable, only to later fist-bump him in
Jeddah in 2022, seeking favorable oil deals. It seems 'accountability' lasts only until the next geopolitically convenient photo-op; (or until oil prices tick up). This 'red carpet' spectacle isn't just about Trump. It's a bipartisan tradition of normalizing relationships with autocratic regimes when strategic interests (read: oil, weapons sales to Saudi Arabia, $33.6 billion since 2015, per
SIPRI) align. How many human rights abuses truly constitute a 'deal-breaker' when there's profit to be made? It appears the answer, consistently, is 'none that can't be spun as complicated.'