Wake Up Call for the West

There's an excellent article from The Guardian's Simon Tisdale about the need for Saudi Arabia under the murderous and treacherous Mohammad bin "Bone Saw" Salman (MBS) to pay a price for his alignment with Russia and more:

"Every picture tells a story, or so it’s said, and the photo of a smirking Vladimir Putin shaking hands with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, at the opening game of the men’s football World Cup in Moscow in June 2018 carried a clear warning for the west.

The message, for those who cared to heed it: Saudi Arabia, nurtured by the British in the days of empire, defended by the US against Saddam Hussein and Iran, and forgiven its close connections to the 9/11 terror attacks, was no longer the dependent, biddable ally it once was. Prince Mohammed was making new friends.

Fabulously wealthy on the back of seemingly limitless oil, pursuing a feisty regional foreign policy in Yemen and Lebanon, building ties with Russia and China, and arrogantly dismissive of western human rights concerns, the Saudis were going their own way. [snip]

The Saudi regime’s mistreatment of women, for example Salma al-Shehab, the Leeds university student jailed for 34 years for her tweets; its use of terrorism courts against its critics; its mass executions; its chronic denial of democratic rights; and its censorship of free speech and personal liberties – these must no longer be tacitly tolerated. Pressure can be brought to bear.

Unacceptable, too, is the way the regime is trying to launder its reputation by buying its way into international sport, for example using its petrodollars to take over Newcastle United in the UK football Premier League, and fund prestige golf and boxing tournaments.

If Mohammed really prefers the company of the war criminal Putin, and like-minded oppressors and autocrats such as China’s Xi Jinping, he and his regime must pay a high price in terms of their privileged access and support from western leaders and countries. He should think hard what this would mean, for example, for the future defence of his kingdom against Iran’s missiles and drones. Biden had it right the first time. But pariah status needs to mean something.  (our emphasis)

With Congressional support of tough penalties for Saudi Arabia's hostile move to cut oil production just weeks before the 2022 mid-term elections, President Biden needs to work with them and give MBS a shot across the bow. We have some 70,000 Americans in Saudi Arabia, including troops manning airbases and missile defense batteries, oil engineers and consultants and other essential workers. We and the West supply his regime and people with goods and services that can't be easily replaced. MBS is counting on us shrinking in the face of oil production reductions, and we have to turn the tables on him for once.

(photo: MBS and Putin in 2018. Kyodo via AP Images)