WASHINGTON (AP) – As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden did not shy away from calling for dictators and authoritarian leaders, as he solidified his foreign policy with the idea that the world is in a battle between democracy and autocracy.
But Biden’s ruling approach as president is far less black-and-white as he tries to balance such high-ranking principles with a pursuit of pragmatism in a world shuffled by the economic consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, fears of China’s global ambitions. tensions over Iran’s advancing nuclear program, etc.
These crossroads were evident last week when Biden hosted the America’s Summit in Los Angeles, where his decision to expel leaders he considers dictators sparked considerable drama and prompted a number of other world leaders to boycott the event.
“We do not always agree on everything, but because we are democratic, we work through our differences with mutual respect and dialogue,” Biden told the summit as he tried to resolve the dispute.
Even when Biden excluded three leaders from the rally, his national security team was preparing for a possible visit to Saudi Arabia, an oil-rich kingdom the president called a pariah state in the early days of his successful White House run.
After Biden took office, the administration made it clear that the president would avoid direct engagement with the country’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, after US intelligence officials concluded he may have approved the assassination and dismemberment of the US-based man. journalist Jamal Kashoghi in 2018. If the visit to Saudi Arabia continues as expected, Biden is expected to meet with Mohammed.
Biden’s tough talks during the campaign – and earlier during his presidency – to the Saudis were part of a broader message he sent to Americans: days of empty checks for dictators and powerful people must end if the United States states want to have confidence on the world stage.
Recently, however, such sharply principled rhetoric has given way to a greater nod to realpolitik.
Amid a sharp rise in gas station prices, a growing fragile situation in the Middle East and constant concerns that China is expanding its global footprint, Biden and his national security team have decided that freezing the Saudis is simply not sustainable. a person familiar with the White House who is thinking about an upcoming visit to Saudi Arabia, who speaks only on condition of anonymity.
The blurred boundaries of who the United States will and will not engage with have posed a difficult question for the White House: How can the president cite the principle of rejecting the engagement of dictators in his own backyard, even when considering calling Saudi officials arrests and ominous violence to suppress dissent?
“President Biden is committed to putting human rights and democracy at the heart of our foreign policy. That’s right, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told reporters at Friday’s closing press conference. “That doesn’t mean it’s the totality.”
But Edward Franz, a presidential historian at the University of Indianapolis, sees signs that Biden is “in the same trap” as his predecessors when it comes to the Middle East.
President Jimmy Carter, who said human rights were central to his foreign policy, looked beyond the bloodthirsty reputation of Shah of Iran Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. President George W. Bush has refrained from supporting an uprising against Saddam Hussein, as his advisers warned that Iraq would plunge into civil war without the strong man. The US administration, from Presidents Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama, has ignored the torture and arbitrary detention of Hosni Mubarak’s government in Egypt in the name of a trusted strategic partner in a difficult corner of the world.
“It is remarkable that Biden has been forced to back down from his position on the Saudis, largely because he has taken a principled stand on Ukraine,” Franz said. “But it’s hard not to see the same patterns here in the last 80 years.”
Human rights groups and even some of the president’s allies in the Democratic Party have warned Biden that a visit to Saudi Arabia could be dangerous.
Six Democrats in the House of Representatives, including California House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff of California, wrote to Biden last week that if he decides to continue the visit, he must keep his promise to “recalibrate attitudes toward serving national interests.” of America ”and put pressure on Saudi officials over oil production, human rights and reported sales of ballistic missiles from China to the kingdom.
“President Biden must recognize that any meeting with a foreign official provides them with immediate credibility on the world stage, whether planned or not,” said Lama Fakih, director of Middle East at Human Rights Watch. “A meeting with Mohammed bin Salman without human rights commitments would justify Saudi leaders, who believe there are no consequences for major human rights abuses.
Even as Biden warmed to the Saudis, he pledged to keep Western hemisphere dictators away from the summit in his own backyard.
The decision was considered difficult by some allies. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and the leaders of Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Bolivia have chosen to miss the summit because of Biden’s decision to exclude the leaders of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
Argentine President Alberto Fernandez and Belize Prime Minister John Brisenho were among those who appeared but publicly criticized Biden’s move.
“Geography, not politics, defines America,” Brisenho said.
Before taking office, Biden did not refrain from what he sees as some of the shortcomings of his fellow leaders, especially those who had fewer stellar records as champions of democracy but were in favor of President Donald Trump.
During the 2020 campaign, Biden argued that Brazil would face “significant economic consequences” if President Jair Bolsonaro continued to deforest the Amazon. Biden called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan an “autocrat” and waited more than three months after his presidency to speak with fellow NATO leader. In particular, Biden said Saudi Arabia was a “pariah” that would “pay a price” for its human rights abuses, including the brutal assassination of Kashoggi.
When Biden met Bolsonaro on the sidelines of Thursday’s summit in America, the engagement was definitely a civil one. Biden did not mention the Brazilian leader’s baseless allegations about his own voting systems and unsubstantiated allegations of widespread fraud in the 2020 US election.
Speaking to reporters, Biden even praised Brazil for making “real sacrifices” in defending the Amazon. The White House said in private conversations they discussed working together for “sustainable development” to reduce deforestation.
Bolsonaro, the most prominent Latin American leader who attended the summit, agreed to participate on condition that Biden give him a private meeting and refrain from confronting him on some of the most contentious issues between the two men, according to three ministers. the Brazilian leader’s office requested anonymity to discuss the issue. White House officials said no preconditions had been set for the talks.
In recent weeks, Biden’s top advisers and NATO officials have been working to persuade Erdogan to back down from threats to block historically neutral Sweden and Finland from joining NATO.
Last week, Biden and his administration were admirable, praising Saudi Arabia for its role in encouraging OPEC + to increase oil production in July and August. Biden even called the kingdom “brave” for agreeing to extend the ceasefire in its seven-year war with Yemen.
Douglas London, a former CIA official who spent 34 years in the Middle East, South and Central Asia and a scientist at the Middle East Institute, said Biden’s tone change was an awkward reality: Prince Mohammed, commonly known as MBS, was someone the US will probably have to deal with for years to come.
“Yes, we remember how the president called MBS a dictator of a pariah state to whom the United States will teach a lesson,” London wrote in an analysis. “The moment in politics and foreign policy, as well as in life, is very important and it is important to remember that the average price of oil when the then candidate Biden said it was 41 dollars per barrel.
It is now hovering around $ 120 a barrel.
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Associated Press authors Eliot Spagat of Los Angeles and Mauricio Savares of Sao Paulo, Brazil, contributed to the report.
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