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The Biden administration is loosening up its diplomatic strategies with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
According to reports, President Biden will be traveling to Saudi Arabia this month, despite repeated promises to hold the country accountable for human rights violations. Biden is expected to meet with Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman – a decision that directly goes against his prior assessments of the country.
Biden previously promised to make the kingdom a global “pariah” due to its mistreatment of human beings, violations of international law, and open hostility to the U.S. – including the killing of a Washington Post journalist.
“We were going to in fact make [Saudi Arabia] pay the price, and make them, in fact, the pariah that they are,” Biden said in a 2019 debate.
SAUDI ARABIA SAYS IT HAS EXECUTED 81 CONVICTS IN A SINGLE DAY
FILE – People hold posters of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, near the Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul, marking the two-year anniversary of his death, Oct. 2, 2020. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel, File)
Donald Trump visited Saudi Arabia during his first foreign trip as president and didn’t sour to the Arab nation after the killing of Saudi Arabia native and U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Khashoggi, a contributor for the Washington Post, was killed in 2018 by Saudi security officials, though the suspected ties to Mohammed bin Salman, also referred to as MbS, did not affect President Trump’s relationship with the crown prince.
Democrats took Trump to task for not taking the killing more seriously.
FILE – In this Jan. 24, 2015 file photo, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman is guarded by his bodyguard Maj. Gen. Abdulaziz al-Fagham, background, as he attends a ceremony at the Diwan royal palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (AP Photo/Yoan Valat, Pool, File)
Biden intended to overhaul Saudi Arabian diplomacy over the incident, which was supposed to include sidestepping Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
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“We’ve made clear from the beginning that we are going to recalibrate our relationship with Saudi Arabia,” former White House press secretary Psaki said at the beginning of Biden’s term.
Salman is set to be the successor to his 85-year-old father King Salman.
People wear face masks to protect against the spread of the coronavirus in front of a banner showing Saudi King Salman, right, and his Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, outside a mall in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Friday, Feb. 5.
“The President’s counterpart is King Salman, and I expect that, in appropriate time, he would have a conversation with him,” Psaki told reporters at the time.
