Why Punishing Saudi Arabia for Our Own Energy Problems Is a Very Bad Idea
President Biden has vowed to reevaluate the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia after the oil-producing kingdom, along with other members of OPEC Plus (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) decided to reduce oil production by 2 million barrels a day. This came after the Biden Administration had repeatedly asked that those countries not do that in order to keep gasoline prices from going higher. With the law of supply and demand, reducing oil production generally causes a rise in fuel prices; flooding the market with oil brings prices down.
There are numerous reasons why oil-producing nations would want to cut production and impact fuel prices by doing that. However, to most of us it was no surprise that the oil-rich Saudi Arabians would not grant the President’s request. Biden has targeted Saudi Arabia since he was a candidate and after being elected President. It was predictable that Saudi Arabia would push back.
As a presidential candidate, in light of allegations that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was somehow involved in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Joe Biden attacked Saudi Arabia and the prince verbally and vowed to make them the pariah of the world. Upon inauguration, President Biden temporarily suspended weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)—even while they lived under a threat from Iran and were actually suffering missile attacks from the Houthi Rebels in Yemen, who are armed and supported by Iran. Further, over Saudi Arabia’s objections (as well as those of other Arab nations and Israel), the Biden Administration continued to cozy up to Iran, even promising to lift sanctions against that terrorist state if they would reenter the flawed and dangerous Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA). Iran is a declared threat to Saudi Arabia.
One cannot launch these kinds of verbal and policy attacks on a friendly nation and then feign surprise when they decide not to do you any favors. It is regrettable that Saudi Arabia and OPEC Plus decided to temporarily cut oil production in spite of a “fist-bumping” trip by our President, followed by some embarrassing begging to Crown Prince bin Salman to sell us some oil. But is it a surprise that the prince and the other nations said, “No”? NO, of course not.
Reports even indicate that Biden’s request was not designed to actually fix oil prices in the U.S. President Biden actually asked Saudi Arabia to keep oil production up for one month—until our midterm elections were over. Prince bin Salman reportedly was insulted that Biden was asking him for a political favor so that U.S. Democrats could win elections in November. We should all be insulted by that, too. The Biden Administration is on record as saying the rise in gas prices is part of their plan—to wean us from fossil fuels and to move us toward their utopian Green New Deal. Biden officials have actually said that Americans suffering over rising gasoline prices is part of the growth pains as we move toward renewable energy; the pain is to be expected and is worth it for their worthy cause of saving the planet.
To make the previous policy missteps even worse, now President Biden is promising to make Saudi Arabia pay for the OPEC Plus decision. He wants to punish our most important ally in the Middle East (after Israel) over an energy issue. The President is considering, and some Senators on the Left are even calling for, the U.S. to stop selling weapons to Saudi Arabia. This is geo-political insanity, a global illustration of cutting off one’s nose in order to “teach” one’s face a lesson.
We have a decades-old strategic relationship with Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf States in the region. We have U.S. troops stationed there. I spent part of my military career stationed there working with our military allies. The U.S., Israel, and Saudi Arabia share vital intelligence with each other regarding Iran and other terror groups in the region. In recent years we have seen the relationship between Israel and these Arab nations grow, with numerous nations establishing diplomatic relations with Israel, including Saudi Arabia working closely with Israel to allow flights between the two nations for the first time ever. When it comes to opposing the evil designs of Iran, we have no more important partner than Saudi Arabia. We need them; they need us.
The Biden Administration is pushing Saudi Arabia and our other Arab allies in the region into the arms of Russia and China. Biden’s policies and his threat to punish Saudi Arabia will have disastrous consequences for the region and for the national security of the United States. It is not in our strategic interests to abandon our allies in the Middle East, allies we have spent many years and billions of dollars to establish. In every war and major military operation in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Africa, we have used our personnel and military power stationed there to accomplish those missions. We will likely need them again. If we quit selling weapons and equipment to Saudi Arabia, I am confident that Russia or China will be most happy to fill that gap. If our President ruptures these key relationships, and our Arab allies turn to nations like China and Russia, it will be impossible to mend those fences and reestablish these vital relationships.
Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates stated: Joe Biden has “been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.” Former President Obama expressed frustration at Biden’s ability to “mess” things up and to not comprehend the serious responsibilities of the office of President. The actions and reactions of our President have consequential results for every American and for people around the world.
Our President has a regrettable penchant for seeing all who disagree with him as the enemy. They are not. Biden disenfranchised half of the American electorate and dismissed them as radical threats to democracy in recent speeches. Through Biden’s Justice Department,his Administration has designated non-violent parents at school board meetings as possible domestic terrorists. He relegates those who are pro-life in the abortion issue as enemies, and to date there have been no arrests over the recent firebombings and vandalization of pro-life pregnancy centers. It is not enough to respectfully disagree with his opponents—he must demonize them. This is a regrettable and dangerous knee-jerk reaction on the part of our President.
On Biden’s first day in office, he declared a policy war on U.S. energy production. We were one of the world’s largest exporters of oil and gas until he became President. We still have vast amounts of oil and gas under our feet that would make us independent of the actions of OPEC Plus and all other oil-producing nations. It would enable us to supply our European allies with liquified natural gas (LNG) and free them from dependence on Russia.
Rising gasoline prices are not the fault of Saudi Arabia. They are the result of our own President’s policies. Meanwhile, the Biden Administration is considering buying oil from the cruel dictatorship in Venezuela and hopes to reenter the Iran nuclear deal so we can purchase oil from the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism. However, when it comes to inappropriate responses and ill-advised reactions to our strategic allies around the world, including Saudi Arabia, the long-term consequences—the so-called second and third order effects—are indescribably serious. Mr. President, stop and reconsider what you are doing.