President Volodymyr Zelensky has suspended the head of Ukraine’s spy agency and the prosecutor general, citing many cases of treason in the two powerful organizations, the BBC reports.
Biden’s Eyes Are on China and Russia
New York Times: “During his painful encounters with a series of Arab strongmen here in Saudi Arabia this weekend, President Biden kept returning to a single reason for renewing his relationship with American allies who fall on the wrong side of the struggle he often describes as a battle between ‘democracy and autocracy.’”
Said Biden: “We will not walk away and leave a vacuum to be filled by China, Russia or Iran. And we’ll seek to build on this moment with active, principled American leadership.”
“Mr. Biden’s framing of America’s mission as part of a renewed form of superpower competition was revealing. For decades, American presidents largely saw the Middle East as a hotbed of strife and instability, a place the United States needed a presence largely to keep oil flowing and eliminate terrorist havens. Now, more than 20 years after a group of Saudis left this country to stage terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and strike the Pentagon, Mr. Biden is driven by a new concern: That his forced dance with dictators, while distasteful, is the only choice if his larger goal is to contain Russia and outmaneuver China.”
Wall Street Journal: Biden bets on “long game” in bid to reset Saudi ties.
Biden’s Fraught Saudi Visit Garners Scathing Criticism
“President Biden exchanged the shaken fist for a fist bump on Friday as he abandoned his promise to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” and sat down with the crown prince he deemed responsible for the grisly killing and dismemberment of a columnist who lived in the United States,” the New York Times reports.
“In the most fraught foreign visit of his presidency to date, Mr. Biden’s encounter with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman gave the de facto Saudi leader a measure of the international rehabilitation he sought, while securing steps toward closer relations with Israel and an unannounced understanding that the kingdom would soon pump more oil to relieve high gas prices at home.”
“Mr. Biden’s discomfort was palpable as he avoided a handshake with the prince in favor of a fist bump that in the end proved no less problematic politically.”
CNN: “Senior administration officials on Saturday defended Biden’s decision to meet with MBS face-to-face, despite the fierce pushback and criticism, saying it would have been ‘backsliding if the president didn’t come to the region and it would be backsliding if he didn’t and wasn’t willing to sit and raise human rights concerns with foreign leaders around the world.’”
Putin Reshuffles Top Officials
“Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday reshuffled his top officials, naming a new head of the state space corporation and giving new broad powers to one of his top ministers,” the AP reports.
Biden Fist Bumps Saudi Crown Prince
“President Biden greeted Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with a fist bump Friday as he arrived here for a controversial meeting with the Saudi leader, capping his first trip to the Middle East with a high-stakes diplomatic engagement where he is expected to address a range of issues from oil production to human rights to the war in Yemen,” the Washington Post reports.
“Biden descended Air Force One on a light purple carpet and was greeted by a small coterie of Saudi officials. Unlike the elaborate and effusive welcome ceremony that greeted him Wednesday when he arrived in Israel, Biden was only on the tarmac at King Abdulaziz International Airport for one minute before entering the presidential limousine and departing.”
Biden Had No Israeli Flag on Limousine
“President Joe Biden’s motorcade no longer had Israeli flags on it during a visit to a Palestinian hospital in east Jerusalem on Friday, despite his assurances that the stop is not a statement about Israeli sovereignty in its capital city,” the Jerusalem Post reports.
“That rejection was seen by many in Israel as signaling that he does not recognize Israeli sovereignty in that part of the city.”
Biden Set to Meet with Saudi Crown Prince
President Joe Biden is set to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia later today despite previously saying he would only meet with his father, the BBC reports.
The change of plans comes just two years after Biden vowed to make the country a “pariah.”
NBC News: Months of intense lobbying persuaded Biden to go to Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia Will Allow Direct Flights from Israel
“Saudi Arabia has taken a small step toward normalizing relations with Israel by agreeing to allow Israeli planes to fly between the two countries, President Biden said on Friday — a new example of the growing ties between Israel and the Arab world after decades of diplomatic isolation,” the New York Times reports.
Wall Street Journal: “Allowing flights from Israel to fly over Saudi airspace marked another move in a broader effort to normalize relations between the two countries that Mr. Biden has pushed during his Middle East trip. The two countries see a shared threat posed by Iran, which the president emphasized repeatedly during the trip, though Saudi Arabia maintains it won’t normalize relations without a solution to the Palestinian issue.”
Biden Defends Visit to Saudi Arabia
“President Biden defended his decision to meet with the Saudi crown prince who orchestrated the killing and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, saying the Saudis must be involved in any effort to stabilize a volatile region,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Biden: “My views on Khashoggi have been absolutely, positively clear and I have never been quiet about talking about human rights. The reason I’m going to Saudi Arabia is to promote U.S. interests in a way that I think we have an opportunity to reassert our influence in the Middle East.”
Biden Says U.S. Won’t ‘Wait Forever’ for Iran
President Biden said the United States is “not going to wait forever” for Iran to rejoin a nuclear deal as he held a joint news conference in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, in which both leaders vowed not to let Iran develop nuclear weapons, the Washington Post reports.
Biden Basks in Unvarnished Praise in Israel
“If President Biden’s arrival in Israel on Wednesday for his first trip here since taking office could be summarized in just two words, they might be: Donald who?,” the New York Times reports.
“A year and a half after Donald Trump left the White House, Israeli leaders welcomed his successor with a rapturous embrace, as if to prove that their love affair with the former president would not stand in the way of a close relationship with the new president. As for Mr. Biden, he seemed just as determined to prove that he took a back seat to no one in supporting Israel.”
Biden Says Trump Made ‘Gigantic Mistake’ with Iran
President Joe Biden said in an interview that former President Donald Trump made a “gigantic mistake” withdrawing the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal and said Iran was closer now to acquiring a nuclear weapon, CNN reports.
Said Biden: “The only thing worse than the Iran that exists now is Iran with nuclear weapons.”
U.S. Says Iran May Kill American Officials
“The U.S. government believes that Iran may try to assassinate current or former senior American officials to avenge the death more than two years ago of its top military and intelligence commander,” Yahoo News reports.
Biden Handshake Muddles Effort to Limit MBS Contact
“President Joe Biden wasn’t supposed to shake hands with foreign leaders during his trip to the Middle East this week, a precaution against catching Covid-19 that would also help avoid a politically awkward greeting with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed Bin Salman,” Bloomberg reports.
“But shortly after he stepped off Air Force One in Israel on Wednesday, Biden shook hands with former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, undercutting what the White House had said were health-related precautions.”
Sri Lanka Imposes State of Emergency As President Flees
“Sri Lanka’s president fled the country and appointed the prime minister as acting leader, the speaker of parliament said, as protesters breached the prime minister’s office and the island was placed under a state of emergency,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
New York Times: “There was no clear sign of who was in charge for hours on Wednesday after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country, instead of resigning.”
Secret Service Agent Sent Home from Israel
“A member of the US Secret Service Counter Assault Team was detained by the Israeli national police in Jerusalem this week after he allegedly assaulted a woman outside of a bar and the Secret Service says the agent is on his way back to the US,” CNN reports.
White House Hints at No Handshakes on Biden Trip
“It is the handshake that President Biden would dearly love to avoid if he could. So will he use Covid-19 as a reason to keep arm’s length from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman when he lands in Saudi Arabia later this week?,” the New York Times reports.
“White House officials flying with Mr. Biden to Jerusalem on Wednesday for the first stop of his four-day swing through the Middle East hinted that the president may refrain from handshakes altogether during his trip in response to the rise of the highly contagious Omicron subvariant known as BA.5.”
Saudi Arabia Is Closer to Russia Than Ever
“As President Biden prepares to visit Saudi Arabia, the oil-rich kingdom is closer than ever to Russia and has no plans to disengage from Moscow or help Washington by pumping more crude,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The burgeoning partnership between Russia and the Saudis, rooted in their vast petroleum production capacity, has upended an oil-for-security arrangement between Washington and Riyadh that has lasted nearly half a century and been a central fixture of the post-World War II international order.”
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