President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel, Palestine and Saudi Arabia is entirely structured around the geopolitical, imperial building of a Mideast “bloc” against Iran, Russia and China, while also begging for more oil from the Saudis and other Gulf countries.
In a press conference after his meetings with the Saudi King, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MBS), and other Saudi leaders, a clearly exhausted Biden stood glassy-eyed before the press reading the teleprompter, with multiple stumbling reading failures, repeating in various ways that the trip was an effort to keep Russia and China out of the region while building a coalition between Israel and the Gulf states against Iran. He admitted that he had failed to get any firm commitment for more oil from the Saudis, holding out hope for something in the near future. He praised the Saudi’s for continuing the cease fire in Yemen, but made clear the US would continue arming the Saudis against the Houthis, whom he called Irainian proxies.
Some quotes from Biden:
“First, as you saw this morning, the Saudis will open their airspace to all civilian carriers. That is a big deal. A big deal…. It means Saudi airspace is now open to flights to and from Israel. This is the first tangible step in the path of what I hope will eventually be a broader normalization of relations….
“We further agreed to pursue a diplomatic process to achieve a wider settlement in Yemen. The Saudi leadership also committed to continue to facilitate the delivery of food and humanitarian goods to civilians. In this context, we discussed Saudi Arabia’s security needs to defend the Kingdom, given very real threats from Iran and Iran’s proxies….
