The Middle East and the Cost of Strategic Inconsistency
JULY 25TH, 2022 BY KEVIN DONEGAN JOSEPH VOTEL MICHAEL “MICK” PATRICK MULROY MICHAEL NAGATA X. BILAL
Y. Saab
EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — The main objective of President Joe Biden’s recent trip to the Middle East was to signal to both partners and adversaries that the United States was serious about restoring its strategic position in the region, which has taken considerable hits in recent years. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the visit was not meant to secure immediate agreements from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on increased oil production, as invaluable as this outcome or others related to strategic competition with China and Russia would have been for U.S. interests.
Give Biden some credit. Even though he knew that meeting with the Saudi leadership would cost him politically at home and possibly upset several senior members of his own administration, he nevertheless went to Jeddah because he rightly put the trip in its proper strategic context. This was not about the Saudis, the Emiratis, the Israelis, or anybody else. It was first and foremost about America and its standing in a region that has proven yet again its strategic importance to world security and commerce and specifically to U.S. long-term interests across the globe.
The question is whether Biden has said or done enough during and after the trip to convince skeptical partners that America is not leaving the region. The administration’s strategic messaging preceding the visit certainly did not help. It was subpar, if not confusing. Biden did publish an opinion piece in The Washington Post to explain his reasons for his trip to the region, but it lacked both clarity and coherence.
https://www.thecipherbrief.com/the-middle-east-and-the-cost-of-strategic-inconsistency?mc_cid=91d0a65263&mc_eid=1fe7f7d069
