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JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — US President Joe Biden’s fist bump with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was drawing criticism even earlier than his assembly with the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia concluded on Friday.
US intelligence businesses mentioned the crown prince, generally known as MBS, ordered the 2018 killing of journalist and critic Jamal Khashoggi.
Hatice Cengiz, Khashoggi’s fiancée, tweeted a screenshot imagining what he would have mentioned in response to the assembly, studying “the blood of MBS’s subsequent sufferer is in your palms.”
California Rep. Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the Home Intelligence Committee mentioned “One fist bump is price a thousand phrases.”
He added: “If we ever wanted a visible reminder of the persevering with grip oil-rich autocrats have on US overseas coverage within the Center East, we acquired it in the present day.”
The fist bump marked the primary time Biden has met the crown prince since he took workplace. The transient encounter, which was captured by Saudi tv, occurred as Biden stepped out of his presidential limousine within the Pink Sea metropolis of Jeddah, having flown in from Israel.
After taking workplace final yr, Biden’s administration launched US intelligence findings that the Saudi crown prince “authorized” an operation concentrating on Khashoggi, whose grotesque killing in Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul consulate sparked international outrage.
Saudi officers deny the prince’s involvement and say Khashoggi’s demise resulted from a “rogue” operation. But it surely marred the crown prince’s status as a possible reformer.
Biden now seems able to re-engage with a rustic that has been a key strategic ally of the USA for many years, a significant provider of oil and an avid purchaser of weapons.
Washington needs the world’s largest exporter of crude to open the floodgates to carry down hovering gasoline costs, which threaten Democratic possibilities in November mid-term elections.
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