Saudi-US
Relationship; Renewed and Reviewed
Deputy
Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman (right) was received by John Kerry, Secretary
of State, U.S (left) in Washington
Reinvigorating
the relationship, Prince Mohammad Bin Salman flew all the way to US in June on
a historic visit. Even before Prince Mohammad had landed in the US, this much
awaited visit was considered historic as it was the first time he had been
flying there after accessing the position in January 2015.
The
visit was to focus on various issues fuming in the Middle East region.
The powerful Deputy Crown
Prince flew to the United States on Monday, 13th June to meet and
discuss upon the various unwanted events and happenings in the region with
President Barack Obama of the United States and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
of the United Nations.
Mohammad
bin Salman, also the Defense Minister, came amid a diplomatic row with the
United Nations and policy differences with the United States over the war in
Syria and relations with Iran.
The
visionary Prince, known for working vigorously towards his ambitious plan of
revamping the economy of the world's top oil exporter also travelled to
California where he met company executives in Silicon Valley as reported by the
Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.
The
Prince’s aim was to discuss ways of strengthening relations between the two
nations, which in the recent times had differences in opinions on the
ignominious events in the Middle East.
Saudi
Arabia, a leading supporter of Syrian rebels fighting against the President
Bashar al-Assad, had been critical of what it saw as foot-dragging by U.S over
efforts to end the conflict.
Saudi
Arabia has also been urging Obama over a while now to take a stronger stand on
what Riyadh sees as Iran meddling and interfering in the affairs of Arab states
and issues related to the Middle East since a while. Though Iran denies any such
interference.
Deputy
Crown Prince kicked off the visit by meeting the U.S. Secretary of State John
Kerry at his residence in Washington on the first day of the trip and discussed
the boosting Saudi-U.S. relations and similar issues.
As per
the spokesperson of the U.S. State Department Mark Toner, he had expressed that
the meeting between both parties was focused on developments in Yemen and
Syria, and the importance of fighting terrorism.
Upon the
arrival in Washington, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was happy to
announce that Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al
Saud had decided to include 2,628 male and female students, currently studying
in the U.S. on their own, in the Saudi education mission within the Custodian
of the Holy Mosques’ Foreign Scholarship Program.
The
Deputy Crown Prince’s visit to the U.S. included three main stops during which
he met top U.S. officials to discuss political and economic issues.
Prince
Mohammed bin Salman on the second day of his U.S trip met the officials from
the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), including CIA Chief John Brennan and
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, in addition to representatives
from the private sector in the U.S.
As
quoted by Asharq al-Awsat, Prince Mohammed, son of King Salman, also met the
U.N’s Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as soon as he landed.
Ban Ki-moon
had said that Saudi Arabia had exerted "unacceptable" pressure on the
world body after a U.N. report had blacklisted a Saudi-led military coalition
for killing children in Yemen, a charge that was denied by the kingdom.
The
United Nations removed the coalition from the list after Riyadh had threatened
to cut its funding of U.N. programs, diplomatic sources were found to have
reported.
The
prince also met Obama as well as Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense
Secretary Ash Carter in Washington.
State News
Agency SPA had posted that a number of senior officials, including Finance
Minister Ibrahim Alassaf and Commerce and Investment Minister Majid al-Qusaibi
were part of the delegation accompanying Prince Mohammed, referring as how
serious the three day meet was.
Under broad
economic reforms announced before leaving for the U.S., which aim to free Saudi
Arabia of its dependence on oil exports, the Kingdom is seeking a big increase
in foreign investment and tie-ups with foreign companies in non-oil industries
including the technology sector.
The main
reason of the visit by the high-level Saudi delegation to Washington,
California, and New York was that the Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman Bin
Abdulaziz was intended on investing in the development of Saudi-American
relations in all fields and at all levels, including the Kingdom’s image in the
Western world which in the recent times seemed to be a little scorned which
wasn’t an easy task, as there had been, among many thinkers, journalists,
decision-makers, and academics a sense of sympathy towards Iran and automated
anger against Saudi Arabia from a while. Moreover, the tag of ‘Wahhabism’ against
Saudi Arabia made it worse. Also, the nuclear deal of Iran projected its image
as a ‘moderate’ nation covering its abuses in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.
Amid all
this battle on ‘public relations’, Saudi Arabia was absent which sought to
pressure in choosing between Saudi Arabia and Iran for U.S.
Saudi
Arabia, being one of the oldest ally to the U.S had to bounce back and shred
all the allegations of Extremism and Wahhabism by Iran. Also, this meet was
much needed to clear off the effigy of Sunni Islam not being the enemy of the
West.
Oil rich
Saudi Arabia, all this while was mute and expected that the relations between
the two close nations would ameliorate but it turned out to be futile.
This
required a multidimensional approach that was not confined to US institutions, and
Prince Mohammad Bin Salman included Arab experts who were familiar with both
Arab and American cultures and translated it into new understandings and better
relations.
This
could be seen after the recent visit when Simon Henderson of the Washington
Institute, a think tank focused on the Middle East said “He is notionally
number three in the hierarchy, but effectively he’s number one” referring to
the young and dynamic Prince.
The
deputy crown Prince was welcomed gleefully along with his initiatives and ideas
for change in both form and substance. After all, the young and vibrant prince
has combined the modernity and tradition, and appears comfortable with himself.
The 30 year old confident prince intends to leave an impression that challenges
all the odds and prejudices.
The main
brain behind Vision 2030 is undoubtedly the once who is also implementing the very
mechanism of this vision, which is an achievement in itself.
Aware of
the pitfalls but unafraid of digging deeper, he is the prince who dared to seek
radical change in the relationship between the citizen and the state, in a
quiet revolution with pragmatic goals and approaches. The Vision 2030 plan is
nothing short of astonishing, a collective workshop toward a liberal economic
and social governance replacing the stale patterns of nationalization,
rent-seeking, and dependency.
This is
what Prince Mohammed bin Salman carried to Washington, California, and New
York, a man ready for the modernization of the Kingdom at all levels and to
keep up the qualitative requirements in this technical age.
Officially,
the Deputy Crown Prince was welcomed at the highest levels, more of which resembled
a family reception. The comportment of the U.S seemed to have softened the
tension with the aim of seeking warmer relations comparing to what had been the
norm under Obama, conceivably sparing the next election administration to not
be inheriting the burdens of the current administration’s policies.
The idea
behind the meet in the Washington was to restore the old US relationship with
Saudi Arabia, which had gone through a difficult phase because of the result of
the fundamental shift pursued by the United States administration in the
US-Iranian relations without involving or for that matter even discussing with
the Gulf countries, the age old allies of the US and probably to clarify their
future position in the new paradigm.
The 30
year old prince had something more in his mind. This time, he wanted the bond
between the 2 nations a stronger one than before and focused on understanding
or rather more of an undictated one.
Usually,
Saudi Arabia has a reactive policy instead of taking the initiative in
propaganda wars, thus appearing on the defensive side.
Indications
are clear, the young leader along with his cabinet, under his guidance is
undertaking serious self-reviews regarding the results of traditional
strategies and the requirements of modern ones. Even though this is in its
early stages, the efforts appear to be more fruitful compared to the national
transformation vision.
This was
a much needed step in the change of the Kingdom’s presumed image by the outside
world as there is undeniably an ongoing strategy by Iran, Russia, the Syrian
regime, and Hezbollah, who are ready to double the amount of harm they have
inflicted on Saudi Arabia, which is a part of their program that started years
ago with huge funding.
As per
the reports by one of the major media firms, Quantum, there are a large number
of entities involved in the anti-Saudi propaganda. The Russian propaganda
machine is working endlessly towards this by spending nearly $450 million
annually, employing 600 people which reaches out in 30 languages since its
inception nearly 5 years ago. The worst of all is the Iranian mechanism that
spends the double than that of Russia, almost $900 million annually to malign
the image of the Kingdom.
Saudi
Arabia’s war in Yemen which has been a point of deep contention between the White
House and the Royal Court is the target of these propagandists. US, which has
backed the Royals to fight against the Iranian backed Houthi rebels taking over
Sanaa was portrayed in an evil manner to the outside world.
There are signs that the war may be winding down and Saudi
Arabia and its allies may be shifting focus to tackling Al Qaeda, even though
the Houthis remain in control of most of the central and northern highlands.
Though United Arab Emirates announced "war is over"
in Yemen, there was an open possibility of a continued counterterrorism role.
The
propagandists have been targeting Saudi Arabia since a while and are trying
their utmost negative zeal to link terrorism and Saudi Arabia.
Their
narcissism towards Bashar Al-Assad as a ‘fighter’ against ISIS and terrorism
and the only option to topple the ISIS needed a back lash from the Kingdom and
had to be scrapped off and who better than the vivacious young Prince could
have done it. Indeed!
The two
have been working intensely towards moving the limelight from the much
distorted Syrian condition towards the role of Saudi Arabia in the Yemen war
that is headed under the Defense Minister. Portraying it as even worse than the
duos action in Syria.
This
boils down to the fact that Saudi Arabia needs to adopt two separate yet
complementing strategies, firstly by challenging the above mechanism of its
opponents while focusing and countering the above in the best possible manner
worldwide. Secondly, present the ideologue of Saudi Arabia’s vision 2030 and
the achievements it has made so far along with the highlights of what Riyadh
would be delivering in the coming years.
The
Deputy Crown Prince is undoubtedly the modern face of the present day Saudi
Arabia who along with Adel Al-Jubeir, Foreign Affairs Minister is politically
open and not at all skeptical on any of the issues pertaining to the Kingdom
and its affair with the outside world, unlike the previous generation of the
Royals. He has undoubtedly transformed the Kingdom’s age old image of a conservative
Islamist nation to a much technically sound and modern nation along with its
rooted Islamic principles.
These
two have been quiet vocal about the statistics and financial condition of the
country and how would they be curbing it in the best possible manner which in
this year’s budget went to a deficit of nearly $300 billion, first time ever in
the history of the oil rich Kingdom.
In the
country’s vision of 2030, the political openness, economic privatization and
social diversity are the highlights together towards anew, bold and modern philosophy that
challenges all the odds, isolation and the aspirations for regional hegemony as
adopted by Tehran. It even dares the feeling of xenophobia towards the Kingdom
by the allies of Iran.
Propagandists
in the region, like Iran cannot accept the liberal Saudi Arabia, especially
because of the image of “Wahhabi-fundamentalist” that was linked to a part of
its society. Therefore, changing impressions will be an arduous task, but not
an impossible one if a conscious strategy is adopted.
This is
what the young Saudi Prince took along with his delegation to Washington,
California, and New York.
The
reaction also seemed positive from Washington.
They have
the reassurance that the Deputy Crown Prince is the key contributor to Saudi
future, the architect of the Vision 2030, and a man with extraordinary
executive powers.
While in
California, which is the technology capital aimed to showcase its futuristic
plans to the man who was the future of the Islamic Kingdom and had decided that
his country must join the technological revolution as a partner and
contributor.
On the
other hand, businessmen from New York and renowned financial institutions
geared up for the historic event when 5 percent of Saudi Aramco’s shares were
offered in the local and international markets for the first time in Saudi
history, in what is probably the largest IPO in the world’s history.
All this
to balance the development and investment and move away from its oil addiction.
The hard
work of the Prince would surely pay off, though the change wouldn’t be
immediate but slowly and steadily the image of Saudi Arabia will transform from
what it was to what the strategy of vision 2030 would make it for the United
States of America.
This could
be seen in the statement by James Smith, fomer US ambassador to the Kingdom who
appreciated the vision 2030 efforts and said “Given their huge investment in
education over the last decade, if they are not able to move away from a
state-run economy and develop a private sector, you are not going to have the
jobs that young people need”.
Moreover,
the image of the visionary, moderate and vibrant young prince has challenged
the racist ideologue of the general American public which had classified all
young Muslims as radical extremists at a time when Prince’s visit and the
terrorist attack in Orlando by Omar Mateen, an Afghan-American, claimed by ISIS
collided.
Indeed,
the image of the reformist with visionary aspirations shattered the claims by
American hardliners that all young Muslims are nihilistic terrorists.
The
young Prince has given back to extremist radicalism as well as racist
radicalism, both of which are dangerous. A much needed come back.
While
Omar Mateen destroyed what Islamic moderation had built over time, it is also
feared to be used and exploited by hardliners in the US to support fantastical
ideas adopted by the Republican candidate Donald Trump, doing nothing but
inflaming emotions on both sides of the political divide.
The fear
was dismissed when the young Prince met the US President in Washington on the 5th
day of his visit at the White House.
He also
discussed with Deputy Chief of Protocol Mark Walsh during his arrival at the
White House. Further, he swept in the West Wing with a band of aides for
hour-long talks. Breaking all bad.
The
constructive attitude change towards the Kingdom could be seen as he was among
the very who have had the privilege of meeting the US President in the Oval
office. An honor rarely anyone receives.
Also
holding talks with the CIA director, the Secretaries of the State, Defense,
Treasury, Commerce and Energy along with the leaders of Congress depicted how
pragmatic the Kingdom wanted its age old ally to be.
“The
meetings were very, very positive. I believe there was a commonality in terms
of visions and views”, Saudi Foreign Minister, Adel Al-Jubeir expressed after
the meet.
Relatively
unknown for the Washington, Prince Mohammad’s a week’s long visit wooed the U.S
which was visible by the gestures.
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