Why Biden Can’t Ice Out Saudi Arabia
What Next | Daily News and Analysis
Slate Podcasts
4.3 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 22 June 2022
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On the campaign trail, Joe Biden called Saudi Arabia a “pariah” and said its ruling regime should be held accountable for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. But now, rising oil prices have caused President Biden to soften his tone and plan a visit to Saudi Arabia next month. How much can the U.S. really demand of its allies?
Guest: Gregory Gause, head of the Department of International Affairs at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This episode is brought to you by National Rail. |
| 0:03.4 | Picture it, the view of the British countryside from your window seat. |
| 0:07.2 | The excitement of knowing you're on route to see someone you love. |
| 0:10.3 | The smokers are satisfaction you get knowing that you're not stuck in traffic. |
| 0:13.8 | It's a great feeling. |
| 0:15.6 | Whether it's wild weekends, Sunday surprises, anywhere adventures, get closer to the people, |
| 0:21.3 | places and things you love with rail. |
| 0:24.0 | Nothing beats being that. |
| 0:32.1 | Next month, President Biden will get on Air Force One and do something that would have |
| 0:36.5 | been in theathema to candidate Biden. |
| 0:40.3 | He's going to visit Saudi Arabia. |
| 0:44.6 | When I think about the US Saudi relationship, I tend to use this word in my head, frenemy. |
| 0:49.8 | Is that fair? |
| 0:51.4 | There's no good translation of frenemy into Arabic. |
| 0:57.6 | Gregory Gawz is an expert on the Saudi US relationship. |
| 1:01.1 | He teaches at Texas A&M. |
| 1:03.5 | I wouldn't use frenemy, but I also think it's a mistake to use the word ally. |
| 1:09.5 | Because allies are people that you will fight for. |
| 1:12.7 | Kind of reflexively, you're committed to it, right? |
| 1:15.9 | NATO Article 5. |
| 1:17.9 | We were never that. |
| 1:19.4 | The US and Saudi Arabia were especially not allies over the last few years. |
... |
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