Next US administration signals tough policy on Saudi Arabia

• Author: SETH J. FRANTZMAN
• Published date: 29 December 2020
• Date: 29 December 2020
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Only in rare instances, historically, do countries that enjoyed a long close relationship shift so quickly. The reasons for this US shift are complex but they are also a clear trajectory that dates from the period of the Obama administration.

Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor for President-elect Joe Biden, posted tweets critical of Saudi Arabia on Sunday, slamming the kingdom for sentencing Loujain al-Hathloul. He said that the Biden administration will "stand up against human rights violations wherever they occur."

This universal approach to human rights issues is in line with the general perception that the US has of itself. Washington has for over a hundred years championed human rights, religious freedom and other values such as self-determination and freedom of navigation. However, while the US has championed or paid lip service to these ideas, its actual policy on these issues has often been either neutral, or the diametric opposite.

The historic relationship with Saudi Arabia is only one example where the US has generally said one thing at home but did the opposite abroad.

Riyadh is no more abusive of human rights than many other countries, it was a bit of a standout because of its close relations with the US. For instance, the kingdom has often been accused of beheading foreign workers, or ignoring abuses against them. In the 1990s and early 2000s it was also accused of funding religious extremism. Even today the accusation that "Wahhabi" teachings that have their origins in Saudi Arabia, underpin extremist ideologies in places like Chechnya, are still common, even if Riyadh's direct connection to these ideologies have changed.

For the US, this was never a major issue. Before and after 9/11 the close relationship was generally built on the concept that Riyadh was one pillar of the US strategic system in the Middle East.

Dating from the Cold War this saw Saudi as a conduit to the Islamic world and a natural ally against Soviet Communism and other ideologies but the defeat of Saddam Hussein changed some of the calculus in the kingdom and the US.

As the Soviet Union disappeared and radical Islamist ideologies became a threat, questions arose whether Riyadh was taking this threat seriously and whether traditional allies of the US, such as Pakistan, were also secretly or openly funneling and supporting anti-Western terror groups.

Of particular interest here is the degree to which the US took seriously the various intersecting and competing...