Biden Trip to Saudi Arabia Aimed To Erect Israel-Gulf Cooperation Council Bloc vs. Iran
July 16, 2022 (EIRNS)—President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel, Palestine and Saudi Arabia is entirely structured around the geopolitical, imperial building of a Mideast “bloc” against Iran, Russia and China, while also begging for more oil from the Saudis and other Gulf countries.
In a press conference after his meetings with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, and other Saudi leaders, a clearly exhausted Biden stood glassy-eyed before the press reading the teleprompter, constantly stumbling over his lines, repeating in various ways that the trip was an effort to keep Russia and China out of the region, while building a coalition between Israel and the Gulf states against Iran. He admitted that he had failed to get any firm commitment for more oil from the Saudis, holding out hope for something in the near future. He praised the Saudis for continuing the ceasefire in Yemen, but made clear the U.S. would continue arming the Saudis against the Houthis, whom he called Iranian proxies.
Some quotes from Biden:
“First, as you saw this morning, the Saudis will open their airspace to all civilian carriers. That is a big deal. A big deal.... It means Saudi airspace is now open to flights to and from Israel. This is the first tangible step in the path of what I hope will eventually be a broader normalization of relations....
“We further agreed to pursue a diplomatic process to achieve a wider settlement in Yemen. The Saudi leadership also committed to continue to facilitate the delivery of food and humanitarian goods to civilians. In this context, we discussed Saudi Arabia’s security needs to defend the Kingdom, given very real threats from Iran and Iran’s proxies....
“Saudi Arabia will invest in new U.S.-led technology to develop and secure reliable 5G and 6G networks, both here and in the future, in developing countries to coordinate with the Partnership for Global Initiative—the Global Infrastructure and Investment, which I put together at the G7. This new technology solution for 5G, called Open RAN, will outcompete other platforms, including from China....
“[We] had a good discussion on ensuring global energy security and adequate oil supplies to support global economic growth. And that will begin shortly. And I’m doing all I can to increase the supply for the United States of America, which I expect to happen. The Saudis share that urgency, and based on our discussions today, I expect we’ll see further steps in the coming weeks....
“And after years of failed efforts, we have now finalized an agreement to connect Iraq’s electric grid to the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] grids through Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and deepening Iraq’s integration into the region and reducing its dependence on Iran....
“The bottom line is: This trip is about once again positioning America in this region for the future. We are not going to leave a vacuum in the Middle East for Russia or China to fill. And we’re getting results.”
Biden repeated these themes in a later meeting of the GCC+3 (plus Egypt, Jordan, and Iraq). He began his presentation there as follows: “Around the world, we’re seeing efforts to undermine the rules-based order: with China’s increasingly coercive actions in the Indo-Pacific and beyond; with Russia’s brutal and unprovoked war against its neighboring Ukraine; and with Iran’s destabilizing activities.”
He also announced the establishment of a “new naval task force to work in partnership with many of your navies to help secure the Red Sea.”
He said that included “the first naval task force to use multi-manned surface vessels.” However, he had misread the teleprompter, saying “multi-manned” when the script was “un-manned”—not a small blunder. The White House transcript typically left the blunder and put the correct word in parentheses.
