Walter Russell Mead: belief

Transcript context

…Has anyone taken them over lately? Well, what they would say is, “Iran is our biggest threat. What are you actually doing?” In their view, we’re not doing enough. We might say, “Your view is crazy,” but it’s still their view. That’s part of it. Also, Biden comes into office saying, “I’m going to make MBS, by name, a pariah. I’m going to end our relationship. This relationship with Saudi Arabia is a disaster. It needs to fundamentally change.” Then a few months later, he looks at the price of gas, and this is the key to his reelection. He comes to the Saudis: “Help me stay in office. Return to our eternal friendship.” They don’t trust him at all, nor should they, really. Also, we should look at the way that two developments have changed the relationship. One is fracking, where the US is now a price competitor with the Saudis in a way it didn’t used to be, where our production, actually, in some years is higher than their production. But also, the Biden administration’s attempt to be a leader in climate-change action, which is aimed specifically at driving fossil fuels out of the market. If American policy is to make Saudi Arabia’s one valuable source of income worthless as quickly as possible, what are the reasons for them to help bail us out? I actually think we need Saudi Arabia. We need a balance of power in the Middle East, and they’re an essential part of that balance. I think the relationship can be reconfigured, but we’ve got some work to do on our end. Why has Saudi Arabia been so stable for so many decades? I feel I’ve been reading my whole life, “Oh, this can’t continue.” And so many other countries in the region have not been stable. What’s the Saudis’ secret?…

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