U.S.
President
Joe
Biden
speaks
before
signing
an
executive
order to
help
safeguard
women's
access
to
abortion
and
contraception
after
the
Supreme
Court
last
month
overturned
Roe v
Wade
decision
that
legalized
abortion,
at the
White
House in
Washington,
U.S.,
July 8,
2022.
REUTERS/Kevin
Lamarque |
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Biden's
dilemma:
What
about a
photo
with
Saudi
Crown
Prince
MbS?
reuters.com
WASHINGTON
- Joe
Biden's
trip to
Saudi
Arabia
this
week is
a
diplomatic
challenge
that
comes
with a
thorny
logistics
question:
Should
the U.S.
president
be
photographed
meeting,
or even
shaking
hands
with,
Crown
Prince
Mohammed
bin
Salman?
U.S.
presidential
visits,
even
with the
closest
of
allies,
are
often
highly
choreographed
affairs
involving
weeks of
planning
around
seating
arrangements,
camera
positions
and how
officials
plan to
walk
into
rooms to
set up
or avoid
a
handshake.
Biden,
who
called
the
Saudi
government
a
"pariah"
for its
role in
the 2018
murder
of
Washington
Post
journalist
and
political
opponent
Jamal
Khashoggi,
is
reluctantly
meeting
the
crown
prince,
who U.S.
intelligence
believe
was
behind
the
killing.
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more
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access
to
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But
political
experts
say the
White
House
understands
that a
photo,
and
perhaps
one of
the two
men
shaking
hands,
may be
both
inevitable
and
necessary,
as
Washington
seeks to
reset
its
relationship
with the
oil-rich
nation
and with
a young
crown
prince
destined
to rule
the
kingdom
for many
years to
come.
“I
think
the
White
House's
expectation
is
they're
going to
be in
the same
room.
They're
not
going to
be far
apart.
At some
point,
the
crown
prince
is
likely
to come
over and
extend
his hand
and some
sort of
image
will
emerge,"
said Jon
B.
Alterman,
a former
State
Department
official
and
senior
vice
president
at the
Center
for
Strategic
and
International
Studies.
When
it does,
Biden is
sure to
face
criticism
from
Republican
opposition
who
argue
the
president
is
courting
a
questionable
ally to
boost
oil
production
over
domestic
producers
and from
his own
Democrats,
who have
urged
Biden to
delay
any
meeting
due to
human
rights
concerns.
Saudi
officials
have not
disclosed
whether
MbS, as
he is
also
known,
or the
ailing
King
Salman
bin
Abdulaziz
Al Saud
will
greet
Biden
when he
arrives
in
Jeddah.
Other
details,
such as
whether
there
will be
a formal
dinner,
have not
been
released.
BIDEN:
HUMAN
RIGHTS
ON THE
AGENDA
The
White
House
did not
respond
to
questions
about
the
optics
of the
trip.
But
in a
Washington
Post
opinion
piece
published
on
Saturday,
Biden
wrote:
"I know
that
there
are many
who
disagree
with my
decision
to
travel
to Saudi
Arabia.
My views
on human
rights
are
clear
and
long-standing,
and
fundamental
freedoms
are
always
on the
agenda
when I
travel
abroad."
read
more
He
wrote
that as
president
his job
was to
keep
America
strong
and
secure,
put the
country
in the
best
possible
position
to
outcompete
China,
counter
Russian
aggression
and work
for
greater
stability
in a
consequential
region
of the
world.
"To
do these
things,
we have
to
engage
directly
with
countries
that can
impact
those
outcomes.
Saudi
Arabia
is one
of them,
and when
I meet
with
Saudi
leaders
on
Friday,
my aim
will be
to
strengthen
a
strategic
partnership
going
forward
that’s
based on
mutual
interests
and
responsibilities,
while
also
holding
true to
fundamental
American
values,"
Biden
wrote.
The
White
House
National
Security
Council
has said
that
Biden
would
participate
in a
bilateral
meeting
with the
king and
the
crown
prince,
but
Biden
has
sought
to
emphasize
the
meeting
with a
broader
set of
Gulf
leaders.
Typically,
leaders
will
emerge
from
bilateral
talks
and
jointly
take
questions
from
reporters,
but it
is
unclear
whether
that is
the plan
Saudi
Arabia
is a
strategic
partner
of the
United
States,
thanks
to oil
and
regional
politics,
and
since
the end
of World
War Two,
U.S.
presidents
and
Saudi
kings
have met
on
several
occasions.
The
meetings
have
included
many
notable
achievements
but also
produced
a few
awkward
moments.
A
photo of
President
George
W. Bush
holding
hands
with an
aged
Saudi
King
Abdullah
during a
stroll
on the
president’s
Texas
ranch in
2005
raised
eyebrows
among
Americans
uncomfortable
with the
Arab
custom
of men
holding
hands.
In
2009,
Barack
Obama
greeted
the
Saudi
King
with
what
appeared
to be a
bow, and
conservatives
and
Republicans
were
critical.
The
White
House
said
that the
president
was
"stooping"
to look
the
feeble
king in
the eye
while
shaking
hands.
In
2017,
Donald
Trump,
who
lambasted
Obama
for his
alleged
bow,
greeted
MbS with
a firm,
vertical
handshake,
then
drew
criticism
from
Democrats
for
bowing
to MbS
when
accepting
a
civilian
medal
from the
crown
prince.
Biden on
Friday
will
become
the
first
president
to fly
from
Israel
to
Jeddah,
Saudi
Arabia,
he
wrote.
He
called
it a
small
symbol
of "the
budding
relations
and
steps
toward
normalization"
between
Israel
and the
Arab
world.
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now for
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unlimited
access
to
Reuters.com
Reporting
By
Jarrett
Renshaw;
Additional
reporting
by
Nandita
Bose;
Editing
by
Heather
Timmons,
Chris
Reese
and
Howard
Goller
Our
Standards:
The
Thomson
Reuters
Trust
Principles.
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