Tahir Mustafa
Donald Trump’s unusually warm welcome for crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) is not because the de facto Saudi ruler is a world statesman. When Trump smells money—and lots of it—and geo-strategic interests, he goes out of his way to flatter people.
This is what Trump did when he welcomed MbS to the White House on November 18. A red carpet was rolled out, literally, for the Saudi visitor as he stepped out of a black Mercedes.
Trump was waiting outside the White House door to greet him. The welcome ceremony featured marching bands, flag-carrying horsemen and a military flyover. MbS was seen grinning from ear to ear.
What does Trump want from MbS? Two things are uppermost in his mind: the Banu Saud’s public embrace of zionist Israel, and investments of hundreds of billions of dollars, perhaps a trillion dollars, into the US economy.
There is also the billions of dollars of Saudi investment in Trump family businesses, especially his son-in-law, Jared Kushner’s investment firm, Affinity Partners. It is involved in financing zionist squatter colonies (aka settlements) in illegally occupied Palestinian lands.
MbS came to the White House with a wish list of his own. Details were discussed during his meeting with Trump.
For the Banu Saud, regime survival is of paramount importance. The wave of Islamic revival sweeping the region amid the Palestinians’ valiant resistance despite the ongoing zionist genocide in Gaza is a nightmare for Arabian potentates.
This has necessitated deeper security ties with the US in hopes that Washington will come to their rescue if the regime is threatened. The White House announced that Trump and MbS signed a strategic defence agreement “that strengthens our more than 80-year defense partnership and fortifies deterrence across the Middle East”.
It was further announced, without providing details, that the agreement would secure “new burden-sharing funds from Saudi Arabia to defray US costs” and would affirm that the “Kingdom views the United States as its primary strategic partner.” Trump wants to make sure that Saudi money pipeline is fully open and funds flow to the US rapidly.
Threats of internal upheaval in the kingdom have receded since MbS sidelined the Wahhabi obscurantists and opted instead for a policy of vulgarity. The Saudi youth are happy.
They would rather attend music concerts at which scantily-clad western women gyrate to rock music than be forced to attend prayers at a mosque. Clearly, prayers are not as much fun as swinging to the pulsating beat of drums!
The Bani Saud’s real fear is from external players. No, it is not the zionist war criminals even though they have made no secret of their expansionist aims to occupy large swathes of the Arabian Peninsula as well as several other countries’ territory.
The Saudis’ real fear is from the Ansarallah in Yemen against whom they fought a vicious war for nearly eight years. While the Banu Saud-led war caused huge Yemeni civilian casualties, militarily they were defeated despite huge stockpiles of US-supplied weapons.
The Ansarallah have a score to settle, hence the Banu Saud’s quest to secure American security guarantees. MbS was very pleased when Trump announced at a black-tie dinner later in the evening that the US had decided to recognise Riyadh as a “major non-NATO ally”. This will allow the Saudis expedited access to US military hardware, sales and other cooperation without some of the elaborate licensing protocols that others without this status must go through.
Saudi Arabia joins the list of 19 other non-NATO ally countries among them Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Morocco, Tunisia, Pakistan and several others. In September, the Banu Saud had entered into a mutual defence agreement with Pakistan. Again, it was fear of survival that drove them to this agreement.
The Saudis have also sought cooperation in artificial intelligence and the tech business. When one lacks natural intelligence, artificial intelligence makes a lot of sense. Similarly, the Saudis have long sought nuclear technology that the US has hitherto denied them.
Before MbS’ arrival, Trump had already signalled that the US would be supplying Saudi Arabia with F-35 planes. Israel is the only country in the region that has these planes.
Trump said that they would not be downgraded, as with other US military equipment in the past that gave zionist Israel a qualitative edge. The Saudis would get the advanced version. Given their incompetence, America will make tons of money from ‘training’ Saudi pilots, which is mission impossible.
Expansion of the Abraham Accords is Trump’s pet project. A number of Arabian regimes have already established formal relations with Israel but they lack the clout of the Saudis.
For Trump, Saudi Arabia is the key. He hinted at possible progress on the issue without providing details or a timeline. For his part, MbS said “We believe having a good relation with all Middle Eastern countries is a good thing, and we want to be part of the Abraham Accords.”
His mention of all Middle Eastern countries is significant. Senior Saudi officials have in the past met Israeli officials at various forums without having any formal diplomatic relations. Even MbS has met them, but in secret.
Saudi officials stress that Riyadh is committed to the so-called Arab Peace Initiative first announced in 1992. It conditions the recognition of Israel on the establishment of a Palestinian state.
MbS reiterated at the White House: “… we want also to be sure that we secure a clear path [to a] two-state solution. And today we have a healthy discussion with Mr President that we’ve got to work on that, to be sure that we can prepare the right situation as soon as possible to have that.”
Trump added: “We talked about one state, two states. We talked about a lot of things. In a short period of time, we’ll be discussing it further too.”
MbS went home greatly pleased that he not only secured a strategic defence agreement with the US but also reconition of the kingdom as a major non-Nato ally. Not bad for a man who was treated as a pariah by Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden. True, Saudi Arabia has to fork out one trillion dollars but MbS would consider that a small price for US pledge to keep him in power.
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