US overlooks Saudi human rights abuses, war crimes: EU official

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Irish Clare Daly, a member of the EU, stated that the US has secured Europe as a new captive market for its LNG exports, and the White House is backtracking on its policy promises about Saudi human rights violations and war crimes.

Riyadh-Washington ties deteriorated after Biden took office in January 2021, pledging during his campaign to marginalize and isolate Saudi Arabia. Human rights, the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, and the US-funded Yemeni war have all pushed relations downward between the two countries. 

While Biden initially focused on human rights issues in Saudi Arabia, he now plans to visit the Saudi prince during his regional tour of the Middle East.

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Analysts now believe that Washington's perception of Riyadh has shifted and that the US president would want to strengthen ties with the Saudis in order to achieve a number of particular goals during his impending visit to Riyadh.

In this regard, Clare Daly, a Member of the European Parliament, told Mehr News Agency, "Saudi Arabia's bargaining power has hugely increased since the war in Ukraine. In response to the Ukraine war, Europe has passed sanctions against Russia, and this increasingly includes a ban on Russian energy imports, which Europe depended heavily on. " 

"The United States is very keen to prolong the war in Ukraine and to prevent any improvement of relations between Europe and Russia for as long as possible because it is in the US strategic interests to see Russia bogged down in a prolonged conflict, while Europe is trapped in a US-led NATO alliance. But if the situation is to continue like this, alternatives to banned Russian energy imports have to be found or else Europe will begin to waver," she added. 

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"Although the United States is an energy exporter, and has now secured Europe as a new captive market for its LNG exports, it cannot meet Europe's energy needs on its own. And so Biden is very keen to unlock alternative sources of energy for Europe," adding that, "the US has walked back foreign policy commitments in a number of other ways – resuming, for example, dialogue with Venezuela, another oil-producing nation. Saudi Arabia – which enjoys historically close relations with the United States - is a natural candidate."

Daly mentioned that "Saudi Arabia has been refusing to increase oil production to meet the crisis – a clear bargaining position, and as a result, the United States is walking back its policy commitments regarding Saudi human rights abuses and war crimes."

This only means one thing, the United States is not concerned with human rights because it overlooked them for fuel and isn't concerned about the war in Yemen because it flooded weapons into the Kingdom. With Biden's trip to the Kingdom, the true face of America is being uncovered.

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