Could you imagine a world leader, any world leader, ignoring President Donald J. Trump? Funny, I can’t either.
But when it comes to Slow Joe Biden, not so much.
As it turns out, the true people-in-power in both Saudi Arabia and the UAE (United Arab Emirates) have turned down White House requests to both Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and also to the UAE’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan for a bit of a confab with each.
Admittedly, I’m not all that knowledgeable on the inner-workings of Middle Eastern geo-politics, but I’m pretty sure that both leaders just told Biden to go screw himself. But that’s just me.
Maybe this makes me a bad person, but whenever anyone makes that numbskull look bad… that works for me.
As reported by London’s The Guardian (emphasis mine);
The de-facto leaders of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have declined to arrange calls with US president Joe Biden in recent weeks as the US and it allies have sought to contain a surge in energy prices caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
According to the Wall Street Journal, citing Middle East and US officials, both Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the UAE’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan have been unavailable to Biden after US requests were made for discussions.
“There was some expectation of a phone call, but it didn’t happen,“ a US official said of a plan for Saudi Prince Mohammed and Biden to speak. “It was part of turning on the spigot [of Saudi oil].”
Last week, OPEC+, which includes Russia, declined to increase oil production despite western entreaties.
But reports of frigid communications come as the Biden administration seeks to increase oil supply after formally banning Russian oil imports on Tuesday, pushing oil prices to $130 a barrel, the highest level in 14 years.
Relations between the US and Saudi Arabia have chilled during the Biden administration over American policy in the Gulf region.