Jeffrey Fields, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Joe Biden is set to make his first visit as president to the Middle East, during which he will meet the Saudi crown prince the US accuses of ordering the murder of a journalist.
A demonstrator dressed as Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with blood on his hands protests outside the Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 8, 2018.
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
Jeffrey Fields, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Saudi’s crown prince approved the killing and dismemberment of a Washington Post columnist in 2018, the Biden administration says. So how can the US still see the Saudis as good partners?
Vice President Biden with a U.S. delegation at the Riyadh airport in Saudi Arabia in 2011.
STR/AFP via Getty Images
Biden and Trump are like night and day on foreign policy, and American global engagement would change radically under a Biden presidency. But actual Mideast policy might show only cosmetic changes.
Trump, like Obama before him, has enjoyed a close relationship with Saudi Arabia’s royal family.
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
Jeffrey Fields, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Critics say Trump’s defense of Saudi Arabia in the Khashoggi affair betrays American values. But many presidents have cozied up to dictators, ignoring human rights abuses to serve US interests.
Things between Saudi King Salman and Turkish President Erdogan have become rather tense.
AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici
The disappearance and alleged murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi is worsening relations between US allies Turkey and Saudi Arabia. An expert on the region believes there may be a way out.