That said, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization announcement on Wednesday is a striking indictment for U.S. interests. It underscores how, in the space of just two years, Riyadh has moved from the position of intimate U.S. ally to that of an increasingly complicated partner.
While the Shanghai Cooperation Organization poses a mainly economic rather than security-related challenge to U.S. interests, Beijing and Moscow view the grouping through the explicit prism of undermining American power. U.S. policymakers will thus rightly be concerned that this new Saudi engagement may entail a gradual diversification away from the dollar’s role as the unquestioned global reserve currency. The crown prince is also certainly signaling that it will be the whims of Beijing, rather than those of Washington, that drive Saudi influence over OPEC+ production levels and global oil prices. This move likely portends increased energy cost volatility for American businesses and families. Considering Moscow and Beijing’s influence over Tehran, far more important to Riyadh than the fake detente he just struck with Iran, the SCO probably seems like a place to leverage influence with those willing to reciprocate. America talks, the crown prince might think, Beijing walks.
All this for what?
So the Biden administration can say it tried to satisfy the U.S. media desire for justice over Khashoggi’s brutal murder?
I’m sorry, as the Game of Thrones saying goes, the night is dark and full of terrors. Biden should have prioritized U.S. interests alongside significant, if private, pressure on the crown prince to avoid such atrocities in the future. Instead, Biden entered office and immediately suspended the Trump administration’s arms sales to Saudi Arabia. He then revoked the designation of the Houthi rebel formations in Yemen as a terrorist organization, even as it was lobbing ballistic missiles into Saudi cities. Oh, and at the same time, Riyadh sees Biden continually beg Iran for diplomacy even as it attempts to assassinate Americans on U.S. soil.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/the-grave-stupidity-of-abandoning-saudi-arabia-to-china
R&I-Rawr