Biden "hasn't yet decided. Read: cancelled plans after a brace of negative reporting.United States President Joe Biden says he has “not yet” decided if he will travel to Saudi Arabia, a week after he opened the door to a possible trip.
alJazeera
Yeah, and a stronger violator of human rights.Thirteen human rights groups sent a joint letter to Biden on Thursday, saying a meeting between the US president and the Saudi crown prince risks encouraging new abuses and further entrenching impunity in the kingdom.
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A leading Democratic Party legislator, Adam Schiff, has also spoken out against the planned visit, saying Biden should not go and meet Prince Mohammed.
“This is someone who butchered an American resident, cut him up into pieces — and in the most terrible and premeditated way,” Schiff, who chairs the House of Representatives intelligence committee, told CBS’s Face the Nation programme last week.
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In a subsequent letter, Schiff and five other prominent legislators said any engagement with Saudi Arabia must be aimed at “recalibrating the relationship to serve America’s national interests”.
The letter did not urge Biden to call off the trip but raised six areas for the US president to focus on with Saudis, including global oil markets, the war in Yemen, and the killing of Khashoggi.
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Any potential visit to Saudi Arabia likely would be aimed at bolstering relations with the country at a time when Biden is trying to find ways to lower gasoline prices in the US.
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A White House official said on Friday that the US would not overlook conduct that took place before Biden’s presidency, but that “it was also important to reorient – but not rupture – relations with Saudi Arabia”, noting the country’s role as a strategic partner of the US for eight decades.
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
UPDATE June 14: NPR is reporting the visit as settled.
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