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It's Unnecessary to Pick Sides in the Gulf. America Should Stop.
[Defense One] U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s decision to back out of Saudi Arabia’s Future Investment Initiative, "Davos in the Desert," is the first smart move the Trump administration has made in the aftermath of the killing of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi. Trump promised a foreign policy guided by a strategy of "Principled Realism," yet his administration’s handling of the crisis has been neither principled nor realist.Instead of working to reassure the Saudis and sweep this issue under the rug, a more realist policy would take advantage of Riyadh’s mistake to stand up for our interests and values, bring balance back to our relationship, and get a better deal for America. Many of Trump’s advisors seem to operate under the illusion that America is in a weak position in dealing with the Saudis. (Thus, Secretary of State Pompeo’s short-notice trip to Riyadh and the caution with which the administration has reacted to the killing; thus, the warnings that America could lose Saudi investments if it doesn’t play nice; thus, the indulgence of the new Saudi narrative: that the attack was ordered by a regime insider gone rogue.) But do the Saudis really have America over a barrel? Power in negotiations comes from alternatives‐or, as candidate Trump put it in 2016, "When the other side knows you’re not going to walk, it becomes absolutely impossible to win...you just can’t win." America’s alternatives here are solid. The United States enjoys a very strong position in the region. Our vital interests there are to ensure that no a regional hegemon arise to disrupt the global oil market and that no transnational terrorists threaten America. Posted by: Besoeker 2018-10-28 |
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