Saudi Arabia, exercising soft diplomacy as it pursues a more aggressive agenda in dealing with Syria and Yemen, has seen this week a second leader to visit the US in less than a year to meet with western leaders to discuss policies of global importance.
While Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman focused primarily on Saudi Arabia’s new economic policies in the wake of last year’s recession and to secure agreements to bring trade and technology to the Kingdom, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif’s visit this week dealt with foreign policy.
This comes at a particularly sensitive time as Saudi Arabia has come under attack from human rights advocates over the number of civilian deaths in the Saudi-Yemen war, the call by members of Parliament in the UK to halt arms sales to the Saudi military and legislation passed in the US House of Representatives and the Senate that allows families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks to sue Saudi Arabia for damages.
While there have indeed been civilian casualties in Yemen, as the case in any war, the numbers and causes are murky, particularly since Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International continue to deploy unqualified investigators into the region.
The looming shadow, however, is the legislation to allow 9/11 families to seek compensation from Saudi Arabia. There is no evidence to suggest that the Saudi government had any inkling the attacks would occur or could have prevented it. And there is no compelling evidence that any Saudi government official had knowledge of the conspiracy to attack the US. In fact, it’s a ludicrous assumption given that Saudis and Americans have been close allies for decades. It defies reason that one country would jeopardize a mutually profitable relationship with a sneak attack.
President Obama has the power to veto the legislation, but the question is whether Congress will override the bill. The pending law is a result of heavy lobbying by the families of 9/11 victims, and after many years Congress and the Senate finally responded to their pleas with this flawed bill. American politicians went for the easy route in a highly charged political climate that has seen Saudi Arabia fall out of favor with the West and inexplicably replaced with Iran. Iran, as any Arab leader or intellectually honest western diplomat will tell you, remains the backbone of financing terrorists around the world.
The unintended consequences of the bill is that it opens the door for countries to sue the United States for damages, namely the fact that the US military inflicted heavy casualties in Muslim countries. Certainly Iraqi leaders, using the same logic as the US Congress and Senate, can legitimately sue the US for its 2003 military invasion that left hundreds of thousands of civilians dead in its wake.
Crown Prince Naif, in his address this week at the United Nations Summit for Refugees and Migrants in New York, demonstrated Saudi Arabia’s commitment to refugees and the civilian casualties inflicted during war. Virtually ignored by the West was that Saudi Arabia was one of the first nations to allow Syrian refugees into the Kingdom. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians now call Saudi Arabia home. Since they are given permanent residency status that allows their children to attend school, Syrians are in a better position to lead fuller lives instead of living under the restrictions of being tagged as a refugee.
But because the Saudi government did not give the Syrians refugee status, the country has come under criticism for not admitting Syrians to cross its borders. That criticism has tapered off somewhat, but it illustrates the wilful ignorance of western nations of how Saudi Arabia aids its neighbors in a time of crisis.
Ibrahim Al-Qayid, a member of the Riyadh-based National Society for Human Rights (NSHR), noted Crown Prince Muhammad addressed the Syrian refugee issue in a more “pragmatic manner.” That pragmatism has gone unrecognized by Saudi Arabia’s critics.
A perfect example is the aid provided by King Salman Center, especially to Yemen. The Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has not been short on its praise for the Center. Teresa St. Christopher, chief of MSF’s Emergency Unit, said in a statement to media that her organization “appreciated” the efforts of King Salman Center, its support for Yemen,” and hopes for continued “cooperation with the Center.”
KSA is doing now what it has done in the past: It’s reaching out to nations by highlighting its foreign policy regarding its relationship with war-torn or disaster-ravaged countries. It’s trying to expand policies to create economic partnership with foreign nations as well.
Equally important is that Saudi Arabia wants the world’s leading nations to understand that even though it doesn’t wage a public relations campaign to tout its aid to the disadvantage, it prefers a more quiet and practical approach to solving the region’s ills.
While Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman focused primarily on Saudi Arabia’s new economic policies in the wake of last year’s recession and to secure agreements to bring trade and technology to the Kingdom, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif’s visit this week dealt with foreign policy.
This comes at a particularly sensitive time as Saudi Arabia has come under attack from human rights advocates over the number of civilian deaths in the Saudi-Yemen war, the call by members of Parliament in the UK to halt arms sales to the Saudi military and legislation passed in the US House of Representatives and the Senate that allows families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks to sue Saudi Arabia for damages.
While there have indeed been civilian casualties in Yemen, as the case in any war, the numbers and causes are murky, particularly since Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International continue to deploy unqualified investigators into the region.
The looming shadow, however, is the legislation to allow 9/11 families to seek compensation from Saudi Arabia. There is no evidence to suggest that the Saudi government had any inkling the attacks would occur or could have prevented it. And there is no compelling evidence that any Saudi government official had knowledge of the conspiracy to attack the US. In fact, it’s a ludicrous assumption given that Saudis and Americans have been close allies for decades. It defies reason that one country would jeopardize a mutually profitable relationship with a sneak attack.
President Obama has the power to veto the legislation, but the question is whether Congress will override the bill. The pending law is a result of heavy lobbying by the families of 9/11 victims, and after many years Congress and the Senate finally responded to their pleas with this flawed bill. American politicians went for the easy route in a highly charged political climate that has seen Saudi Arabia fall out of favor with the West and inexplicably replaced with Iran. Iran, as any Arab leader or intellectually honest western diplomat will tell you, remains the backbone of financing terrorists around the world.
The unintended consequences of the bill is that it opens the door for countries to sue the United States for damages, namely the fact that the US military inflicted heavy casualties in Muslim countries. Certainly Iraqi leaders, using the same logic as the US Congress and Senate, can legitimately sue the US for its 2003 military invasion that left hundreds of thousands of civilians dead in its wake.
Crown Prince Naif, in his address this week at the United Nations Summit for Refugees and Migrants in New York, demonstrated Saudi Arabia’s commitment to refugees and the civilian casualties inflicted during war. Virtually ignored by the West was that Saudi Arabia was one of the first nations to allow Syrian refugees into the Kingdom. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians now call Saudi Arabia home. Since they are given permanent residency status that allows their children to attend school, Syrians are in a better position to lead fuller lives instead of living under the restrictions of being tagged as a refugee.
But because the Saudi government did not give the Syrians refugee status, the country has come under criticism for not admitting Syrians to cross its borders. That criticism has tapered off somewhat, but it illustrates the wilful ignorance of western nations of how Saudi Arabia aids its neighbors in a time of crisis.
Ibrahim Al-Qayid, a member of the Riyadh-based National Society for Human Rights (NSHR), noted Crown Prince Muhammad addressed the Syrian refugee issue in a more “pragmatic manner.” That pragmatism has gone unrecognized by Saudi Arabia’s critics.
A perfect example is the aid provided by King Salman Center, especially to Yemen. The Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has not been short on its praise for the Center. Teresa St. Christopher, chief of MSF’s Emergency Unit, said in a statement to media that her organization “appreciated” the efforts of King Salman Center, its support for Yemen,” and hopes for continued “cooperation with the Center.”
KSA is doing now what it has done in the past: It’s reaching out to nations by highlighting its foreign policy regarding its relationship with war-torn or disaster-ravaged countries. It’s trying to expand policies to create economic partnership with foreign nations as well.
Equally important is that Saudi Arabia wants the world’s leading nations to understand that even though it doesn’t wage a public relations campaign to tout its aid to the disadvantage, it prefers a more quiet and practical approach to solving the region’s ills.
