The Saudis Give Biden the Middle Finger

President Biden went to Saudi Arabia to strengthen relations between our two countries. Not sure that happened. Apparently the rulers there believe they are untouchable:

​Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, hit back at Joe Biden after the US President confronted him about the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi during a meeting between the two leaders on Friday.

In the meeting, Bin Salman, also known as MBS, denied responsibility for the killing of Khashoggi at the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate. Biden said US intelligence contradicted the prince’s claims.

MBS countered with the sexual and physical abuse of prisoners at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison by US military personnel and the killing of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in the occupied West Bank – incidents, he said, that reflected poorly on the US. Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the Saudi foreign minister, detailed parts of the conversation in a press conference on Saturday.

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders criticized President Joe Biden's visit to Saudi Arabia, saying it rewarded a dictatorship and should never have taken place given its leader's involvement in murdering a journalist https://t.co/vHn1pLKvpu pic.twitter.com/oKhBkbKEWp

— Reuters (@Reuters) July 17, 2022

Hatice Cengiz, fiancée of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, called Biden's planned visit to Saudi Arabia "heartbreaking" and "disappointing."

“Biden will lose his moral authority by putting oil and expediency over principles and values.”https://t.co/RLSnr4ST3R

— Axios (@axios) July 14, 2022

US President Joe Biden greeted Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman with a fist bump, after arriving in Saudi Arabia on Friday, despite a previous promise to treat the kingdom as a “pariah” over the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. pic.twitter.com/2lwTwelfzn

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) July 15, 2022