Josh Rogin: Biden called Khashoggi ‘seemed like a box-checking exercise’ – Saudis ‘helping Russia fight us’ with oil imports Oil #Import Welcome to OLASMEDIA TV NEWSThis is what we have for you today:
On Friday “CNN Newsroom”, author, Washington Post CNN columnist and political analyst Josh Rogin stated that President Joe Biden’s mention of Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia “looks like a control exercise. I have not heard Biden mention any of the American hostages currently in Saudi Arabia,” and that the trip did not take advantage of “the influence we have” on Saudi Arabia, a country that “don’t give us helps fight Russia. They are helping Russia to fight us.”
Rogin stated: “I don’t think there are any surprises. They handed over a few islands in the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia in exchange for not letting Israeli planes fly all the way around Saudi Arabia, which was ridiculous in the first place. He mentioned Khashoggi, seemed like an exercise to check the boxes. I have not heard Biden mention any of the American hostages still in Saudi Arabia, some with travel bans and some in Saudi jails for tweets and other such nonsense. Not sure if they mentioned that at all. Investment in 5g, sure, that’s great. But I will now alert all your viewers to today’s reports that the Saudi regime Russian oil imports doubled this quarter, doubled. In other words, they are not helping us fight Russia. They are helping Russia to fight us. … I don’t think the Saudis will encounter Russian weapons if we withdraw. I don’t think they can rely on the Russian military, given what we’ve seen. I don’t think they want to bet their safety on the Chinese either. And what we’re seeing here is kind of an acknowledgment that, oh, well, we need the Gulf. We need Saudi Arabia. But what if we think about that again? What if we realized that they actually need us and we use the leverage we have instead of succumbing to the leverage they have? And that’s just a thought I’m leaving as we continue to follow this journey.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett