Biden Admin Speaks with a Forked Tongue

Joe Biden (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

President Biden’s Department of State (DOS) forked-tongue method to strategic diplomacy is curious, if not downright complicated, to allies, mates, and foes alike. The DOS double-speak arms gross sales place got here to a head when the United Arab Emirates (UAE) suspended talks geared toward a $23 billion weapons deal with the U.S. The Emirati pique facilities on a “rare dispute” between the U.S. and considered one of its most necessary allies within the Persian Gulf. The Biden State Department needs to inform the UAE how and the place it may possibly use the weapons. The Abu Dhabi authorities objects, viewing these restrictions as trampling its prerogatives and independence.

The UAE buy of fifty F-35s, armed drones, and air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles was a part of a negotiated arms settlement on the finish of former President Donald Trump’s administration. The deal included the UAE formal recognition of Israel, an historic U.S. overseas coverage win.

Enter the savvy Joe Biden administration that promptly places the deal on maintain. Why, you ask? Well, it appears the U.S. chief government caved to criticism “of the UAE and Saudi Arabia over their years-long war in Yemen.” Consequently, the U.S. put restrictions on the place and the way the F-35s and different weapons can be utilized. For instance, they will’t be used towards the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Emirati officers took exception to the U.S. dictating what it might do with the weapons it was buying. It was a matter of UAE sovereignty, the Abu Dhabi authorities asserted. But, wait, wasn’t it Ukraine’s sovereignty that Biden waved within the face of the Russian president Vladimir Putin to justify not committing to a written safety assure that Ukraine wouldn’t be a part of NATO? Yes, it was.

So, for the Biden nationwide safety group, sovereignty is a raison d’être when supporting Ukraine, however not when working with one of many U.S.’s staunchest allies within the Middle East. From The Wall Street Journal:

“U.S. intelligence agencies learned that China was secretly building what they thought was a military facility at a port near the Emirati capital of Abu Dhabi…Senior Emirati officials have said they didn’t think the site the Chinese were constructing was a military installation. But it was shut down.”

The UAE’s willingness to satisfy U.S. needs and behave as a valued, steadfast ally ought to immediate some reciprocity by the U.S. But not, it appears, from the present resident within the White House. As reported by The Associated Press, a senior Emirati diplomat, Anwar Gargash, stated whereas chatting with a gathering on the Arab Gulf States Institute within the U.S. capital: “We took these American concerns into consideration, and we stopped the work on the facilities.” But concerning the arms transaction, a message out of the Emirati Embassy within the U.S. talked concerning the UAE suspension of the arms sale talks explaining: “The U.S. remains the UAE’s preferred provider for advanced defense requirements and discussions for the F-35 may be re-opened in the future.”

Joe Biden (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, if the U.S. believes that it may possibly bully the UAE and that the Emirati authorities doesn’t have options, assume once more. A Breaking Defense report defined, “When the UAE surprisingly announced a $19 billion deal between Abu Dhabi and Paris for the acquisition of 80 Rafale fighters last week, it caught the military world by surprise.” The article identified that the Rafale buy was a message “to Washington that the Emirates have options should the Biden administration continue to block movement on the F-35 procurement.”

What makes the Biden administration’s intransigence on the F-35 problem complicated and duplicitous is that the White House is hanging its hat on the criticism of Saudi Arabia and UAE assaults on the Houthi terrorist rebels. In February, 2021, the U.S. administration took the Yemeni terrorists off the fear watch record.  As reported by Fox News, not impressed with the Biden’s gesture, the Iran-backed Yemeni terrorist militia attacked the U.S. Embassy in Sana’a final November.  In March of this 12 months, the identical rebels attacked a Saudi Arabian oil storage facility. To an observer of hostilities among the many Gulf States, a cheap individual would applaud the willingness of the Abu Dhabi authorities to go after the Iran-supported terrorist group in Yemen – not Biden’s DOS.

So, if nations within the Middle East typically have hassle determining what the Biden group is as much as and are questioning if the U.S. State Department will be trusted, you actually can’t blame them. The angle of the U.S. smacks of hubris, and in as we speak’s hostile geopolitical ambiance, vanity is just not a good look.

The views expressed are these of the writer and never of some other affiliation.

~  Read extra from Dave Patterson.