President Joe Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia earlier this month and his fist bump with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman drew criticism due to the country’s litany of human rights abuses. However, one Northeastern University professor says the commander-in-chief’s visit does not indicate he is resigned to a completely amicable relationship with the Middle Eastern nation.
As Northeastern assistant teaching professor of political science Dr. Julie Garey explains, the United States is constantly reevaluating its relationships with many countries, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), which it has maintained a longstanding alliance with, is no exception. The director of Northeastern’s Security and Resilience Studies program does not view Biden’s visit to the nation as a sign the Democratic president’s administration “has resigned itself to maintaining close, friendly relations with the kingdom, or, on the other hand, destructively adversarial relations.”
