The warnings to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia continues:
“As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I will not green light any cooperation with Riyadh until the Kingdom reassesses its position with respect to the war in Ukraine,” Menendez said in a statement first obtained by POLITICO. “Enough is enough.” …
“There simply is no room to play both sides of this conflict — either you support the rest of the free world in trying to stop a war criminal from violently wiping … an entire country off of the map, or you support him,” Menendez added. “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia chose the latter in a terrible decision driven by economic self-interest.” [Politico]
But it’s worth noting that Saudi Arabia is a monarchy, absolute; a specimen of autocracy. The appeal to free world here isn’t moral, but economic, a warning to Saudi Arabia that it may lose access to lucrative markets if it chooses to side with a fellow autocracy.
Autocracies are not natural allies. Founded on little more than a need to gratify an enormous personal ego, they see other autocracies as rivals and existential dangers. The world is zero-sum, in their eyes. Whether Saudi Arabia chooses to go with Russia or the free world depends on where the most gratification of Muhammad bin Salman’s ego lies, and whether he thinks the USA can follow through.
Which is to say, I have no idea which way Saudi Arabia’s going to flail next.
