The U.S. and Saudi Arabia are working on a package of arms deals and financial investments aimed at elevating economic and security cooperation between Washington and Riyadh after several years of strained relations over the U.S. diplomatic outreach to Iran.
Mr. Trump’s scheduled arrival in Saudi Arabia this week or his first stop outside the U.S. since taking office, include a missile-defense system and heavy arms the Obama administration either refused to sell Saudi Arabia or pulled back from amid concerns about Riyadh’s role in the conflict in Yemen
.. Trump’s goal is to get the Gulf states, principally Saudi Arabia, to help him achieve a peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians.
.. “every system that we’re talking about” with the Saudis maintains Israel’s military advantage over its neighbors, known formally as its Qualitative Military Edge.
.. Israel isn’t objecting to the U.S. selling an advanced antimissile system, known as Thaad, to Saudi Arabia
.. Discussions over arms sales have been assigned higher priority over economic initiatives
.. Saudi officials promising Mr. Trump they would invest $200 billion in the U.S., and the White House committing to green-light the new arms sales to Riyadh.
.. Driving the outreach between the two countries are the Saudi king’s 31-year old son, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, and the president’s 36-year-old son-in-law and senior White House adviser, Jared Kushner
.. “The Saudis know that the person who is trying to get Trump on our side is Kushner,” said Ahmed al-Ibrahim, a Saudi businessman and political commentator. “He is the guy who has the Middle East portfolio.”
.. The monarchy felt betrayed by the Obama administration’s conciliatory approach toward Riyadh’s No. 1 foe, Iran,
.. “The narrative of the Obama administration was that Saudi Arabia and Iran must share the region,”
.. Riyadh’s plans to open up new business opportunities for American companies in the Kingdom, stepped-up counterterrorism operations, and support for the Trump administration’s renewed campaign to forge a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
.. The presentation was created for Saudi Arabia by the U.S. consulting firm Booz Alan Hamilton, according to these officials. It was designed “to have the maximum” impact on Mr. Trump
.. Mr. Trump responded to the crown prince’s offer of $200 billion by saying he wanted much of the money to be funneled into Rust Belt states, such as Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin
Trump: ‘Normalized’ but Still Scary
What happens when the red phone rings at three in the morning? Forward the call to Defense Secretary Mattis.
And this is not to deny the insanity, incoherence, and sheer weirdness emanating daily from the White House, for which we’ve all come up with our own coping technique. Here’s mine: I simply view President Trump as the Wizard of Oz.
.. Loud and bombastic. A charlatan. Nothing behind the screen — other than the institutional chaos that defines his White House and the psychic chaos that governs his ever-changing mind. What to do? Ignore what’s behind the curtain. Deal with what comes out in front: the policy, the pronouncements, the actions.
.. At which point, out of the blue, Trump tells Reuters that Seoul will have to pay for the THAAD system. And by the way, that five-year-old U.S.–South Korea free-trade agreement is a disaster and needs to be torn up.
Now, South Korea is in the middle of a highly charged presidential campaign. The pro-American president was recently impeached and is now under indictment. The opposition party is ahead. It is wary of the U.S., accommodating to North Korea, and highly negative about installing that THAAD system on its soil.
We had agreed with Seoul that they would provide the land and the infrastructure, and we would pay the $1 billion cost. Without warning, Trump reneges on the deal, saying South Korea will have to foot the bill. This stirs anti-American feeling and gives opposition candidate Moon Jae-in the perfect campaign issue.
.. So self-defeating was the idea that within three days, national-security adviser H. R. McMaster had to walk it all back, assuring the South Koreans that we would indeed honor our agreement and send no $1 billion invoice.
.. As for the trade deal, the installation of THAAD has so angered China that it has already initiated an economic squeeze on South Korea. To which Trump would add a trade rupture with the United States. The South Korean blunder reinforces lingering fears about Trump. Especially because it was an unforced error. What happens in an externally caused crisis? Then, there is no hiding, no guardrails, no cushioning. It’s the wisdom and understanding of one man versus whatever the world has thrown up against us. However normalized this presidency may be day to day, in such a moment all bets are off. What happens when the red phone rings at three in the morning? I’d say: Let it ring. Let the wizard sleep. Forward the call to Defense Secretary Mattis.