contents
It is not easy for a British Prime Minister to throw himself in the sand in front of a man who, according to Western intelligence services, ordered the dismemberment of a journalist in Istanbul. The fact that Saudi Arabia executed 81 criminals over the weekend also came at the worst possible moment.
Downing Street declines
The communications department in Downing Street had to pull out all the stops of verbal acrobatics to limit the damage: The human rights situation in Saudi Arabia was a very important topic of conversation at the meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the media office said.
Saudi Arabia has many facets, but respect for human rights is clearly not one of them. The country is run by an autocratic family clan, is occasionally an important partner in the fight against Islamist terror, and is regularly a good customer of the British arms industry, whose products have resurfaced in the forgotten war in Yemen.
The mission: open up new sources
First and foremost, however, the desert state is one of the largest oil suppliers in the world. And that brings us to the real reason for the visit. Individual western countries that cut their lines to Russia have to open up new sources.
Boris Johnson is said to have a good relationship with the Crown Prince. According to British media, the two even exchange funny text messages from time to time. This is in sharp contrast to the frosty relationship that US President Joe Biden has with the Saudi prince. During the election campaign, Biden sharply criticized the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi embassy in Istanbul.
Biden even threatened that bin Salman would have to pay for the crime. The Saudi crown prince has apparently not forgotten this and has since refused to take telephone calls from the White House. That’s probably why Johnson was sent into the desert to court the disgruntled ruler.
“Extraordinary situation”
British Foreign Minister Liz Truss said that this was not a moral knee-jerk, but realpolitik. In extraordinary situations, you occasionally have to work with people whose values you don’t share 100 percent. While the Saudi ruler occasionally executes a few people, Putin threatens the world order. There are concessions to be made.
Labor leader Keir Starmer calls the desert trip opportunistic. However, the leader of the opposition cannot answer how we will keep our living rooms warm without Russian oil and gas in the coming winter. But one thing can already be said: Breaking away from one dictator in order to throw yourself into the arms of the next is not a sustainable energy policy.