“From Dictator to Dictator”
Johnson searches for replacement oil in the Gulf
03/16/2022 10:23 p.m
The British government wants to give up oil from Russia. In order to find alternative channels, Premier Johnson travels to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Labor leader Starmer expresses serious doubts about the trip to the Gulf region: “Going from dictator to dictator is not an energy strategy.”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is counting on the support of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries to fight inflation and detach from Russian raw materials. After meeting Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, Johnson said there was “a lot of consensus” on the importance of preventing inflation and avoiding its damaging economic consequences. “We don’t want the kind of inflation that we saw in the 1970s,” Johnson said. But whether he had received concrete commitments to increase oil production remained open.
According to a statement, the two heads of government agreed on closer cooperation in the areas of energy security and stability in the energy market and the transition to renewable energies. They also want to cooperate more closely in the areas of defence, security, trade and culture. However, Johnson stressed that he had also addressed the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia in light of the weekend’s mass executions, but also commended the country for progress such as on women’s rights. He also praised Saudi Arabia’s recent vote in the UN General Assembly for a resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Labor leader misses energy strategy
In his efforts to lower energy prices, Johnson met Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Sajid al-Nahjan in Abu Dhabi this morning. “The need for cooperation was emphasized in order to stabilize the global energy market,” said the British seat of government Downing Street after Johnson’s talks with the de facto ruler of the United Arab Emirates.
The one-day trip was partly heavily criticized in Great Britain. Riyadh only announced on Saturday that it had executed 81 people, triggering outrage around the world. Opposition leader Keir Starmer of the Labor Party said: “Going from dictator to dictator is not an energy strategy.”