Bloomberg: How Bin Salman reached a dead end in Washington

An article on Bloomberg News, entitled "How Muhammad bin Salman reached a dead end in Washington," says that the Saudi crown prince's reliance on the White House has made him highly vulnerable to Presidential arm-twisting methods.

The article's author, Bobby Ghosh, points to an incident that occurred during a phone call on the second of last month between US President Donald Trump and Muhammad bin Salman, when the Saudi crown prince - who was apparently stunned by what the US president said at the time - asked his aides to leave the room. The writer adds: No one from the entourage was present when their master - who himself did not hesitate to intimidate - was forced into submission.

The writer says that Trump has threatened to withdraw completely US forces from the kingdom if the Saudis do not reduce oil production, and at this point the crown prince will not be absent from him the dire implications of such a withdrawal. The author adds: As Trump said crudely before, the kingdom's rulers "may not stay there two weeks" without US military support.

The author pointed out that after ten days of that conversation, Saudi Arabia and Russia announced the end of their oil war and the start of production cuts.

He commented that the Saudi crown prince must now realize the limits of his reckless strategy in building relations with the United States exclusively on the care of White House residents. Former Saudi rulers could count on friends in Congress to beg the White House for leniency, but Muhammad bin Salman has a few friends in Washington, and the lobbyist group that supports him there was not heard in times of crisis.

Closer to an Untouchable The
author believes that bin Salman at the present time appears in the American-Saudi alliance that has continued for 75 years, closer to an outcast and not a distinguished figure in the Saudi royal family. He is under constant attack from all sides in Washington due to a wide range of issues: the war in Yemen, the imprisonment of Saudi women jurists, and the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

According to the author, prominent Republican politicians - such as Lindsey Graham - consider bin Salman "weak and unreliable," and there is widespread bipartisan support in Washington for punitive measures against Riyadh that range from restricting arms sales to demanding justice for Khashoggi.

The writer adds: "The oil war has caused Muhammad bin Salman more shame, this time than American producers who have been affected by the low prices."

He described the prince as being in trouble and badly in need of rebuilding bridges with Congress, but this will be even more difficult now after he hurts American oil interests.

The writer concluded his article in Bloomberg that any hope that 2020 will be a general year of personal victory for Muhammad bin Salman has vanished. For the time being, the prince is stuck exactly where Trump wants him, and the Saudi royal entourage should expect to be routinely excluded from more incoming phone calls to the crown prince from the White House.