IT is unfortunate that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a long-time ally of the United States, has become one of the first countries to have been affected badly with the change of power in Washington.
The Biden Administration is conveying a message to launch a series of measures against Riyadh on the so-called issue of human rights in the same way as it is being misused against China.
Days after the US Government declassified an intelligence report, containing its “assessment” on the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the new Administration has asked Saudi Arabia to disband an elite unit controlled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that Washington sanctioned over the killing of the journalist. The US has been expressing anger over the killing of Khashoggi, who was contributor to The Washington Post but release of the report and sanctions are part of a greater game plan to malign the Kingdom on the pretext of human rights.
This is evident from the statement issued by the United States urging KSA to ‘adopt institutional, systematic reforms and controls to ensure that anti-dissident activities and operations cease and cease completely’.
This is a crude attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of an independent and sovereign country and seems to be connected to the infamous policy that envisaged political changes in the region in the garb of ‘Arab Spring’.
It is strange that on the one hand, the United States is exhorting Saudi Arabia to ‘respect American values’ but on the other hand Washington is pleading the cause of those who are trampling values of the Kingdom, which has a proud history of being the cradle of a religion that offers a complete code of life.
It is condemnable to encourage those who are engaged in attempts to undermine the Islamic ideology of the Kingdom in the name of liberalism or human rights despite the fact that Islam is the biggest champion of human rights.
It is loathsome to penalize a friendly country on an issue that is being regarded as an ‘abhorrent crime’ by the Saudi Government and “flagrant violation of the Kingdom’s laws and values”.
Moves against Saudi Arabia re-confirm the widely-held belief that the United States is not a dependable ally and, therefore, Riyadh must review its policy of putting all its eggs in one [Washington] basket.
