Biden Gives Warm Greeting to Saudi Crown Prince He Once Threatened to Make a ‘Pariah’
President Joe Biden greeted the Saudi crown prince he once vilified with a hearty handshake and a smile on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in New Delhi, India, on Saturday.
Biden was seen meeting with Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman shortly after a session in which world leaders announced plans to set up a rail and shipping corridor linking India, the Middle East, and Europe, according to reporting from the Associated Press. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the host of this year’s G20, was standing nearby and quickly placed his hands on top of the handshake.
The apparently warm reception is quite different from the chill felt when the two men last encountered each other in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in 2022. Biden famously “fist-bumped” the crown prince at that meeting, a gesture that came under fire both from those who felt it was awkward and unbecoming of a president and critics who were upset Biden acknowledged bin Salman at all. The Saudi royal has been implicated in the 2018 assassination of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The Central Intelligence Agency concluded in a 2019 report that he explicitly ordered the killing in retaliation for Khashoggi’s criticism of the government and the Saudi monarchy.
Bin Salman, 38, is considered the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, even though his father, King Salman, remains on the throne. The king suffers from serious health complications, and in the last 10 or so years his seventh son has consolidated control over several key state councils. He was named prime minister in 2022. (Read more from “Biden Gives Warm Greeting to Saudi Crown Prince He Once Threatened to Make a ‘Pariah’ HERE)
Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr
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