Joe Biden’s recent trip to the Middle East made many headlines, and none of them were particularly good. First, the president landed in Israel and insulted Holocaust survivors. He appeared aloof, out of touch, and physically frail at other times during the week. Then there was Biden’s stopover in Saudi Arabia, which led to a now-infamous fist bump that set teeth gnashing because the left hate the Saudis.
But the topline from the president’s tour was simple: It accomplished nothing. Although the White House attempted to suggest that an agreement for higher production was reached, no evidence was presented. After the Saudis stabbed Biden in the back as part of a major announcement by OPEC Plus, the reason was clear.
The OPEC+ 100,000 b/d production increase is comparable to Washington’s expectation that Saudi Arabia would be the leader of the cartel in boosting production by 400,000 to 500,000 b/d. | #OOTT 2/4
— Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) August 3, 2022
Saudi Arabia was one of the founders of OPEC. They have strong influence on the OPEC Plus and OPEC Plus countries. The entire point of Biden’s trip to the kingdom was to secure Saudi support for a large increase in production to help offset the global oil supply crunch that has driven up prices. The president received only 100,000 barrels of oil instead of the expected half-million. To put it in perspective, the United States burns about 21 million barrels of crude oil per day. This makes a 100,000-per-day global increase a mere rounding error.
But, things get worse. Apparently, that “increase” doesn’t even amount to any real increase.
We’ll put into perspective the Saudi 26,000 barrels per day increase: Sept’s kingdom’s quota is 11.06m. It’s about 7,650 barrels/minute. Riyadh can produce more oil in just three and a quarter minutes. | #OOTT 4/4
— Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) August 3, 2022
It is this what complete failure looks like. The President of the United States went to the Middle East to beg a country he had previously tried to make a “pariah” for oil. Why? Because Biden’s own domestic energy policies have been so disastrous. Biden’s domestic energy policies have been so disastrous that he returned without any agreement. He chose to tell a story rather than give substance. Now, the results of that are in, and the Saudis aren’t even pretending to have played along. It’s yet another embarrassment for Biden and the nation.
This is the danger of having the world’s worst foreign policy “expert” in the White House. Biden is known for being wrong on all major geopolitical issues over the past half century. Now you have his plan to penalize the Saudis and elevate Iran to that list. It didn’t have to be this way. Trump had a positive Middle East, and both the Arab states and Israel were moving to a historic peaceful settlement. Biden only had to eat his ice-cream, maintain the status quo, and reap all the rewards for everyone.
He just couldn’t do it, though. Instead, the President stuck his finger into the Saudis’ eyes, leading to them ending their long-standing cooperation and causing damage for American consumers. What? Why pursue a pointless nuclear deal? Biden is this. He’s a man always in search of failure, and he can turn any good into bad.
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