Let’s first get the mandatory disclaimer out of the way: The Saudis are not our friends and they never have been. It doesn’t follow, therefore, that they must be our enemy. Not being a friend is not the same as being an enemy. And, in any event, grownups know that countries don’t exactly have friends, they have interests and interests shift with time and events.
It has been a strategic error of this country for decades—with both political parties acting as willful participants—to accept the internal Saudi Arabian “deal” where the royals can live whatever decadent lifestyles they choose so long as they allow the Wahabis to control Islamic teaching and world-wide propagation of the faith from the home of the most sacred sites in Islam.
This has not only allowed, but encouraged the spread of a poisonous branch of Islam across the globe. A great many problems in the world find their roots in this sick compromise.
But regarding the recent Saudi kick in the groin to the Biden Administration—the rejection of a request to greatly increase oil production—the Saudis have made it clear that they intend, instead, to actually lower production.
The White House and its lackeys in the press are in full court press to sell the idea this is the result of some deep and nefarious Saudi-Russian partnership. Ultimately it seems to be the only play in their playbook—when all else fails, blame Russia.
Let me suggest another reason. The Saudis—and in fact most of the world—are not overjoyed with the United States’ decision to export inflation across the globe. Yes, this is a conscious decision by those in power.
For decades, the deal we have had with the Saudis committed them to the petrodollar system with the unspoken agreement that we, in return, would be good stewards of the world’s reserve currency, the dollar.
The Biden Administration has fundamentally violated this agreement and the Saudis, and many others around the world, are not particularly happy with how this violation has impacted their assets and wealth.
Inflation like we are seeing now is direct, planned theft—and the victims of theft, whether they are citizens from flyover country or a sovereign country whose economy is intricately tied to the dollar—generally don’t like it when someone steals from them.
One can also assume the Saudis did not appreciate it when Biden himself excoriated the Saudi leadership and called them a worldwide pariah. This is a poor way to strengthen relationships and people generally don’t go out of their way to assist someone who repeatedly and publicly insults them. Most five-year-olds have seen enough of life to have already grasped this reality. But Biden, somehow, thinks it makes him look tough.
In addition, this administration’s inexorable—bordering on insane—desire to assist Iran in their quest for even more regional power and, ultimately, nuclear weapons doesn’t help the matter.
But it is the Biden Administration’s deliberate inflationary actions, as they continue to flood the world with trillions in recently created dollars, that is at the core of the Saudi pique.
By exporting our inflation around the globe, Biden is violating a core requirement of the dollar being the world’s reserve currency—and countries around the world are not happy about it.
Yes, that dastardly Putin is a bad character. But there are a lot of bad characters around the globe and we generally find ways to deal with them. The Saudis may or may not have some secret pact with Putin but their refusal to bend to Biden’s will regarding oil production is far more likely based on Biden’s violation of a very long-standing agreement—and those Russkies have got nothing to do with it.
Like most American citizens, the Saudis don’t appreciate being stolen from. It’s no more complicated than that.