Below are five takeaways for political observers to note of President Donald Trump’s weekend trip to Saudi Arabia. His first foreign trip will include time in Israel, the Vatican, Belgium, and Italy. He is joined by various administration officials, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
1. $350 BILLION U.S.-SAUDI DEAL
Tillerson and his Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir announced the signing of a series of deals — a combined total value of over $350 billion — between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia during a joint Saturday press conference.
Most of the funds appear to be designated for the procurement of arms and related technologies by Saudi Arabia from U.S.-based companies.
The $350 billion is scheduled to be spent over a decade, with $110 billion slated to be spent “immediately” on arms.
Al-Jubeir described the costs as “investments” that will create “hundreds of thousands of jobs:”
In addition to the signing of this Strategic Vision Declaration, the two countries signed a series of agreements, both commercial as well as government to government; that involve trade, investment; that involve infrastructure, that involve technology, that involve defense sales; that involve Saudi investments in American infrastructure as well as American investments in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, whether in the form of building up our defense manufacturing capability or other areas. The total value of those investments is in excess of $380 billion. I will not get into the details because I believe our colleagues have briefed the media about this extensively. We expect that these investments over the next 10 years or so will provide hundreds of thousands of jobs in both the United States and in Saudi Arabia. They will lead to a transfer of technology from the U.S. to Saudi Arabia, enhance our economy, and also enhance the American investments in Saudi Arabia, which already are the largest investments of anyone.
Tillerson also described the deal as a series of “investments” leading to the creation of “literally hundreds of thousands of American [and Saudi] jobs.”
As you heard Foreign Minister Jubeir mention, today we announced 23 foreign investment export licenses leading to upwards of more than $350 billion of historic direct investment; 109 billion of that is in arms sales to bolster the security of our Saudi partners. And these are going to result in literally hundreds of thousands of American jobs created by these direct investments in purchases of American goods, American equipment, American technology, but also investment into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as well.
The reason for the $30 billion discrepancy between the estimated totals provided by Tillerson and al-Jubeir is unclear.
Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir (R) and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson hold a press conference following a bilateral meeting in Riyadh on May 20, 2017.
2. TARGET: IRAN
Contrary to his predecessor’s approach toward Iran, Trump — at least ostensibly — seeks to increase security cooperation with Saudi Arabia in an effort to counter Iran’s pursuit of regional hegemony. Iran was specifically mentioned in his Sunday speech in Riyadh, framed as a state sponsor of Islamic terrorism and aggressively belligerent in the Middle East:
But no discussion of stamping out [Islamist extremism] would be complete without mentioning the government that gives terrorists all three — safe harbor, financial backing, and the social standing needed for recruitment. It is a regime that is responsible for so much instability in the region. I am speaking of course of Iran.
From Lebanon to Iraq to Yemen, Iran funds, arms, and trains terrorists, militias, and other extremist groups that spread destruction and chaos across the region. For decades, Iran has fueled the fires of sectarian conflict and terror.
It is a government that speaks openly of mass murder, vowing the destruction of Israel, death to America, and ruin for many leaders and nations in this room.
Among Iran’s most tragic and destabilizing interventions have been in Syria. Bolstered by Iran, Assad has committed unspeakable crimes, and the United States has taken firm action in response to the use of banned chemical weapons by the Assad Regime — launching 59 tomahawk missiles at the Syrian air base from where that murderous attack originated.
Responsible nations must work together to end the humanitarian crisis in Syria, eradicate ISIS, and restore stability to the region. The Iranian regime’s longest-suffering victims are its own people. Iran has a rich history and culture, but the people of Iran have endured hardship and despair under their leaders’ reckless pursuit of conflict and terror.
Until the Iranian regime is willing to be a partner for peace, all nations of conscience must work together to isolate Iran, deny it funding for terrorism, and pray for the day when the Iranian people have the just and righteous government they deserve.
The decisions we make will affect countless lives.
Al-Jubeir and Tillerson also described the Iranian state as a threat to American and Saudi interests, with the former noting the Iranian government’s “support for terrorism” and the latter commenting on its “malign influence.”
“If Iran wants to be a normal country,” said al-Jubeir, “it has to act in accord with international law and the values and the morals of the international system that have existed for centuries.”
“Iran [must] cease its support for terrorism, adhere to the UN Security Council resolutions with regard to ballistic missiles, and cease its human rights violations. [It must end] its interference in the affairs of the country — of the region,” added al-Jubeir.
3. NO NATION-BUILDING
Barack Obama framed Islamic terrorism as a function of broad phenomena (“income inequality,” “climate change,” and “intolerance [of] minorities”) rather than a manifestation of a Islam in accordance with Islamic doctrine. Addressing these real or imagined phenomena in order to combat Islamic terrorism, in Obama’s view, requires social engineering programs both on state-by-state bases and via multistate collaborative efforts.
George Bush called for Western exportation of the values of human freedom. Liberty, he said, is “God’s gift to humanity.” Citing Natan Sharansky as a hero of his, he subscribed to the Soviet dissident’s and refusenik’s vision entitled, “The Case for Democracy: The Power Of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny And Terror.” Defeating terrorism to usher in a new era of global peace, according to the 43rd president, would be best served by toppling totalitarian political systems and facilitating their replacement with liberal democracies. The values of human freedom and liberty, he said, are universal:
Americans are a free people, who know that freedom is the right of every person and the future of every nation. The liberty we prize is not America’s gift to the world; it is God’s gift to humanity.
Trump’s declared foreign policy ethos is less ambitious that those of his predecessors’ with respect to the proselytizing of his view of American values to non-Western societies. It is more narrow, or humble, in terms of pursuing America’s national interests:
America is a sovereign nation and our first priority is always the safety and security of our citizens. We are not here to lecture—we are not here to tell other people how to live, what to do, who to be, or how to worship. Instead, we are here to offer partnership — based on shared interests and values — to pursue a better future for us all.
Here at this summit we will discuss many interests we share together. But above all we must be united in pursuing the one goal that transcends every other consideration. That goal is to meet history’s great test — to conquer extremism and vanquish the forces of terrorism.
4. MUSLIM REFUGEES SHOULD MOVE TO MUSLIM SOCIETIES
Muslims fleeing failed states such as Syria, suggested Trump, should regionally resettle in Muslim-majority and/or Islamic states where they can more easily integrate. Breaking from the calls of Democrats and the broader left to admit thousands, if not millions, of Muslim refugees and migrants from war-torn Muslim societies, Trump placed responsibility on the regional Middle Eastern states and societies to address the “Syria refugee crisis:”
This region should not be a place from which refugees flee, but to which newcomers flock … Responsible nations must work together to end the humanitarian crisis in Syria, eradicate ISIS, and restore stability to the region.
5. WHAT ABOUT ISLAM AND JIHAD?
Neither Trump nor Tillerson spoke directly to cultural, social, or political pathologies within Muslim societies that foment Islamic terrorism. Barack Obama, Democrats, and the broader left regularly deny the overlaps between Islam, Muslims, and Islamic terrorism; framing Islamic terrorism as an aberration or corruption of Islamic theology and/or ideology.
Obama described the Islamic State (ISIS) as “not Islamic.” Bush said, “Islam is peace.” Trump sought to link Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as belonging to a trio of “Abrahamic faiths.”
Despite Tillerson’s recent descriptions of Islamic terrorism as “violent extremism” (a term deployed by Obama and his political allies to divorce Islamic terrorism from Islam and Muslims), Trump did depart from his speech’s text to specify the threat of “Islamic terror.”
Ayaan Hirsi Ali describes Islamic terrorism as a feature of Islam, rather than an anomaly. Understanding the origins of Islamic terrorism requires understanding Islamic doctrine, she says.
Trump did not directly acknowledge the role of the Saudi government and Saudi-based organizations in international promulgation of brands of Islam such as Wahabism.
U.S. President Donald Trump (L) and Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (R) attend the Arabic Islamic American Summit at King Abdul Aziz International Conference Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on May 21, 2017
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