Biden adopts Trump's Mideast policy

Biden's visit to Saudi Arabia next month already drew liberal angst. They fear a repeat of President Donald John Trump first foreign trip five years ago, when he flew to Riyadh and then made the first direct flight to Israel.

Trump, his wife, and his Jewish daughter and Jewish son-in-law were treated like royalty by the Saudis. The state-controlled press lavished soft-focus coverage of President Trump. How shall I describe it? Hmm. Remember how the American press covered Obama? The Saudis were almost as treacly about the Trumps.

The welcome shocked the American press. The Saudis used the occasion to open an anti-extremist center. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, King Salman of Saudi Arabia and President Trump touched a glowing globe of the world in a sign of unity.

Maybe Biden will get the same treatment. I hold out hope. I do know the trip is not about oil because Biden said so.

On June 12, he said, "The commitments from the Saudis don’t relate to anything having to do with energy. It happens to be a larger meeting taking place in Saudi Arabia. That’s the reason I’m going. And it has to do with national security for them — for Israelis."

Biden siding with Israel is a remarkable change for the Democrat Party, which under Obama gave Iran $150 billion to build nukes and to fund Hamas's attacks on Israel. 

The American press does not like Israel and Saudi Arabia becoming allies. The press was quite hostile to Trump's trip five years ago.

NYT asked, "What Was That Glowing Orb Trump Touched in Saudi Arabia?"

The story never answered its own question, instead writing, "The orb’s segmented pedestal, which looked as if it might have come from the bridge of a science-fiction starship, added to the mystery. And an illuminated floor, not directly visible in the most widely circulated images, intensified the dramatic underlighting.

"Critics of Mr. Trump, some of whom seem eager to see something nefarious in anything he does, appeared especially agitated. Some projected onto the images their dismay about Mr. Trump’s playing down of human rights and about the authoritarian Egyptian and Saudi governments. Bill Kristol, a prominent conservative critic of Mr. Trump, likened the group to the conclave of witches in Macbeth.

"Many others drew on tropes from science fiction and fantasy, invoking comic-book villains, the Harry Potter novels and films, and even The Wizard of Oz."

The real story was Trump was helping bring Israel and Saudi Arabia closer together.

The story ended with a thud, noting "On Monday, Mr. Trump, who is making his first foreign trip as president, moved on to Israel."

History was made. NYT ignored it.

The sides were lining up. Saudis, Egyptians and Israelis were preparing for war with Iran. The meeting would lead to the Abraham Accords which added five Islamic nations to the list of countries that recognize the state of Israel. The Saudis officially are not on the list. But Trump's direct flight to Ben Gurion Airport made it clear that the tide has turned.

Biden's trip signals Trump's policy is still on.

Steve Hayward of Power Line astutely sees an Iranian-Israeli war coming.

He wrote, "It has been said that Israel and Iran have been at open war for some time now. (Actually, Iran and the U.S. have likewise been at war since 1979, though don’t tell John Kerry.) As is well known, Israel has carried out audacious raids on Iran over the last few years. It has assassinated key figures in Iran’s nuclear weapons program in the streets of Tehran, successfully extracted an intelligence cache on the nuclear program, and in recent months assassinated senior Iranian military figures beyond the nuclear arms circle. For their part, we know Iran is supplying Hezbollah in Lebanon, Syria, and elsewhere with enormous amounts of munitions to use against Israel."

And of course, Trump had the military assassinate General Soleimani, much to the chagrin of Martha Raddatz and ABC and the rest of the Disney empire.

Hayward noted, "According to a report by Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Qabas, an alleged attack overnight Friday was carried out by drones that took off from an area a mere 6.2 miles from the targeted base. If this report is true, it means the Israelis (or someone) have been able once again to penetrate deep inside Iranian territory, or it means U.S. and other nations are perhaps backing an insurgency inside Iran. I rate this latter possibility extremely unlikely. In either case, any effective actions inside Iranian territory can only be happening with the blessing, and likely active cooperation and support, of the Saudis."

Iranians sit inside Israel in Gaza City under the name Hamas. AP for years shielded Hamas until a year ago, when Israel called the AP and told them to evacuate their offices because Israel was about to blow it to smithereens. AP is still pissed.

Biden's trip is about Iran. Hayward wrote, "I suspect the Israelis may be ready to go big on Iran, since we aren’t serious about stopping Iran’s nuclear weapons program."

Liberals fear America will stand up to Iran, which keeps saying the three little words all liberals love to hear: "Death to America."

Anti-Semite Trita Parsi wrote at MSNBC, "All the latest headlines about President Joe Biden’s July trip to Saudi Arabia focus on a deal to push down gas prices. In reality, he is making a much more sinister and dangerous calculation than most realize: He is reportedly planning to offer the dictators in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — where all but two of the 9/11 terrorists came from — a defense pact that commits American lives to defend their regimes. What could go right?

"When Biden ran for the White House, he pledged to break with then-President Donald Trump’s Middle East policy: bring U.S. troops home from the Middle East, renew the Iran nuclear deal, end the war in Yemen, and 'make the Saudis the pariah that they are.' But after refusing to take necessary steps to return to the Iran deal, and with rumors abounding that he is about to offer the UAE and Saudi Arabia a defense pact, Biden’s policy is increasingly looking like a continuation of Trump’s Middle East strategy."

Suddenly a press that actively lobbies for American lives to be risked for Ukraine against a country that poses no threat to the USA does not want to risk American lives against a country whose motto is "Death to America."

Parsi ended his piece, "From the very moment then-President Barack Obama concluded the Iran nuclear deal, Israel, Saudi Arabia and the UAE opposed it and favored an arrangement that would further tie the U.S. to the Middle East and to their own security interests. By quitting the Iran deal and signing the Abraham Accords, Trump took the first steps toward acquiescing to the demands of these states. Biden is now completing what Trump started."

The problem in the Middle East is not oil. It is nukes. The best way to stop a nuclear war is to stand by Israel and stop Iran from building nukes.

It is so obvious, even Biden knows it.