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Biden holds off punishing Saudi crown prince, despite US intel

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President Biden on Friday stopped short of announcing any punitive measures against Saudi Arabia’s crown prince despite the release of an intelligence report linking the Kingdom’s …
President Biden on Friday stopped short of announcing any punitive measures against Saudi Arabia’s crown prince despite the release of an intelligence report linking the Kingdom’s day-to-day ruler to the grisly killing of a U. S-based journalist. The declassified report said Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved a plot to “capture or kill” journalist and Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi, who was lured to the Saudi consulate and killed. The report’s release raises the stakes on relations between the Biden administration and the likely next ruler of the Saudi Kingdom. The administration announced a range of punitive measures against Saudi officials and individuals it said were involved in Khashoggi’s death in October 2018, though it held off penalizing Prince Mohammad himself — a move likely to put the president at odds with key Democratic leaders and human rights groups calling for stronger measures against the crown prince. “The Saudi government in general, and [Mohammed bin Salman] in particular, have a cloud hanging over them and there’s a lot of work to be done to repair that,” Hussein Ibish, senior resident scholar with the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, told The Hill. “The question is, how much does anyone want to let it affect U.S.-Saudi relations?” The New York Times, citing senior administration officials, said the consensus in the White House was to avoid visa restrictions or criminal charges on the crown prince over concerns it would hurt critical cooperation with Saudi Arabia in general on threats related to counter-terrorism and confronting Iran. “The administration has signaled a certain distance from the crown prince,” said Robert Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “But that’s not sustainable over the long run because the crown prince is the most significant decision maker in the kingdom and we should have an authoritative high level engagement with him.“ Prince Mohammed, the heir apparent to the Kingdom who officially holds the title of deputy prime minister underneath his father who is the prime minister, is also the Defense Minister, among other ruling titles. He is an outsize figure in the Kingdom and on the global stage, enjoying mass popularity for his push to modernize the social and economic culture away from strict Wahhabi Islam and dependence on oil wealth. Yet he has held a tight grip on power, leaving little to no room for dissent with political dissidents jailed and reportedly tortured.

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