Ever since Joe Biden’s fist bump meeting with the Saudi Prince, this administration has denied that discussing oil was ever on the table.
On the other hand, the Saudis immediately stated that was what Biden wanted to talk about when he was there.
As it turns out, it was not the Saudis lying about the meeting.
We Did It
After several explosive reports surfaced and the OPEC vow to cut oil production, the administration finally copped to having discussed oil production with the Saudis.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby stated, “We presented Saudi Arabia with analysis to show that there was no market basis to cut production targets, and that they could easily wait for the next OPEC meeting to see how things developed.”
Also, remember how Joe Biden bragged about talking tough with Saudi Arabia about the Khashoggi murder?
The Saudis immediately pushed back on that as well, not that anyone believed Joe Biden in the first place.
So, is it really a surprise that Saudi Arabia was behind the push to cut back on production?
Kirby confirmed this, stating that other OPEC nations had “communicated to us privately that they also disagreed with the Saudi decision, but felt coerced to support Saudi’s direction.”
These people do not have to like Joe Biden, as I would argue they probably did not like Trump very much either.
However, they do have to respect him, and few world leaders do right now.
To that point, Saudi Arabia publicly slammed Biden for recent statements about Saudi Arabia siding with Russia...
A statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the statements issued about the Kingdom following the OPEC+ decision. pic.twitter.com/Bo7JVPDzFo
— Foreign Ministry 🇸🇦 (@KSAmofaEN) October 12, 2022
Kirby responded, “The Saudi Foreign Ministry can try to spin or deflect, but the facts are simple: The world is rallying behind Ukraine in combating Russian aggression.
“In recent weeks, the Saudis conveyed to us — privately and publicly — their intention to reduce oil production, which they knew would increase Russian revenues and blunt the effectiveness of sanctions.”
Biden has also openly threatened the Saudis, stating, “When the House and Senate gets back, they’re going to have to — there’s going to be some consequences for what they’ve done, with Russia.
“I’m not going to get into what I’d consider and what I have in mind.
“But there will be — there will be consequences.”
It will be very interesting to see how all this plays out because Biden keeps painting himself into corners.
Source: New York Post