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Saudi Arabia, Ignoring Trump's Slights, Will Give Him a Royal Welcome News
SaudiArabia, home to some of Islam’s holiest sites, will be pulling out all the stops for a man who has declared “Islam hates us” and said the United States is “ ...
Saudi Arabia, Ignoring Trump’s Slights, Will Give Him a Royal Welcome
Photo
President Trump with Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia at the White House in March.Credit
Stephen Crowley/The New York Times
BEIRUT, Lebanon — When President Trump heads to Saudi Arabia on Friday for his first trip overseas since taking office, it will be for much more than a run-of-the-mill state visit.
The
Saudis have internationalized the event, organizing a sprawling “Arab
Islamic American Summit” with leaders from dozens of Muslim countries,
as well as talks with the king, the inauguration of a counterterrorism
center, forums for business executives and young people, and a country
music concert.
Saudi Arabia,
home to some of Islam’s holiest sites, will be pulling out all the
stops for a man who has declared “Islam hates us” and said the United
States was “losing a tremendous amount of money” defending the kingdom.
But
Saudi Arabia and its Persian Gulf allies were so angry over President
Barack Obama’s Middle East policies that they appeared prepared to
dismiss Mr. Trump’s remarks as campaign rhetoric, and to see in him a
possibility of resetting relations.
The
grandiose reception seeks to convince Mr. Trump that his priorities are
theirs, too, and that they are indispensable partners in fighting
terrorism, in confronting Iran, in bolstering American businesses and perhaps even in pursuing peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
“This
administration has vision that matches the view of the kingdom with
regards to the role of America in the world, with regards to getting rid
of terrorism, with regards to confronting Iran, with regards to
rebuilding relations with traditional allies, with regards to trade and
investment,” Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, told reporters
on Thursday.
The
number of events scheduled throughout the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on
Saturday and Sunday is staggering, as the Saudis seek to project their
country as a dynamic place, a leader in the Arab and Islamic worlds and a
close ally of the United States.
The Stars and Stripes are flying in Riyadh’s streets, intermixed with Saudi flags.
Three
summit meetings are planned: between Mr. Trump and King Salman, the
Saudi monarch; between Mr. Trump and the leaders of a Gulf coalition,
including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab
Emirates; and between Mr. Trump and more than 50 leaders and
representatives from across the Muslim world.
Expected
to attend are 37 heads of state and at least six prime ministers, said
Osama Nugali, a spokesman for the Saudi Foreign Ministry.
Among the invitees
is President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan, who has been indicted by
the International Criminal Court for crimes including genocide, although
it remains unclear whether he will attend or, if he does, whether he
will meet Mr. Trump.
“He is invited definitely because it is an Arab and Muslim country,” Mr. Nugali said.
Also reported by local news organizations to be attending are President Fuad Masum of Iraq, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan.
Not on the guest list are Iran, the Saudis’ regional nemesis, and Syria, whose president, Bashar al-Assad,
is at war with rebels who have received support from the United States,
Saudi Arabia and other countries whose representatives will be in
Riyadh.
Mr.
Trump and King Salman will also inaugurate the Global Center for
Combating Extremist Ideology, where Mr. Trump is to give a speech about
Islam. The American president, a prolific — and often contentious — user
of Twitter, will also deliver the keynote address at a conference about
social media, under the auspices of Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the king’s powerful son.
Elsewhere
in the city, there is to be an international counterterrorism
conference, a forum for chief executives, an art exhibition inside the
Royal Court and a concert featuring the American country musician Toby
Keith. (In a kingdom where alcohol is banned, he is unlikely to
entertain the all-male crowd with his song “Beer for My Horses.”)
“Historic Summit. Brighter Future,” an official website for Mr. Trump’s visit declares.
The
exuberant reception reflects the sharp contrast with how Persian Gulf
leaders perceived Mr. Obama and his policies. He angered the Saudis for
what they saw as his abandonment of President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, a
longtime American ally, during the Arab Spring protests; his hesitation
to intervene directly in the Syria conflict; and his pursuit of a nuclear deal with Iran.
“Any
new president has to be better than President Obama, because no one was
worse for us than Obama,” said Salman al-Dossary, a writer for the
Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq al-Awsat.
In Mr. Trump, however, many Saudis see a decisive, business-focused leader who they say shares their goals in the region.
They applauded his military strike on a Syrian air base
after Mr. Assad’s forces used chemical weapons, and they have noted his
tough talk on Iran. They hope he will increase support for the
Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen against rebels aligned with Iran. And they see a role for American investment in efforts to shift the Saudi economy from its dependence on oil.
“This
administration is very clear, not just with Saudi Arabia but also with
Turkey and other traditional allies, that the idea is to double down on
existing relationships and to put allies first,” said Mohammed Khalid Alyahya, a Saudi political analyst and nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council, a policy research organization.
Saudi
Arabia has also pitched itself as a Muslim ally against Islamic State
militants, and Mr. Trump’s desire to moderate his stance on Islam was
among the reasons he chose Riyadh as his first stop overseas as
president, according to administration officials.
Mr. Trump also hopes Arab states can play a role in brokering a deal between Israel and the Palestinians — an idea that some Persian Gulf leaders have privately entertained, if Israel were to offer certain concessions.
Some aspects of Mr. Trump’s tenure that have caused criticism in the United States do not seem to bother the Saudis.
His
reliance on his daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner — both
of whom will join him in Riyadh — for policy advice is business as usual
in a monarchy where princes run the government and the king has
appointed one son as defense minister and another as ambassador to
Washington.
And
worries that Mr. Trump could use his presidency to benefit Trump hotels
and golf courses get little traction in a country that is named after
its royal family, and where the line between public and private wealth is vague.
Mr.
Trump’s apparent lack of interest in human rights also suggests that he
is unlikely to complain about the justice system or the limited rights
of Saudi women.
Because
of their decades-old alliance, Saudi Arabia relies heavily on the
United States for security and other issues. To maintain that alliance,
Saudi leaders have studiously ignored Mr. Trump’s negative statements
about Islam while emphasizing what their kingdom provides, including
intelligence cooperation and billions of dollars in arms purchases.
Mr. Trump has not always returned the love.
Last month, he told Reuters
that protecting Saudi Arabia cost too much. “Frankly, Saudi Arabia has
not treated us fairly, because we are losing a tremendous amount of
money in defending Saudi Arabia,” he said.
While
such comments made some Saudis uncomfortable, they took heart from his
ordering the strike in Syria — a step that Mr. Obama had declined to
take — and they hope his tough talk on Iran will lead to action.
It
remains unclear whether the visit will result in concrete initiatives
or will remain symbolic. But some caution that what Mr. Trump will
ultimately give Persian Gulf states may fall short of the expectations.
“You
have a Trump administration that has a banner of ‘America first’ and is
preparing a counterterrorism strategy that seeks to place the burden
more so on the shoulders of our partners,” said Brian Katulis, a senior
fellow at the Center for American Progress,
a Washington research organization, who has recently met with senior
Persian Gulf officials. “Therein lies a potential for a mismatch of
expectations.”
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