Submitted by Harold Saive
US President Joe Biden’s decision to delay visits to Israel and Saudi Arabia will only bolster Moscow’s diplomatic advances in West Asia
https://thecradle.co/Article/
US President Joe Biden’s planned trip to West Asia later this month has been postponed until July, according to reports citing diplomatic sources. However, even this new proposed date is uncertain, and is subject to further postponement or cancellation.
While Biden stays on schedule with his official visits to East Asia, New Zealand and Europe, why is West Asia so difficult to pin down?
Biden’s itinerary was due to include both Tel Aviv and Riyadh, amid efforts to improve strained relations with the latter, in particular. Neither the White House nor the Israeli and Saudi embassies in Washington have offered a reason for the change of plans.
It has been speculated that Biden’s first trip to the region as president has been shelved, in part, due to political uncertainties in Israel, with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s coalition having lost its majority status.
So serious is the political impasse that Bennett has warned that the state is teetering on the edge of collapse. As the Jerusalem Post noted, “the US president is highly unlikely to come if the opposition succeeds in dissolving the Knesset and forcing early elections.”
However, it is more likely that the reason for the postponement is over the war in Ukraine which, contrary to mainstream media coverage, is not currently progressing in accordance with the collective west’s expectations.