<p><img src="https://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5bc613df0da75014a3201ed5-1240/trump%20mohammad%20bin%20salman.jpg" border="0" alt="Trump Mohammad bin Salman" data-mce-source="Associated Press" data-mce-caption="President Donald Trump shows a chart highlighting arms sales to Saudi Arabia during a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office of the White House, March 20, 2018."></p><p></p><bi-shortcode id="summary-shortcode" data-type="summary-shortcode" class="mceNonEditable" contenteditable="false">Summary List Placement</bi-shortcode><p>Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman "approved an operationto capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi," according to a scathing <a href="https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/the-report-on-jamal-khashoggi-killing/ddc9578e0994f690/full.pdf">new report</a> from the Biden administration.</p><p>Yet President Joe Biden says the US will not sanction the Saudi government, calculating that any direct punishment <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/26/us/politics/biden-mbs-khashoggi.html">could risk Saudi Arabia's cooperation</a> in confronting Iran and in counterterrorism efforts.</p><p>Like his predecessors, Biden is <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/03/02/biden-middle-east-china-pivot-clinton-obama/">grappling with the reality</a> that Saudi Arabia is needed to achieve certain US objectives in the Middle East.</p><p>This is a change from Biden's criticism of Saudi Arabia on the campaign trail. He said his administration would turn this repressive kingdoma longtime US allyinto a global "<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-retreats-saudi-arabia-sanctions-khashoggi-killing-d91d31edece5db07112d1c2d4dd3be33">pariah</a>."</p><p>The Khashoggi affair highlights a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AOUBMM/">persistent oddity in American foreign policy</a>, one <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09592296.2015.1034570">I observed</a> in many years working at the State Department and Department of Defense: selective morality in dealing with repressive regimes.</p><h2>A panoply of dictators</h2><p><img src="https://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5554ac066da811097e068e46-2400/rtx1cv7j.jpg" border="0" alt="Obama Saudi Arabia" data-mce-source="Jonathan Ernst/REUTERS" data-mce-caption="U.S. President Barack Obama welcomes Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz as he plays host to leaders and delegations from the Gulf Cooperation Council countries at the White House in Washington May 13, 2015."></p><p>The Trump administration was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/14/us/politics/trump-saudi-arabia-arms-deal.html">reluctant</a> to confront Saudi Arabia over the killing of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who lived in Virginia. Beyond <a href="https://www.apnews.com/9c79116125c740d084eaf3576d8958a8">revoking the visas</a> of some Saudi officials implicated in Khashoggi's death, Trump did nothing to punish the kingdom for Khashoggi's <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/21/world/middleeast/erdogan-khashoggi-turkey-saudi-arabia.html">torture, assassination and dismemberment</a>.</p><p>Trump and other White House officials reminded critics that Saudi Arabia buys <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-saudi-security/obama-administration-arms-sales-offers-to-saudi-top-115-billion-report-idUSKCN11D2JQ">billions of dollars in weapons</a> from the US and is a crucial partner in the American pressure campaign on Iran. Biden has taken a slightly tougher line, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/02/26/us/report-jamal-khashoggi-killing.html'searchResultPosition=18">approving the release</a> of the intelligence report that blames bin Salman for Khashoggi's murder and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-saudi-khashoggi-sanctions/u-s-imposes-sanctions-visa-bans-on-saudis-for-journalist-khashoggis-killing-idUSKBN2AQ2QI">sanctioning 76 lower-level Saudi officials</a>.</p><p>Saudi Arabia isn't the only nation to get a free pass from the US for its terrible misdeeds. The US has for decades <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007FI40QU/">maintained close ties</a> with some of the world's worst human rights abusers. Ever since the United States emerged from the Cold War as the world's dominant military and economic power, consecutive American presidents have seen financial and geopolitical benefit in overlooking the bad deeds of brutal regimes.</p><p>Before the Islamic revolution in 1979, Iran was a close US ally. Shah Reza Pahlavi <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/22/world/middleeast/years-of-torture-in-iran-comes-to-light.html">ruled harshly</a>, using his <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/12/13/savak-jails-stark-reminder-of-shahs-rule/b2b37be2-356a-43e2-ba68-dd474e9023b0/'utm_term=.b82257b17760">secret police</a> to torture and murder political dissidents.</p><p>But the shah was also a secular, anti-communist leader in a Muslim-dominated region. President Nixon <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249664268_The_Persian_Gulf_British_Withdrawal_and_Western_Security">hoped</a> that Iran would be the "Western policeman in the Persian Gulf."</p><p>After the shah's overthrow, the Reagan administration in the 1980s became <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/dec/31/iraq.politics">friendly with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein</a>. The US supported him with intelligence during Iraq's war with Iran and looked the other way at his use of chemical weapons.</p><p>And before Syria's intense <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-war-in-syria-may-be-ending-but-is-likely-to-bring-a-fresh-wave-of-suffering-104635">bloody civil war</a>which has killed an estimated 400,000 people and featured grisly <a href="https://theconversation.com/syria-chemical-weapons-and-the-limits-of-international-law-95045">chemical weapon attacks</a> by the governmentits authoritarian regime enjoyed relatively friendly relations with the US.</p><p>Syria has been on the State Department's list of <a href="https://www.state.gov/j/ct/list/c14151.htm">state sponsors of terrorism</a> since 1979. But Presidents Nixon, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton all visited President Bashar al-Assad's father, who ruled from 1971 until his death in 2000.</p><h2>Why Saudi Arabia matters</h2><p><img src="https://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5178722d6bb3f72906000010-2208/george-bush-saudi-sword.jpg" border="0" alt="george bush saudi sword" data-mce-source="Reuters"></p><p>Before the alleged assassination of Khashoggi by Saudi operatives, the 35-year-old crown prince was cultivating a reputation as a moderate reformer.</p><p>Salman has made newsworthy changes in the conservative Arab kingdom, allowing women <a href="https://qz.com/1313101/saudi-arabias-women-are-finally-allowed-to-drive-a-car-on-their-own/">to drive</a>, combating corruption and <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/saudi-crown-prince-talks-to-60-minutes/">curtailing some powers</a> of the religious police. Still, Saudi Arabia remains one of the world's most authoritarian regimes.</p><p>Though women may now obtain a passport without the permission of a male guardian, they <a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2020/country-chapters/saudi-arabia#49dda6">still need a guardian's approval</a> to get married, leave prison or obtain certain medical procedures. And they must have the consent of a male guardian to enroll in college or look for a job.</p><p>The Saudi government also routinely arrests people without judicial review, according to <a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2018/country-chapters/saudi-arabia">Human Rights Watch</a>. Citizens can be killed for nonviolent crimes, often in public. Between January and mid-November 2019, 81 people <a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2020/country-chapters/saudi-arabia#49dda6">were executed</a> for drug-related crimes.</p><p>Saudi Arabia ranks just above North Korea on political rights, civil liberties and other measures of freedom, according to the democracy watchdog <a href="https://freedomhouse.org/countries/freedom-world/scores">Freedom House</a>. The same report ranks both Iran and China ahead of the Saudis.</p><p>But its wealth, strategic Middle East location and petroleum exports keep the Saudis as a vital US ally. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obamas-visit-to-ally-saudi-arabia-shadowed-by-tensions-with-the-kingdom/2016/04/20/a0a987e0-06eb-11e6-a12f-ea5aed7958dc_story.html'utm_term=.ec236b5e369b">President Obama visited Saudi Arabia more</a> than any other American presidentfour times in eight yearsto discuss everything from Iran to oil production.</p><h2>American realpolitik</h2><p><img src="https://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5714e9a752bcd066018bd409/screen%20shot%202016-04-18%20at%20100431%20am.png" border="0" alt="bill clinton saudi crown prince abdullah" data-mce-source="Public Domain" data-mce-caption="Bill Clinton meets with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Abdullah"></p><p>This kind of foreign policyone based on practical, self-interested principles rather than moral or ideological concernsis called "realpolitik."</p><p>Henry Kissinger, secretary of state under Nixon, was <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2013/09/the-realpolitik-of-the-american-people/">a master of realpolitik</a>, which drove that administration to normalize its relationship with China. Diplomatic relations between the two countries had ended in 1949 when Chinese communist revolutionaries took power.</p><p>Then, as now, China was incredibly repressive. Only 16 countriesincluding Saudi Arabia<a href="https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world-2018-table-country-scores">are less free than China</a>, according to Freedom House. Iran, a country the US wants Saudis to help in keeping in check, ranks ahead of China.</p><p>But China is also the world's most populous nation and a nuclear power. Nixon, a fervent anti-communist, sought to exploit a growing rift between China and the Soviet Union.</p><p>Today Washington retains the important, if occasionally rocky, relationship Kissinger forged with Beijing, despite its ongoing <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-45474279">persecution of Muslim minority groups</a>.</p><p>American realpolitik applies to Latin America, too. After the Cuban Revolution of 1959, the US regularly backed Central and South American <a href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/u-s-support-for-brutal-central-american-dictators-led-to-todays-border-crisis/">military dictators</a> who tortured and killed citizens to "defend" the Americas from communism.</p><h2>US not 'so innocent'</h2><p><img src="https://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5921df0cdd0895c6568b4a4d/2017-05-21t140946z1lynxmped4k0kfrtroptp4usa-trump-saudi.jpg" border="0" alt="TRUMP SAUDI arabia" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst" data-mce-caption="Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (L) receives US President Donald Trump for the Arab Islamic American Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia May 21, 2017."></p><p>US presidents tend to underplay their relationships with repressive regimes, lauding lofty "American values" instead.</p><p>That's the language former President Barack Obama used in 2018 to <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/9/7/17832024/obama-speech-trump-illinois-transcript">criticize Trump's embrace of Russia's authoritarian president</a>, Vladimir Putin, citing America's "commitment to certain values and principles like the rule of law and human rights and democracy."</p><p>But Trump defended his relationship with Russia, tacitly invoking American realpolitik. "You think our country's <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/02/04/politics/donald-trump-vladimir-putin/index.html">so innocent</a>'" he asked on Fox News.</p><p>As Trump alluded to, the US has maintained close ties to numerous regimes, and still does, whose values and policies conflict with America's constitutional guarantees of democracy, freedom of speech, the right to due process and many others.</p><p>It has for decades.</p><p>Saudi Arabia's crown prince had a dissident journalist killed. American realpolitik explains why the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/20/us/politics/trump-saudi-khashoggi-midterms.html">tight US-Saudi relationship</a> will likely <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/02/26/mohammed-bin-salman-is-guilty-murder-biden-should-not-give-him-pass/'arc404=true">continue anyway</a>.</p><p><em>This story is an updated version of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/saudi-arabia-is-a-repressive-regime-and-so-are-a-lot-of-us-allies-105106">article</a> originally published October 22, 2018.</em></p><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jeffrey-fields-282008">Jeffrey Fields</a>, Associate Professor of the Practice of International Relations, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/usc-dornsife-college-of-letters-arts-and-sciences-2669">USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences</a></em></p><p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-repressive-saudi-arabia-remains-a-us-ally-156281">original article</a>.</em></p><div><script type="text/javascript" src="https://theconversation.com/javascripts/lib/content_tracker_hook.js" id="theconversation_tracker_hook" data-counter="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156281/count'distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" async="async"></script></div><p><strong>SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/young-republicans-split-from-gop-elders-trump-on-foreign-policy-2021-2" >3 charts show where young Republicans are splitting from GOP eldersand from Trump</a></strong></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-us-presidents-stay-friendly-with-regimes-like-saudi-arabia-2021-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story »</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dictators-donald-trump-praised-saddam-hussein-gaddafi-mussolini-kim-jong-un-2016-9">Giuliani said Trump 'isnt fond of dictators'heres every dictator Trump has praised</a></p>
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