"Oil diplomacy" frustrated, Biden returned empty-handed in the Middle East?

On July 18, US President Joe Biden ended his first visit
to the Middle East since taking office.
During the four-day trip, Biden completed his first face-to-face meeting with the Egyptian president in office, his first meeting with the Saudi crown prince, and held a "security and development" summit
with the leaders of nine countries in the Middle East.

On July 16, 2022, after his first trip to the Middle East in office, US President Joe Biden arrived at the White House in Washington to address
reporters.

How many substantive results has been achieved in this "oil diplomacy", and how much has Biden's plan to open a "new chapter" in US participation in Middle East affairs reached before his visit?

To go to the Middle East for oil, Biden took a trip for nothing?

Saudi Arabia is the last and most watched stop on Biden's trip to the Middle East
.
On the one hand, due to soaring energy prices, whether the United States can say that Saudi Arabia can increase oil production to "fight the fire" has attracted much attention; On the other hand, whether the US-Saudi relations that were previously cold due to the murder of Saudi journalist Khashoggi can "break the ice" has also attracted the attention of the
outside world.

On July 15, 2022, Biden "bumped his fist"
during a meeting with the Saudi crown prince.

When meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed, Biden's "fist-bumping" gesture caused controversy
.
Back in the 2020 election, Biden criticized Saudi Arabia over Khashoggi's killing and repeatedly attacked its human rights issues
.

The publisher of The Washington Post, where Khashoggi worked during his lifetime, called a fist bump more "shameful" than a handshake because "it represents intimacy and comfort.
"

At the subsequent press conference, someone also asked sharply: "President Biden, is Saudi Arabia still a 'pariah country'?" Biden and his entourage had to pretend not to hear
.

US public opinion believes that Biden's actions show that the United States has chosen to "compromise" on human rights issues in the face of a huge energy crisis
.

So, did Biden's "compromise" come in oil?

According to the "fact document" released by the White House, the bilateral meeting between the leaders of the United States and Saudi Arabia reached agreement on strengthening cooperation in the fields of maritime security, infrastructure construction, information and communications, cybersecurity, and public health
.
But on the most critical oil issue, there is a lack of substantive results
.

Saudi Arabia announced that it has "the ability" to increase domestic crude oil production capacity to 13 million barrels per day, but there is no additional capacity to continue to increase
crude oil production.

After the Biden-led delegation held talks with senior Saudi officials, the joint statement issued by the United States and Saudi Arabia did not mention increasing oil supplies, only saying that the two countries "reaffirmed their commitment to the stability of the global energy market.
"

German media analysis pointed out that Saudi Arabia is willing to increase its oil production by 1 million barrels per day, but it does not necessarily mean an increase
in actual oil production.
U.
S.
officials have made similar predictions, believing that Saudi Arabia will not immediately increase oil production and are paying attention to the specific decision
of the OPEC+ meeting on August 3.

The US media earlier quoted Saudi officials as saying that the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Russia has become closer than ever, and Riyadh has neither plans to break ties with Moscow nor has it planned
to extract more crude oil to help the US government deal with the energy crisis.
OPEC+ has become a cornerstone of
Saudi and Russian foreign policy.

Biden came to increase oil production, but failed to get a clear commitment, this trip, I am afraid that it will be a trip
in vain.

The goal of wooing allies has failed, and the influence of the United States is continuing to shrink?

In fact, in addition to the visit to Saudi Arabia with few gains, Biden's visit a few days ago did not make much waves
.

Source: Biden and Israeli President Herzog
.

In Israel, although Biden was warmly received, as soon as he left, the war broke out
behind him.
According to Reuters, in the early morning of the 16th, rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip to Israel, after which the Israel Defense Forces sent warplanes to retaliate and carry out air strikes
on the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) military targets in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas condemned that the Israeli bombing "reflects U.
S.
support and encouragement.
"

In Bethlehem, in the West Bank, Biden met with Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas.
Biden reiterated his position
that the Palestinian-Israeli issue should be resolved through a "two-state solution.
" The Palestinian president said he expected the U.
S.
government to take steps to strengthen bilateral relations, such as reopening the U.
S.
consulate in East Jerusalem and removing the PLO from the U.
S.
terrorism list
.
The two sides were allegedly still communicating on the joint statement hours before the Abbas and Biden met, but eventually gave up
because of too many differences.

On the issue of coordinating Saudi-Israeli relations, after Saudi Arabia announced the opening of its airspace to all civil airlines, including Israel, it received strong praise from the United States, but the Saudi Foreign Minister immediately "punched the United States in the face" at the press conference, saying that Saudi Arabia's decision to open up its airspace has nothing to do with Israel's diplomatic relations and is "not a prelude to the normalization of Arab-Israeli relations.
"

In addition, Biden's visit also caused protests
from Iran.
Iranian President Leahy said that the intervention of foreign powers such as the United States in the affairs of the Middle East "will only create crisis and insecurity.
"
At the end of Biden's trip, Iran's Foreign Ministry also released a new batch of lists, including former US Secretary of State Pompeo and former presidential national security adviser John Bolton, announcing sanctions
against these people.

Some analysts believe that the United States continues to shape Iran's "Middle East enemy" image in the Middle East and tries to draw other countries to confront Iran
.
But many countries in the region believe that dialogue with Iran is the safest way to
solve the problem.

Regarding the just-concluded regional leaders' summit, the Saudi foreign minister stressed that no military cooperation with Israel was discussed, nor was there any discussion of the so-called "Arab version of NATO"
.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed said during his meeting with Biden that the United States should not impose its own values on others, and that if the United States wants other countries to have exactly the same values, then only NATO will remain by its side
.

From this point of view, Biden's intention to use this trip to win allies and create a "Middle East version of NATO" against countries such as Iran and Russia has almost failed
.

Russia's Regnum news agency quoted Middle East expert Hussein Ruyolan as saying in an interview with Iranian media that U.
S.
policy throughout the Middle East is no longer "strategic" but has become passive
.
The purpose of Biden's trip is not long-term, but for temporary benefits
related to oil.

The BBC is even more blunt, "Politically, Biden's trip may once again remind people that the influence of the United States in the Middle East continues to shrink
.
" ”