US ties with Middle East allies have frayed; China benefits

Leon Hadar

For several days, the White House has been trying to arrange phone calls between President Joe Biden and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (aka MBS) and with Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the leaders of the two powerful oil-producing Arab Gulf states. But no one was picking up the call on the other side.

The reason for the US president's call had to do with, well, oil. Since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, oil prices have been surging. So President Biden wanted the help of two long-time Middle East allies in getting gas prices back down by having them pump more oil.