“Both sides have decided that for the sake of peace and stability in the Middle East, we must overcome this,” said a senior US official, referring to Kasogi’s assassination. The Saudis, for their part, believe the Kasogi case is closed – and have made it clear to the United States, officials said. This does not mean forgiving and forgetting, the sources noted. Biden, they said, intends to address Kasogi’s assassination directly to the MBS, as the successor is known, when they meet next month. And some officials within the administration still believe that more needs to be done to hold the MBS accountable for the crime. However, the change is now under way after months of meetings in Riyadh between two of Biden’s top national security advisers, Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein, and Saudi officials, including the MBS. And it is already causing outrage, with Kasogi’s fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, accusing Biden of losing his moral compass. “President Biden’s decision to meet with the MBS is horrific for me and for advocates of freedom and justice everywhere,” she told CNN. A Washington-based human rights activist close to the government, who was also a close friend of Kasogi, told CNN that he believed that doing nothing to hold the MBS accountable for Kasogi’s assassination would be a huge blow. to the prince’s opposition and to Arab dissidents around the world. “The promise of accountability was the only control in this type [MBS]”He is gone now,” he said. “When the President of the United States goes to the birthplace of this murderer to appease him, he not only conceals the horrible crimes of the past with astonishing impunity, but also allows for his future crimes. “It’s a blink of an eye to commit the next crime in a cleaner, less messy way.” U.S. officials told CNN that the decision to meet with the MBS was a hard pill for the president, who said in 2019 that Saudi Arabia “had no redemptive social value.” However, they said countries had agreed that the relationship could not remain a “hostage” to the killings, especially given how dramatically the world has changed since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Among the most important US foreign policy goals now are the political isolation of Russia and the cessation of funding for its war machine by banning Russian oil exports – two goals that officials believe would be nearly impossible if Saudi Arabia were not US side. especially when it comes to increasing oil production to try to stabilize global oil markets. Therefore, the President and his senior national security advisers believe that “avoiding” Saudi Arabia for Kasogi’s assassination would be short-sighted. Worrying economic trends, especially when it comes to high domestic gas prices and rising inflation, also dominate government priorities and have sidelined others, a US White House official said. “I believe that despair over the course of the world economy drives everything,” he said. “They [the White House] they are worried, they are desperate “. “Their fear and anxiety make them throw the authority out the door,” the official added. “The worst [economic] “The results are very bad and would destroy any hope the Democrats had in November.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN en Español on Wednesday that the government had never sought to completely sever US-Saudi relations, even after the release of a report last year that put the MBS at the center of Kasogi’s assassination. However, he said the United States would continue to “ensure that human rights are fully reflected in our foreign policy.”

Oil prices drive recovery

Biden’s advisers have openly said that the need to increase oil production to stabilize prices is a key driver of Saudi Arabia’s recovery. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Wednesday that “there is no doubt that Saudi Arabia must be held accountable for what it did to Jamal Kasogi.” But, he added, “there is no doubt that we need to grow globally [oil] Supply. “And OPEC, led by Saudi Arabia, is in charge of the package.” There are natural things the Saudis want in exchange for the United States, including a viable strategy for dealing with Iran – the Kingdom’s biggest regional enemy – as the United States struggles to conclude a new nuclear deal. The Saudis also want security commitments, such as the continued provision of missile defense systems, officials said. However, White House officials say Saudi Arabia has been cooperating in good faith with the United States in recent months, which has made the White House more confident that a meeting between Biden and the MBS will be fruitful. U.S. officials have repeatedly pointed to the fragile ceasefire in Yemen in April and the overthrow by Saudi Arabia of Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who has been seen by many officials in the region and in the United States as a major obstacle to which would not have been possible without the commitment of the US. The two-month truce, which was extended last week, is the first between the warring Saudis and Houthis in six years. “I am not going to change my view of human rights,” Biden said last week. “But as President of the United States, my job is to make peace if I can. And that is what I will try to do.”

Working on an “important agenda”

A spokesman for the National Security Council noted that Kasogi’s assassination took place during the Trump administration, telling CNN that the United States “does not pay attention to any behavior that took place before we took office.” The spokesman noted that US sanctions had been imposed on individuals believed to be involved in the assassination of Kasogi and others involved in human rights abuses. However, the spokesman also said that the United States has “a significant agenda with Saudi Arabia, Israel and other Middle Eastern countries. This agenda focuses on achieving results for the American people as well as ending wars and of diplomacy to bring stability to the Middle East. “ Last week’s agreement by OPEC + to increase oil production by 200,000 barrels per day in July and August, a decision led by Saudi Arabia, was another show of good faith by the Saudis, officials say. And with the help of the United States, relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia are also slowly but steadily improving, officials said. sources said. A regional official who was briefed on the talks said Israel wanted the Saudis to allow Israeli Arab Muslims to fly to the Kingdom for religious pilgrimages. Israel is pushing hard for the Biden-MBS meeting to take place, many officials have said. And underlining the changing nature of the Israeli-Saudi relationship, Biden is expected to make an extremely rare direct flight from Tel Aviv to Riyadh with Air Force One next month in the Middle East next month, according to two regional officials. the plans. However, these developments are unlikely to satisfy activists and US lawmakers who continue to demand further accountability and justice for Kasogi. “The highest levels of government in Saudi Arabia, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, are responsible for the assassination of Mr. Kasogi, and there is no escaping this harsh truth revealed in the US intelligence community’s public assessment.” , wrote top members of Parliament. in a letter to Biden earlier this week. “We must continue to stand up for justice for this heinous crime.”