Latest / THE DAILY BRIEF / Trump recently hosted Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House

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Trump recently hosted Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House · THE DAILY BRIEF

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Global News podcast on YouTube, where we
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  Speaker 1: go behind the headlines of a story and why it matters.
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  Speaker 1: On this episode, we're discussing the visit of the Saudi
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  Speaker 1: Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman. He's visiting Donald Trump in
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  Speaker 1: Washington and it's his mission to reclaim his place on
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  Speaker 1: the world stage after the uproar caused by the twenty
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  Speaker 1: eighteen killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Hashoji. It looks like
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  Speaker 1: Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler is expected to get the
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  Speaker 1: pomp and pageantry of a lavish welcome when he meets
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  Speaker 1: Donald Trump at the White House in his first visit
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  Speaker 1: to the US since the killing of the high profile
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  Speaker 1: Saudi critic. So what might the two leaders discuss. Well,
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  Speaker 1: they are expected to sign deals on defense and civilian
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  Speaker 1: nuclear power in what seems to be a sign of
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  Speaker 1: how the Saudi leader has been rehabilitated in the eyes
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  Speaker 1: of the Trump administration. And what about the role of
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  Speaker 1: Saudi Arabia in the Middle East and how it might
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  Speaker 1: help in carrying out Trump's peace plan for Gaza. To
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  Speaker 1: discuss this further, I've got our State Department correspondent Tom
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  Speaker 1: Bateman who's on the line from Washington, and Rushdi Abu
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  Speaker 1: Alouf correspondent who's based in Istanbul. Tom Let's kick off
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  Speaker 1: with Muhammad bin Saman and how in the eyes of
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  Speaker 1: Donald Trump has managed to rehabilitate his image and gain
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  Speaker 1: this lavish welcome to the White House.
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  Speaker 2: Well, that started in twenty eighteen, when, as you've mentioned,
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  Speaker 2: the Saudi dissident and columnist who was based in the
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  Speaker 2: United States wrote for the Washington Post newspaper was murdered
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  Speaker 2: and his body dismembered by Saudi agents at the Saudi
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  Speaker 2: consulate in Istanbul. As I say, back in twenty eighteen. Now,
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  Speaker 2: after that there was global outrage and really a sense
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  Speaker 2: of isolation for Muhammad bin Salman, the Crown Prince. An
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  Speaker 2: intelligence assessment by the CIA concluded that he had approved
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  Speaker 2: the operation that led to Hashogji's death, and although he
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  Speaker 2: always denied any prior knowledge, he did later say that
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  Speaker 2: he took responsibility for it as the leader of the country. Now,
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  Speaker 2: what then happened over the next few years into the
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  Speaker 2: Biden administration. You had a President Joe Biden, who campaigned
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  Speaker 2: on the idea of making Saudi Arabia a Pariah over
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  Speaker 2: that issue, but also the supply. The US supply of
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  Speaker 2: weapons to Saudi Arabia, giving its role in the war
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  Speaker 2: in Yemen, came under increasing question, a lot of pressure
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  Speaker 2: from Democrats during the administration, and in the end the
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  Speaker 2: Biden administration cut off offensive weapons as they put it,
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  Speaker 2: then to the Saudis. The major turning point in all
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  Speaker 2: of this, strategically, it was the Russian invasion of Ukraine
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  Speaker 2: because that caused a global surge in the price of fuel,
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  Speaker 2: so gas prices were going up in the US. Joe
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  Speaker 2: Biden went to Saudi Arabia in twenty twenty two, and
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  Speaker 2: then you saw this sort of start of a rehabilitation
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  Speaker 2: of Mohammed bin Salman in the eyes of the West.
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  Speaker 2: There was very famously, or perhaps notoriously a fist bump
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  Speaker 2: between President Biden and the Crown Prince when he visited
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  Speaker 2: Read and then you saw a process really of reintegration
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  Speaker 2: back into the fold of the Americans and the West
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  Speaker 2: more broadly. And then into this second Trump term. What
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  Speaker 2: has happened, I mean, one of the big changes has
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  Speaker 2: been caused by the war in Gaza, and the role
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  Speaker 2: of the Saudis has become absolutely critical in the American
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  Speaker 2: led attempts to try to get the ceasefire and a
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  Speaker 2: broader stabilization of that situation. So they have leant heavily
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  Speaker 2: on the Saudis, and then you have all the personal
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  Speaker 2: and business connections between mister Trump and crucially his family,
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  Speaker 2: and not just the Saudis, but a lot of Golf
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  Speaker 2: Arab leaders. And so here I think you see the
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  Speaker 2: sort of zenith of that process with Mohammed bin Salman
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  Speaker 2: coming to Washington for the first time in seven years
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  Speaker 2: in all but name a state visit for the de
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  Speaker 2: facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, you know, visiting the White House,
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  Speaker 2: and there will be an announcement about the things that
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  Speaker 2: the Saudi Crown Prince wants for Saudi Arabia and in
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  Speaker 2: return multi billion dollar investments from read into the United States.
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  Speaker 1: So it is quite the turnaround then from a Saudi perspective,
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  Speaker 1: from a Muhammad Bill and Salman perspective as well, and
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  Speaker 1: you outline how that's happened. But I guess now when
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  Speaker 1: they both sit down together, the two leaders, what will
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  Speaker 1: the objectives be as well, Because there are some fears
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  Speaker 1: as well from the American side, particularly from some defense officials.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean what Mhammed bin Salman wants three things. Broadly,
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  Speaker 2: he wants a defense packed a security deal with the
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  Speaker 2: United States. It looks as though he'll get something like
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  Speaker 2: that which would effectively say that the US would support
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  Speaker 2: the Saudis militarily if the country ever came under attack. Now,
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  Speaker 2: President Trump signed a similar arrangement recently with Katar. That
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  Speaker 2: was our the Israelis attacked Doha, you remember a few
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  Speaker 2: months back. So the Saudis wants something like that. That
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  Speaker 2: will be probably an executive order, so it won't have
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  Speaker 2: all the backing of a proper congressionally backed treaty, and
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  Speaker 2: a future president could in effect undo that. But that's
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  Speaker 2: very important to the Saudis. They also want to buy
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  Speaker 2: F thirty five's the most advanced American fighter jet. The
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  Speaker 2: reason that's regionally important is because the Americans have never
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  Speaker 2: allowed other countries in the region, aside from Israel, to
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  Speaker 2: have the same level of military hardware. Now only the
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  Speaker 2: Israelis have F thirty five jets in the Middle East,
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  Speaker 2: So that has the potential to change the regional balance
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  Speaker 2: of military power and crucially, Israel's aerial superiority in the region.
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  Speaker 2: The other thing that Mahmmi bin Salman wants is access
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  Speaker 2: to American nuclear technology. They want to start civilian nuclear
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  Speaker 2: power programs, so nuclear energy are basically for Saudi Arabia.
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  Speaker 2: They say they have no intentions to later weaponize that
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  Speaker 2: kind of a program. But all of these things very
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  Speaker 2: contentious for some of the reasons I mentioned before, the
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  Speaker 2: concerns about increased levels of armed supply to the Saudis.
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  Speaker 2: In return, the Saudi leadership is touting a six hundred
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  Speaker 2: billion dollar investment into the US in areas across the economy.
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  Speaker 2: That builds on a huge amount of sovereign wealth investment
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  Speaker 2: that the Saudis have already made into the United States.
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  Speaker 2: So quite a transactional deal going on. But the Americans
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  Speaker 2: see it as part of their security interest to have
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  Speaker 2: an increasingly strength strong relationship with the Saudis, to try
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  Speaker 2: and offset Chinese influence for example, in the region, and
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  Speaker 2: crucially to build a more secure Middle East in their
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  Speaker 2: eyes against the threat of the Iranians. So lots of
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  Speaker 2: strategic interest going on. The big thing that President Trump
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  Speaker 2: would want, the big prize, would be to get a
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  Speaker 2: normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, but that
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  Speaker 2: is not on the cards at the moment, namely because
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  Speaker 2: the Saudis would demand an independent Palestinian state as a
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  Speaker 2: quid pro quo of such a deal, and certainly the
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  Speaker 2: current Israeli government is in no way going to accept that.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, let's get another perspective then from Rushdi Abu aluf
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  Speaker 1: Our Gods, a correspondent based in Istanbul. Rushdi, I guess,
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  Speaker 1: going forward, then what sort of a role could Saudi
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  Speaker 1: Arabia play when it comes to the conversation in terms
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  Speaker 1: of carrying out the next phase of President Trump's peace plan?
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  Speaker 1: And then how would this affect the region?
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  Speaker 3: You know what I mean? Since the beginning of the war.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, the soldiers have been supplying Gaza with a
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  Speaker 3: lot of aid coming through Egypt into Gaza. They were
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  Speaker 3: not involved in the ongoing negotiation to secure the ceasefire,
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  Speaker 3: but they were supporting the effort. And we have seen
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  Speaker 3: the Soldi Is backing the US solution yesterday and even
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  Speaker 3: before during the first stage of the Sea is fire.
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  Speaker 3: WI the Saudis were involved in making this happening, and
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  Speaker 3: it seems to be willing to take part in this
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  Speaker 3: and being Gus. They believe that without the Saudis it
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  Speaker 3: is going to be very hard to rebuild. Guys, given
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  Speaker 3: the special relation between the Saudi King and the Saudi
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  Speaker 3: Crown Prince and the Americans, and we are welcome to
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  Speaker 3: see the ground Prince in the White House and they
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  Speaker 3: bebling Gaza. Hope that he will discuss in detail the
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  Speaker 3: plan for Gaza.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks Tom, Thanks Christie, and you can hear more on
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  Speaker 1: this story and other Global news on the Global News podcast.
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