Around June 9, Biden was about to visit Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabia agreed to the US request to increase oil production. This topic once occupied the headlines of mainstream US news. However, by June 10, the US "Asia Times" stated that Biden had suffered a complete failure in o

Around June 9, Biden was about to visit Saudi Arabia , and Saudi Arabia agreed to the US request to increase oil production. This topic once occupied the headlines of mainstream US news. However, by June 10, the US "Asia Times" stated that Biden had suffered a complete failure in oil negotiations with and Saudi Arabia. Isn’t the United States itself an oil-exporting country? If the supply of oil in the world decreases, prices will rise, and wouldn’t the United States be able to make more money? Why does the United States insist on Saudi Arabia increasing oil production? This matter is related to the US sanctions against Russia. Russia is also one of the most important oil exporters in the world. After the war in Ukraine broke out, the United States asked European countries to stop buying oil and natural gas from Russia in order to cut off Russia's sources of foreign exchange. But Europeans also have to make a living, and if they are not allowed to buy oil from Russia, then what will they use to engage in petrochemical industry and drive cars? Relying on the United States' own oil production, it is impossible to completely replace Russian oil for a while.

Therefore, the Gulf countries have naturally become the target of US lobbying. If they can increase oil production and exports to meet Europe's oil needs, they can bring Russia to its knees. In addition, the United States is not only an oil exporting country, but also an oil consuming country. Rising oil prices have pushed up domestic prices in the United States, and people are complaining. The Biden administration needs to bring down international oil prices and stabilize overall domestic prices.

Biden’s idea is very good and seems to be in the interest of Saudi Arabia. However, whether Saudi Arabia is willing to agree to it is a question mark. There are several complicated issues involved. First of all, there is a coordination mechanism within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. To increase or reduce production, these countries need to sit together to discuss. Saudi Arabia cannot take unilateral actions, and Saudi Arabia is not willing to offend Russia. Another reason is that the Biden administration is in a cocoon. In 2018, the famous Saudi journalist Khashoggi was murdered. Khashoggi was killed and dismembered after entering the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Turkey. At that time, Western public opinion accused Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Salman of planning the incident. However, the then US President Trump ignored the demands of strong public opinion and neither sanctioned Saudi Arabia nor held Salman accountable, triggering fierce attacks from the Democratic Party.

During his campaign for president, Biden vigorously attacked Trump and even called Saudi Arabia a "pariah". He said, "We will not sell them more weapons. In fact, we intend to make them pay the price." After Biden took office as the president of the United States, the Khashoggi case was naturally brought out by the Democratic Party. When Salman called Biden, Biden even refused to answer the call, and the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia fell to a low point.

Thirty years in Hedong, thirty years in Hexi , the United States now needs Saudi support again. Biden personally called Salman. This time it was the crown prince's turn to act. He refused to answer Biden's call and did not agree to increase oil production. We still have to wait and see how Biden will lobby Saudi Arabia in the future.

This incident sounds like a political joke, but considering the historical hegemonic behavior of the United States, the anger in the hearts of countries such as Saudi Arabia is understandable. Although the Gulf oil countries seem to be wealthy and have endless money to spend, they are in a very embarrassing situation when it comes to national security issues. In the 1970s, when U.S. President Nixon announced that he would abandon the gold standard system, he asked Saudi Arabia, etc. When the country exports oil, it must be settled in U.S. dollars, thus establishing the U.S. dollar oil standard.

It is a very absurd thing to use the export products of other countries as physical preparations for US dollars. However, because the United States has a powerful military machine and political subversive means, Arab countries basically dare not speak out. Can obediently accept the conditions proposed by the United States.This not only means that they are tied to the U.S. tank, but also means that every time an oil transaction occurs in the world, a transaction fee must be paid to the United States. People call it the seigniorage of the U.S. dollar. Not only that, the Gulf countries also regularly purchase large amounts of weapons and equipment from the United States, which is a disguised form of paying protection fees to the U.S. military-industrial complex and the U.S. government. This is obviously not in the interests of the Gulf countries. In an era when the United States had strong military power, the Gulf countries had little ability to resist and could only allow the United States to extort money.

But since the war on terrorism, people all over the world have discovered that the United States’ military power is not as powerful as imagined. In addition, with the rise of China, there is an additional currency in the world that can be used as an international settlement currency. So why must oil transactions be tied to the U.S. dollar?

The war in Ukraine also opened up new ideas for people. Russia requires that anyone who purchases oil, gas and food products from Russia must pay rubles . European countries have to obediently exchange dollars or euros for rubles to the Russian Central Bank , and then use rubles to buy oil. The United States has nothing to do about this. That being the case, why does Saudi Arabia have to tie itself to the dollar chariot? This time Biden asked Saudi Arabia to cooperate with the Americans' oil policy. It is difficult to get Saudi Arabia to obey with the help of the US military and the US dollar as in the past. Some strategic exchange conditions must be provided. From this point of view, the weight of Americans' voice in OPEC is far less than it used to be.

Source of article: Baijiahao "Bao Mingshuo"