Analysis: The West’s rebuke of Saudi Arabia won’t change its course
By Ishaan Tharoor Ishaan Tharoor Reporter covering foreign affairs, geopolitics and history Email Bio Follow March 8 at 12:59 AM Want smart analysis of the most important news in your inbox every weekday along with other global reads, interesting ideas and opinions to know? Sign up for the Today’s WorldView newsletter.
Iceland delivered joint statement @UN_HRC expressing significant concerns about #SaudiArabia arrests & arbitrary detentions of #HumanRightsDefenders, including #WHRDs. Calling for their release & condemning in strongest possible terms killing of Jamal Khashoggi #HRC40 pic.twitter.com/SPR1S5G1Gf “He’s gone full gangster,” said Sen. Marco Rubio at a hearing on Wednesday in reference to Mohammed, “and it’s difficult to work with a guy like that.” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen added that the Saudis’ “list of human rights violations is so long, it’s hard to comprehend what’s going on there.”
But the Saudis’ response has so far been categorical and unrepentant. “Interference in domestic affairs under the guise of defending human rights is in fact an attack on our sovereignty,” said Abdul Aziz Alwasil, the kingdom’s permanent representative in Geneva, in reaction to the European Union’s statement. Similar bullish statements came from the Saudi Foreign Ministry this year as members of Congress weighed the passage of a punitive bill.
Mohammed has championed these reforms by inculcating a new spirit of nationalism. “Saudi Arabia’s undergoing an aggressive nationalist rebranding, downplaying an austere religious doctrine associated abroad with terrorism, and promoting veneration of de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as he pursues an economic overhaul,” noted Bloomberg News this week, exploring the extent to which overt nationalism is supplanting the kingdom’s traditional religious orthodoxy.
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