Saudi Arabia: Executions in 2024 surpass 300 in record tally - The kingdom executed an unprecedented number of women this year, Saudi rights group revealed

He knows where his palms are greased... oiled?

The American People demand cheap oil and goods

So why are you still an ally to Saudi Arabia?

For two reasons: to try to soften the cost of living crisis and for strategic interests.

To be fair, Biden not only pledged to reassess the relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia, but also oversaw the beginnings of a reset, however soft. As inflation hit households and surging oil and gas prices threatened to make it sticky, his administration and other governments –notably Germany's three way coalition– faced a choice: whether to expend political capital –much of it, in the case of the German Greens– to appeal to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Azerbaijan and other oil and gas producers to increase supply in an attempt to alleviate inflationary pressure. Ultimately, this bet failed: people –like you– are rightfully angry over their governments' appeasement to authoritarian regimes, which didn't reciprocate and instead curtailed oil and gas supply, and the cost of living crisis arguably lost Democrats the election anyway — and looks set to deliver a similar blow to the three German coalition's members.

The other reason for the Biden administration's continued cooperation with Saudi Arabia is that the kingdom is a regional partner helping the US operate in the region. Although the US have been operating there in a way detrimental to life and livelihood, it needn't be so. Were the US to exert a better influence on the region, as I and likely you too wish, Saudi Arabia would be useful for both military power projection and diplomatic endeavours. For example, if the US had stopped supplying offensive weapons to Israel, an allied Saudi Arabia might have helped secure peace and prevent Israel's enemies from capitalizing on the moment, whether with air defenses or diplomatic efforts.