The Crown

Debate On Monarchy’s Ties To Commonwealth Reignited After Queen Death

By Luke Hanrahan
September 15, 2022

Fourteen countries retain the British sovereign as their head of state. Should the country begin a process of constitutional change?

During Queen Elizabeth II’s reign, British soldiers committed widespread atrocities against Kenyans at the height of the Mau Mau uprising between 1952 and 1960. Roughly 1.5 million people were forced into concentration camps, subjected to torture, rape and other violation.

It’s little wonder that on the streets of Nairobi, people’s memories of colonial Britain — an empire fundamentally connected to monarchy — are not often positive.

“I remember the Mau Mau struggle with a lot of bitterness,” Nairobi resident Max Kahindi said. “One: I was young. But even as young as I was, we suffered a lot. Our fathers, our uncles, our relatives — they either were in detention or they were killed. It is a lot of bitter memories.”

Unlike Kenya, which declared independence in 1963, there are 14 countries that retain the British sovereign as their head of state.

On Saturday, the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda announced plans to hold a referendum on becoming a republic. And debates that have rumbled on for years about ties to the monarchy have been reignited across the Commonwealth, from Australia to Canada to the Caribbean.

“I think mainly out of respect for Elizabeth II, these discussions were not taking place,” historian Ed Owens said. “There was, I think, an anticipation that these conversations would start when the new king came to the throne, and that’s what we’re seeing.”

The recent visit of Prince William and Kate to Jamaica earlier this year triggered debates about Britain’s colonial past.

From the photos of Will and Kate shaking hands with Jamaican children through a wire fence, to the military parade in which the pair stood dressed in white in an open top Land Rover — the optics were described as a throwback.

As the trumpets rang out amidst the pomp and ceremony of centuries old tradition, few inside the 900-year-old Westminster Hall would have questioned the existence of monarchy in Britain in 2022.

But for Race on The Agenda Chief Executive Maurice McLeod, who is the son of South African and Jamaican immigrants to the U.K., the royal family and its connection to democratic constitution needs a complete rethink.

“If we’re talking about a world of freedom and inclusivity and equality, it just doesn’t tally,” he said. “They are the symbol of Britain’s history and that’s what they’re held up as … But if you’re doing that, you also have to take the bad. They’re also the symbol of the Mau Maus, the symbol of all that slavery and oppression. You can’t unpick those two things. And I think that’s what’s so difficult, especially in the Commonwealth.”

Queen Elizabeth II was the living embodiment of an institution, which, for some, bears no rational justification whatsoever; in fact, a hereditary position that harks back to an era in which atrocities, genocides even were committed in the name of the crown all over the globe. Should this country now begin a process of constitutional change?

“I think looking at what certain countries have done recently to reject the royal family, to remove them from state — it’s time to move on, I think,” said Feliks Mathur, the son of an Indian immigrant.

“They’re going to have to change all the pound coins and that sort of thing. The queen’s image is synonymous with Britain,” said Kemi Akinola, the daughter of Nigerian and Granadian immigrants. “We might be looking at how this relationship will develop and what the modern-day monarch will look like to the U.K. moving forward, and now is a good time to start doing that.”

“I don’t really think, to be honest with you, that it has any great relevance. We have moved on,” Jamaican immigrant to the U.K. Noel Taylor said. “And as far as I’m concerned, coming from an African-Caribbean background, I don’t see monarchy has played any definitive role in advancing our way of life.”

The death of the queen brings the constitutional role of monarchy in 21st century Britain and 14 other Commonwealth countries into sharp focus.

Source: newsy.com

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Charles III Arrives In Edinburgh For Queen’s Coffin Procession

By Associated Press
September 12, 2022

Charles flew to Scotland after receiving condolences at Parliament and telling lawmakers he would follow his late mother’s example of “selfless duty.”

King Charles III landed in Edinburgh on Monday to accompany his late mother’s coffin on an emotion-charged procession through the historic heart of the Scottish capital to a cathedral where it will lie for 24 hours to allow the public to pay their last respects.

Charles flew to Scotland after earlier receiving condolences at Parliament and telling lawmakers he would follow his late mother’s example of “selfless duty.”

Earlier, Queen Elizabeth II’s grandson Prince Harry hailed her as a “guiding compass” and praised her “unwavering grace and dignity.”

The government, meanwhile, announced that the nation will observe a minute of silence on Sunday, the evening before the queen’s funeral. The “moment of reflection” will take place at 8 p.m. People were encouraged to mark the silence at home or at community events.

Hundreds of lawmakers crowded into the 1,000-year-old Westminster Hall at the Houses of Parliament for the service, rich in pageantry, in which Parliament offered its condolences to the king, and he replied.

A trumpet fanfare greeted the king and his wife Camilla, the queen consort, as they entered the hall, which was packed with hundreds of legislators.

Charles told members of the House of Commons and House of Lords that he would follow his late mother Queen Elizabeth II in upholding “the precious principles of constitutional governance” that underpin the U.K.’s political system.

He paid tribute to his mother, saying: “As Shakespeare said of the earlier Queen Elizabeth, she was a pattern to all princes living.”

The hall, with its magnificent hammer-beam roof, is the oldest part of the parliamentary complex — a remnant of the medieval Palace of Westminster that once stood on the site.

“As I stand before you today, I cannot help but feel the weight of history which surrounds us and which reminds us of the vital parliamentary traditions to which members of both Houses dedicate yourselves, with such personal commitment for the betterment of us all,” Charles said.

The ceremony was held in Westminster Hall because monarchs are not allowed inside the House of Commons. That rule dates from the 17th century, when King Charles I tried to enter and arrest lawmakers. That confrontation between crown and Parliament led to a civil war which ended with the king being beheaded in 1649.

Earlier Monday, a personal statement posted on Harry and his wife Meghan’s Archwell website said he cherished their times together “from my earliest childhood memories with you, to meeting you for the first time as my Commander-in-Chief, to the first moment you met my darling wife and hugged your beloved greatgrandchildren.”

Amid acrimony in the House of Windsor, Harry quit as a senior royal and moved to the U.S. two years ago. On Saturday, there was a possible sign of a reconciliation as Harry and Meghan joined his brother Prince William and sister-in-law Catherine in meeting mourners outside Windsor Castle.

The national outpouring of grief continued Sunday as thousands of people lined streets and roadsides as the oak coffin was borne from the late queen’s beloved Balmoral Castle summer retreat, where she died on Thursday, to Edinburgh.

In Edinburgh, the king will walk behind his mother’s coffin as it is slowly transported from Holyroodhouse to St. Giles’ Cathedral, where the crown of Scotland will be placed on the coffin ahead of a service of prayer and reflection on the life and 70-year reign of the widely cherished monarch.

The queen’s coffin will lie at the cathedral for 24 hours, giving members of the public a chance to file past and pay their respects. On Tuesday, it will be flown to London where the coffin will lie in state at the Houses of Parliament Palace from Wednesday afternoon until the morning of the funeral on Sept. 19.

Authorities already have issued rules and guidelines for people wanting to pay their respects in London, with a long queue expected.

After visiting Scotland, Charles embarks on a tour of the other nations that make up the United Kingdom — he visits the Northern Ireland capital, Belfast, on Tuesday and Wales on Friday.

Harry’s statement ended on a poignant note alluding to the death last year of his grandfather, Prince Philip, saying that “We, too, smile knowing that you and grandpa are reunited now, and both together in peace.”

Additional reporting by the Associated Press.

Source: newsy.com

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How Hollywood Captured The Life, Legacy Of Queen Elizabeth II

From film to TV, Queen Elizabeth II has been the subject of an array of Hollywood projects and actor’s lives.

As the world mourns Queen Elizabeth II, few outside her family will have such an intimate reflection on her life as the women who have put themselves in her shoes.

These are women who swam in the queen’s psyche for their portrayals in award-winning films and television series.

Olivia Colman, who played the queen in the latest installments of Netflix’s “The Crown,” has said Queen Elizabeth had a lasting impact on her world view.

“She’s extraordinary,” Colman said of the queen to The New York Times. “She’s changed my views on everything.”

From her early days as a post-war monarch, the queen has been portrayed as a stoic, devoted constitutionalist, abstaining from public debate and devoted to the stability of her country’s government.

Her consistency in the face of crisis, from the beginning of her reign to the end, was a source of inspiration for Claire Foy, who told the Los Angeles Times in 2016 she was struck by the queen’s grit after the death of her father — the very death that propelled her to the throne in 1952. It’s a complicated grief all too relevant to the new king.

“The one person who could tell you how to do the job is dead,” Foy told the paper. “…And everyone is looking to you to know what to do, and you’re terrified. But she just keeps calm and carries on, and that’s it, really. That’s the story of her life.”

It was that same consistency that captivated Helen Mirren as she prepared for her role in “The Queen.” The Oscar winner’s portrayal of Elizabeth won praise for both the actor and the woman she portrayed. Mirren later described herself as not a royalist, but a “queenist.”

On social media Thursday, the actress said, “We mourn a woman, who, with or without the crown, was the epitome of nobility.”

It was one of tons of loving tributes to the woman who helmed a complicated, controversial institution that enraptured Hollywood for 70 years.

Source: newsy.com

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King Charles III, In First Address, Vows ‘Lifelong Service’

King Charles III speech was broadcast on television at St. Paul’s Cathedral, where some 2,000 people were attending a service of remembrance.

King Charles III vowed in his first speech to the nation as monarch Friday to carry on Queen Elizabeth II’s “lifelong service,” as Britain entered a new age under a new sovereign. Around the world, the queen’s exceptional reign was commemorated, celebrated and debated.

Charles, who spent much of his 73 years preparing for the role of king, addressed a nation grieving the only British monarch most people alive today had ever known. He takes the throne in an era of uncertainty for both his country and the monarchy itself.

He spoke of his “profound sorrow” over the death of his mother, calling her an inspiration.

“That promise of lifelong service I renew to all today,” he said in the recorded, 9 1/2-minute address, delivered with a framed photo of the queen on a desk in front of him.

“As the queen herself did with such unswerving devotion, I, too, now solemnly pledge myself, throughout the remaining time God grants me, to uphold the constitutional principles at the heart of our nation,” he said.

The king’s speech was broadcast on television and streamed at St. Paul’s Cathedral, where some 2,000 people attended a service of remembrance for the queen. Mourners at the service included Prime Minister Liz Truss and members of her government.

As the country began a 10-day mourning period, people around the globe gathered at British embassies to pay homage to the queen, who died Thursday at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.

In London and at military sites across the United Kingdom, cannons fired 96 shots in an elaborate, 16-minute salute marking each year of the queen’s life.

In Britain and across its former colonies, the widespread admiration for Elizabeth herself was occasionally mixed with scorn for the institution and the imperial history she symbolized.

On the king’s first full day of duties, Charles left Balmoral and flew to London for a meeting with Truss, appointed by the queen just two days before her death.

He arrived at Buckingham Palace, the monarch’s London home, for the first time as sovereign, emerging from the official state Bentley limousine alongside Camilla, the queen consort, to shouts from the crowd of “Well done, Charlie!” and the singing of the national anthem, now called “God Save the King.” One woman gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Under intense scrutiny and pressure to show he can be both caring and regal, Charles walked slowly past flowers heaped at the palace gates for his mother. The mood was both grieving and celebratory.

The seismic change of monarch comes at a time when many Britons are facing an energy crisis, the soaring cost of living, the war in Ukraine and the fallout from Brexit.

As the second Elizabethan Age came to a close, hundreds of people arrived through the night to grieve together outside the gates of Buckingham Palace and other royal residences, as well as British embassies worldwide. Some came simply to pause and reflect.

Finance worker Giles Cudmore said the queen had “just been a constant through everything, everything good and bad.”

At Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, mourner April Hamilton stood with her young daughter, struggling to hold back tears.

“It’s just such a momentous change that is going to happen,” she said. “I’m trying to hold it together today.”

Everyday politics was put on hold, with lawmakers paying tribute to the monarch in Parliament over two days, beginning with a special session where Truss called the queen “the nation’s greatest diplomat.”

Senior lawmakers will also take an oath to King Charles III.

Meanwhile, many sporting and cultural events were canceled as a mark of respect, and some businesses — including Selfridges department store and the Legoland amusement park — shut their doors. The Bank of England postponed its meeting by a week.

But while Elizabeth’s death portends a monumental shift for some, day-to-day life in Britain went on in other respects, with children in school and adults at work, facing concerns about inflation.

Charles, who became the monarch immediately upon his mother’s death, will be formally proclaimed king at a special ceremony Saturday. The new king is expected to tour the United Kingdom in the coming days.

The queen’s coffin will be brought to London, where she is expected to lie in state before a funeral at Westminster Abbey, expected around Sept. 19.

Elizabeth was Britain’s longest-reigning monarch and a symbol of constancy in a turbulent era that saw the decline of the British empire and disarray in her scandal-plagued family.

The impact of Elizabeth’s loss will be unpredictable. The public’s abiding affection for the queen had helped sustain support for the monarchy during the family scandals, including the divorce of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, but Charles does not command that kind of popularity.

“Charles can never replace her, you know,” said 31-year-old Londoner Mariam Sherwani.

Like many, she referred to Elizabeth as a grandmother figure. Others compared her to their mothers, or great-grandmothers.

But around the world, her passing revealed conflicting emotions about the nation and institutions she represented.

In Ireland, some soccer fans cheered.

In India, once the “jewel in the crown” of the British empire, entrepreneur Dhiren Singh described his own personal sadness at her death, but added, “I do not think we have any place for kings and queens in today’s world.”

For some, Elizabeth was a queen whose coronation glittered with shards of a stunning 3,106-carat diamond pulled from grim southern African mines, a monarch who inherited an empire they resented.

In the years after she became queen, tens of thousands of ethnic Kikuyu in Kenya were rounded up in camps by British colonizers under threat from the local Mau Mau rebellion. Across the continent, nations rejected British rule and chose independence in her first decade on the throne.

She led a power that at times was criticized as lecturing African nations on democracy but denying many of their citizens the visas to visit Britain and experience it firsthand.

While the global fascination with the British queen is puzzling to some, others felt a personal connection to a woman who seemed ubiquitous, from banknotes used on multiple continents to TV shows like “The Crown” — which is pausing production to honor her.

Adi Trivedi, a 33-year-old British lawyer living in Paris, called Elizabeth “a model of humility, a model of duty, taking the ego out of an office of state.” He hopes to join the mourners at Buckingham Palace soon, so that “we can really celebrate the life of Queen Elizabeth II together.”

Additional reporting by The Associated Press.

Source: newsy.com

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On Khashoggi killing, Saudi prince says U.S. also made mistakes

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, July 16 (Reuters) – Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told President Joe Biden that Saudi Arabia had acted to prevent a repeat of mistakes like the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and that the United States had also made mistakes, including in Iraq, a Saudi minister said.

Biden said on Friday he told Prince Mohammed he held him responsible for the 2018 murder of Washington Post journalist Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, shortly after exchanging a fist bump with the kingdom’s de facto ruler. read more

“The President raised the issue… And the crown prince responded that this was a painful episode for Saudi Arabia and that it was a terrible mistake,” the kingdom’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir said.

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Those who were accused were brought to trial and being punished with prison terms, he said.

U.S. intelligence agencies believe the crown prince ordered Khashoggi’s killing, which he denies.

Jubeir, talking to Reuters about Friday’s conversation between the two leaders, said the crown prince had made the case that trying to impose values by force on other countries could backfire.

“It has not worked when the U.S. tried to impose values on Afghanistan and Iraq. In fact, it backfired. It does not work when people try to impose values by force on other countries,” Jubeir quoted the prince, known as MbS, as telling Biden.

“Countries have different values and those values should be respected,” MbS told Biden.

The exchange highlighted the tensions that have weighed on the relationship between Washington and Riyadh, its closest Arab ally, over several issues, including Khashoggi, high oil prices and the Yemen war.

Biden, who landed in Saudi Arabia on Friday in his first Middle East trip as president, held a summit on Saturday with six Gulf states and Egypt, Jordan and Iraq while downplaying his meeting with Prince Mohammed. That encounter has drawn criticism at home over human rights abuses.

Biden had promised to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” on the global stage over the 2018 murder of Khashoggi, but ultimately decided U.S. interests dictated improving relations with the world’s top oil exporter and Arab powerhouse.

After the summit, the leaders gathered for a group picture at which Biden kept his distance from Prince Mohammed.

“His Royal Highness mentioned to the President that mistakes like this happen in other countries and we saw a mistake like this being committed by the United States in Abu Ghraib (prison in Iraq),” Jubeir said.

Prince Mohammed also raised the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh during an Israeli raid in the West Bank.

Abu Akleh, who worked for the Al Jazeera network, was shot in the head on May 11 while reporting on an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.

Palestinians believe she was killed deliberately by Israeli troops. Israel denies its soldiers shot her on purpose, and say she may have been killed either by errant army fire or a shot fired by a Palestinian gunman.

Jubeir rejected the accusation that Saudi Arabia has hundreds of political prisoners.

“That’s absolutely not correct. We have prisoners in Saudi Arabia who have committed crimes and who were put to trial by our courts and were found guilty,” he said.

“The notion that they would be described as political prisoners is ridiculous,” he added.

Washington has softened its stance on Saudi Arabia since Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this year, triggering one of the world’s worst energy supply crises.

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Additional reporting by Jarrett Reshow
Writing by Ghaida Ghantous
Editing by Mark Potter, Jane Merriman and Nick Macfie

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Biden fails to secure major security, oil commitments at Arab summit

Biden says U.S. will remain committed to allies
U.S. hoping to integrate Israel
Saudi crown prince pushes back on human rights issue

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, July 16 (Reuters) – President Joe Biden told Arab leaders on Saturday that the United States would remain an active partner in the Middle East, but he failed to secure commitments to a regional security axis that would include Israel or an immediate oil output rise.

“The United States is invested in building a positive future of the region, in partnership with all of you—and the United States is not going anywhere,” he said, according to a transcript of his speech.

Biden, who began his first trip to the Middle East as president with a visit to Israel, presented his vision and strategy for America’s engagement in the Middle East at an Arab summit in Jeddah.

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The summit communique was vague, however, and Saudi Arabia, Washington’s most important Arab ally, poured cold water on U.S. hopes the summit could help lay the groundwork for a regional security alliance – including Israel – to combat Iranian threats.

During a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Biden raised the highly sensitive issue of human rights, drawing countercriticism from the crown prince, also known as MbS.

“We believe there’s great value in including as many of the capabilities in this region as possible and certainly Israel has significant air and missile defence capabilities, as they need to. But we’re having these discussions bilaterally with these nations,” a senior administration official told reporters.

A plan to connect air defence systems could be a hard sell for Arab states that have no ties with Israel and balk at being part of an alliance seen as against Iran, which has a strong regional network of proxies including Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, said he was not aware of any discussions on a Gulf-Israeli defence alliance and that the kingdom was not involved in such talks.

He told reporters after the U.S.-Arab summit that Riyadh’s decision to open its airspace to all air carriers had nothing to do with establishing diplomatic ties with Israel and was not a precursor to further steps. read more

Biden has focused on the summit with six Gulf states and Egypt, Jordan and Iraq, while downplaying the meeting with MbS which drew criticism in the United States over human rights concerns.

Biden had said he would make regional power Saudi Arabia a “pariah” on the global stage over the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents, but ultimately decided U.S. interests dictated a recalibration, not a rupture, in relations with the world’s top oil exporter.

The crown prince told Biden that Saudi Arabia had acted to prevent a repeat of mistakes like the killing of Khashoggi and that the United States had also made mistakes, including in Iraq, a Saudi minister said.

FIST BUMP

Biden exchanged a fist bump with MbS on Friday but said he told him he held him responsible for Khashoggi’s murder at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

U.S. President Joe Biden meets with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, July 16, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

“The President raised the issue … And the crown prince responded that this was a painful episode for Saudi Arabia and that it was a terrible mistake,” said Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir.

The accused were brought to trial were and being punished with prison terms, he said.

U.S. intelligence agencies believe the crown prince ordered Khashoggi’s killing, which he denies.

Jubeir, talking to Reuters about Friday’s conversation, said MbS had made the case that trying to impose values on other countries by force could backfire.

“It has not worked when the U.S. tried to impose values on Afghanistan and Iraq. In fact, it backfired,” Jubeir quoted the crown prince as telling Biden. “Countries have different values and those values should be respected!”

The exchange highlighted tensions that have weighed on relations between Washington and Riyadh, its closest Arab ally, over issues including Khashoggi, oil prices and the Yemen war.

Biden needs the help of OPEC giant Saudi Arabia at a time of high crude prices and other problems related to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Washington also wants to curb Iran’s sway in the region and China’s global influence.

Biden came to Saudi Arabia hoping to reach a deal on oil production to help drive down gasoline prices that are driving inflation above 40-year highs and threatening his approval ratings.

He leaves the region empty-handed but hoping the OPEC+ group, comprising Saudi Arabia, Russia and other producers, will boost production at a meeting on Aug. 3.

“I look forward to seeing what’s coming in the coming months,” Biden said.

FOOD SECURITY

A second senior administration official said Biden would announce that Washington has committed $1 billion in new near- and long-term food security assistance for the Middle East and North Africa, and that Gulf states would commit $3 billion over the next two years in projects that align with U.S. partnerships in global infrastructure and investment.

Gulf states, which have refused to side with the West against Russia over Ukraine, are seeking a concrete commitment from the United States to strategic ties that have been strained over perceived U.S. disengagement from the region.

Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have been frustrated by U.S. conditions on arms sales and at their exclusion from indirect U.S.-Iran talks on reviving a 2015 nuclear pact they see as flawed for not tackling concerns about Iran’s missile programme and behaviour.

Israel had encouraged Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia, hoping it would lead to warmer ties between it and Riyadh as part of a wider Arab rapprochement.

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Additional reporting by Maha El Dahan in Jeddah and John Irish in Paris Writing by Ghaida Ghantous and Michael Georgy
Editing by Timothy Heritage and Helen Popper

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Biden Says U.S. ‘Will Not Walk Away’ From Middle East

President Biden delivered remarks at the Gulf Cooperation Council on the final leg of a four-day Middle East tour.

President Joe Biden, speaking at a summit of Arab leaders, said Saturday that the United States “will not walk away” from the Middle East as he tries to ensure stability in a volatile corner of the globe and boost the worldwide flow of oil to reverse rising gas prices.

His remarks, delivered at the Gulf Cooperation Council on the final leg of a four-day Middle East tour, came amid concerns about Iran’s nuclear ambitions and support for militants in the region.

“We will not walk away and leave a vacuum to be filled by China, Russia or Iran,” President Biden said. “We will seek to build on this moment with active, principled, American leadership.”

Although U.S. forces continue to target terrorists in the region and remain deployed at bases throughout the Middle East, President Biden suggested he was turning a page after the country’s invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Today, I’m proud to be able to say that the era of land wars in the region, wars that involved huge numbers of American forces, is not under way,” he said.

He announced $1 billion in U.S. aid to alleviate hunger in the region, and he pressed his counterparts, many of which lead repressive governments, to ensure human rights, including women’s rights, and allow their citizens to speak openly.

“The future will be won by the countries that unleash the full potential of their populations,” he said, including allowing people to “question and criticize leaders without fear of reprisal.”

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, convened the summit, which gave him an opportunity to showcase his country’s heavyweight role in the region. He also hinted that the kingdom could pump more oil than it is currently, something President Biden is hoping to see when an existing production deal among OPEC+ member countries expires in September.

Before the summit opened, President Biden met individually with the leaders of Iraq, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, some of whom he had never sat down with since taking office.

He invited Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who became president of the UAE two months ago, to visit the White House this year.

The Gulf Cooperation Council summit in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah was an opportunity for President Biden to demonstrate his commitment to the region after spending most of his presidency focused on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s growing influence in Asia.

On Saturday, the White House released satellite imagery indicating that Russian officials visited Iran in June and July to see weapons-capable drones it is looking to acquire for use in Ukraine. The disclosure appeared aimed at drawing a connection between the European war and Arab leaders’ own concerns about Iran.

So far, none of the countries represented at the summit have moved in lockstep with the U.S. to sanction Russia, a key foreign policy priority for the Biden administration. If anything, the UAE has emerged as a sort of financial haven for Russian billionaires and their multimillion-dollar yachts. Egypt remains open to Russian tourists.

A senior Biden administration official, who briefed reporters before the summit, said Moscow’s efforts to acquire drones from Tehran show that Russia is “effectively making a bet on Iran.”

President Biden’s attendance at the Gulf Cooperation Council summit followed his Friday meeting with Prince Mohammed, the heir to the throne currently held by his father, King Salman.

The 79-year-old president had initially shunned the 36-year-old royal over human rights abuses, particularly the killing of U.S.-based writer Jamal Khashoggi, which U.S. intelligence officials believe was likely approved by the crown prince.

But President Biden decided he needed to repair the longstanding relationship between the two countries to address rising gas prices and foster stability in the volatile region.

President Biden and Prince Mohammed greeted each other with a fist bump when the president arrived at the royal palace in Jeddah, a gesture that was swiftly criticized by some lawmakers in the U.S. as well as the slain journalist’s fiancee. President Biden later said he did not shy away from discussing Khashoggi’s killing when he and the crown prince met.

The topic created a “frosty” start to the discussion, according to a U.S. official familiar with the private conversations.

However, the atmosphere eventually became more relaxed, the official said, as they spoke about energy security, expanding high-speed internet access in the Middle East and other issues. President Biden even tried to inject some humor into the conversation by the end of the meeting, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity discuss a private meeting.

The Saudi-owned Al Arabiya news network, citing an unnamed Saudi source, reported that Prince Mohammed responded to President Biden’s mention of Khashoggi by saying that attempts to impose a set of values can backfire. He also said the U.S. had committed mistakes at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, where detainees were tortured, and pressed President Biden on the killing of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh during a recent Israeli raid on the West Bank city of Jenin.

Adel Al-Jubeir, the kingdom’s minister of state for foreign affairs, called the visit a “great success” and brushed off questions about friction between the two countries. .

“Maybe the skeptics are people looking for theatrics or drama. The reality, however, is that this relationship is very solid,” he told Arab News, a Saudi news organization.

There are sharp divisions on foreign policy among the nine Mideast heads of state attending the Gulf Cooperation Council.

For example, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE are trying to isolate and squeeze Iran over its regional reach and proxies. Oman and Qatar, on the other hand, have solid diplomatic ties with Iran and have acted as intermediaries for talks between Washington and Tehran.

Qatar recently hosted talks between U.S. and Iranian officials as they try to revive Iran’s nuclear accord. Iran not only shares a huge underwater gas field with Qatar in the Persian Gulf, it rushed to Qatar’s aid when Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut off ties and imposed a years-long embargo on Qatar that ended shortly before President Biden took office.

President Biden’s actions have frustrated some of the leaders. While the U.S. has played an important role in encouraging a months-long ceasefire in Yemen, his decision to reverse a Trump-era move that had listed Yemen’s rebel Houthis as a terrorist group has outraged the Emirati and Saudi leadership.

Additional reporting by the Associated Press.

Source: newsy.com

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Middle East

Nov 21 (Reuters) – The woman who was engaged to marry Jamal Khashoggi has asked singer Justin Bieber to cancel his scheduled Dec. 5 performance in Saudi Arabia’s second-largest city Jeddah, urging him to not perform for the slain Saudi journalist’s “murderers.”

Hatice Cengiz wrote an open letter to the singer published on Saturday in the Washington Post in which she urged Bieber to cancel the performance to “send a powerful message to the world that your name and talent will not be used to restore the reputation of a regime that kills its critics.”

President Joe Biden’s administration released a U.S. intelligence report in February implicating Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Khashoggi’s 2018 murder in Istanbul but spared him any direct punishment. The crown prince denies any involvement.

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“Do not sing for the murderers of my beloved Jamal,” Cengiz wrote. “Please speak out and condemn his killer, Mohammed bin Salman. Your voice will be heard by millions.”

Bieber, who is Canadian, is among a group of artists scheduled to perform as Saudi Arabia hosts the Formula One Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah.

“If you refuse to be a pawn of MBS, your message will be loud and clear: I do not perform for dictators. I choose justice and freedom over money,” Cengiz wrote, using the crown prince’s initials.

Human rights groups have urged the performers to speak out against human rights issues in the kingdom.

“Saudi Arabia has a history of using celebrities and major international events to deflect scrutiny from its pervasive abuses,” Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.

The advocacy group urged the performers, who also include rapper A$AP Rocky, DJs David Guetta and Tiesto and singer Jason Derulo, “to speak out publicly on rights issues or, when reputation-laundering is the primary purpose, not participate.”

Khashoggi, a Saudi-born U.S. resident who wrote opinion columns for the Washington Post critical of the Saudi crown prince, was killed and dismembered by a team of operatives linked to the prince in the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul.

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Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Will Dunham

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Jordan’s King Among Leaders Accused of Amassing Secret Property Empire

GAZA CITY — King Abdullah II of Jordan came under heightened scrutiny on Sunday after an alliance of international news organizations reported that he was among several world leaders to use secret offshore accounts to amass overseas properties and hide their wealth.

The king was accused of using shell companies registered in the Caribbean to buy 15 properties, collectively worth more than $100 million, in southeast England, Washington, D.C., and Malibu, Calif. The purchases were not illegal, but their exposure prompted accusations of double standards: The Jordanian prime minister, who was appointed by the king, announced in 2020 a crackdown on corruption that included targeting citizens who used shell companies to disguise their overseas investments.

The Jordanian royal court declined to provide a comment to The New York Times, but lawyers for King Abdullah told the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which published the report, that his foreign properties were bought exclusively with his personal fortune and not public funds.

The claims against King Abdullah were part of a major investigation, known as the Pandora Papers, that was conducted by the ICIJ in partnership with more than a dozen international news outlets, including The Washington Post and The Guardian. Based on leaks of nearly 12 million files from 14 offshore companies, the investigation found that King Abdullah was among 35 current and former leaders, as well as more than 300 public officials, who have used offshore shell companies to disguise their wealth, and to hide the transfer of that wealth overseas.

accusing the prince of conspiring against him. The king forgave the prince, who previously embarrassed the king by speaking out against government corruption, but a court later jailed two of the prince’s alleged accomplices.

In recent months, King Abdullah attempted to shore up his standing by underscoring his reliability as a Western ally and a major player in Middle Eastern diplomacy; he met recently with President Biden and with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett of Israel, following several years of fraught relations with their predecessors.

But just as King Abdullah appeared to have turned a corner, the new revelations “might be a trigger for people to go back to the streets,” said Mr. Al Sabaileh.

King Abdullah is among dozens of current and former leaders whose overseas investments were exposed. Other leaders included President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, whose alleged former lover was found to have purchased an apartment in Monaco; Prime Minister Andrej Babis of the Czech Republic, who is said to have bought property in the south of France using a complicated offshore structure; President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, who sold a London mansion to the Crown Estate, a property trust formally owned by Queen Elizabeth II; and Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, who avoided paying taxes worth more than $400,000 when he and his wife Cherie obtained a London property by purchasing the offshore company that owned it.

The mechanism was legal and Mrs. Blair, who used the property as an office for her legal consultancy, told the BBC that the Blairs had only bought the building through the offshore company at the request of the sellers.

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