Biden should embrace Saudi Arabia’s deal, say experts

That will be the kind of deal that justifies the trip, but since they are not going to be announcing it, it leaves the president in a situation where he has to justify it in other terms, and so the focus on Israel and normalization and integration of defense, Mr. Indyk said. The president's defensiveness on this is wrongheaded. He should embrace it. Biden tried to make the case that he is not visiting Saudi Arabia, but rather than meeting with multiple leaders from the region in the form of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which is a group of six states led by Saudi Arabia, as well as the leaders of three other Arab nations, Egypt, Iraq and Jordan.

But White House officials concede that Mr. Biden won't be able to escape Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman altogether, and there will be a damaging photo, at least for Mr. Biden. The picture for the crown prince will be invaluable as he seeks to rehabilitate his international image.

Some analysts said that alone may be enough for the Saudis.

Jon B. Alterman, senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said the Saudis' odds of embarrassing the president are relatively low because I think it would damage precisely the kinds of strategic things they're trying to do. I think their incentives for cooperation are high.