Saudi Arabia-US/Expert

Shotlist

FILE: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – April 8, 2018 (CCTV – No access Chinese mainland)
1. National flag of Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia – July 14, 2022 (CCTV – No access Chinese mainland)
2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ed Alleed (transliteration) Saudi political expert:
“Saudi Arabia and Israel see the possibility of sending envoys to each other, but it is almost impossible for the two countries to actually join in the same military alliance.”

FILE: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – April 8, 2018 (CCTV – No access Chinese mainland)
3. Various of traffic, cityscape

Saudi Arabia – July 14, 2022 (CCTV – No access Chinese mainland)
4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ed Alleed (transliteration) Saudi political expert (partially overlaid with shot 5):
“Saudi Arabia has been clear that the economic cooperation relationship with other countries is complementary. It’s difficult for it to make a clear statement and to choose sides, let alone sacrifice these relationships to make a choice.”

FILE: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – April 8, 2018 (CCTV – No access Chinese mainland)
++SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
5. Traffic, cityscape
++SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
6. Various of traffic

Saudi Arabia – July 14, 2022 (CCTV – No access Chinese mainland)
7. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ed Alleed (transliteration) Saudi political expert:
“The United States has been increasingly showing that it is unreliable and untrustworthy, especially since the Obama administration. There are more and more problems emerging between the United States and Saudi Arabia, and also other countries, for instance, the original strategic relationship has been constantly challenged and more and more cracks have been seen in the relationship between the two countries.”

FILE: Washington D.C., USA – Date Unknown (CCTV – No access Chinese mainland)
8. Various of Capitol building, U.S. flag, Washington Monument

Storyline

It is an indisputable fact that the influence of the United States in the Middle East has been declining, said a political expert of Saudi Arabia on Thursday.

Ed Alleed, a Saudi political expert, made the remark in an interview with China Central Television (CCTV), saying that the plan of forming a “NATO” in the Middle East is just a community existing in US President Biden’s imagination.

“Saudi Arabia and Israel see the possibility of sending envoys to each other, but it is almost impossible for the two countries to actually join in the same military alliance,” he said.

After the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine crisis, Gulf Arab states like Saudi Arab did not follow the pace of the United States, and rejected the request of increasing oil production initiated by the US.

Analysts think Biden’s visit to the Middle East is to try to tie relevant countries together against Russia, and to urge the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to increase oil production in a bid to curb the soaring oil prices in the US and to hit energy export of Russia.

“Saudi Arabia has been clear that the economic cooperation relationship with other countries is complementary. It’s difficult for it to make a clear statement and to choose sides, let alone sacrifice these relationships to make a choice,” he said.

According to Alleed, the Gulf Arab states have been forming a consensus that the unreliability and untrustworthiness of the United States have been a norm, and it is an indisputable fact that the influence of America in the Middle East has been declining.

“The United States has been increasingly showing that it is unreliable and untrustworthy, especially since the Obama administration. There are more and more problems emerging between the United States and Saudi Arabia, and also other countries, for instance, the original strategic relationship has been constantly challenged and cracks have been seen in the relationship between the two countries,” he said.