Experts Discuss America’s Relationship With Saudi Arabia

TAWAKKOL KARMAN, YEMENI JOURNALIST AND HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST: Saudi Arabia now under the pressure of Biden administration. And I think Saudi and every dictator in the world will — if America is serious on supporting human rights, if America is serious in supporting democracy, they will rethink on using oppression against their citizen or against any other countries. The current situation that happened, the current violence that happened by Saudi regime is because they got the green light from American administration, previous American administration, also from the international community, when they attacked Yemen in their war in Yemen, when they killed Jamal Khashoggi, when they arrested tens or hundreds of activists and scholar and political prisoners, when they committed war crimes. So, that was a result of green light of the international community, started with the United States. And now with the new administration, and with the promises of Joe Biden and his administration that they will collaborate and they will ally with people, with human rights defenders, with the democratic people around the world, I think they will bring a big solution for all the people around the world, for all the conflict around the world, and they will stop the tyranny and terrorism and chaos and — around the world, with supporting democratic people.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: OK, so let me put that to Bobby Worth, who has spent a career focusing on Saudi Arabia and the region. Do you think that sounds like putting too much hope in the Biden administration? What do you think this administration will be able to do to change Saudi behavior, to change what it’s doing in Yemen? And take us back to — it wasn’t Trump that got U.S. into Yemen? It was actually — it was actually under President Obama.

ROBERT WORTH, AUTHOR, “A RAGE FOR ORDER”: That’s right. And I think political will is a good thing. In that sense, I agree with Tawakkol. But I think it’s going to be very, very difficult to change what’s happening in Yemen. First of all, let me say the release of Loujain al-Hathloul is a wonderful thing. It’s obviously a signal from the Saudis to the Biden administration, an effort to placate them and to begin this process, which is all about — the Saudis had embraced the Trump administration in a really, let’s say, public way. And I think it’s — it created a sense among Democrats in Congress that, even more than before — I mean, let’s face it, Saudi already had a bad image, particularly, let’s say, among the Democrats. But I think Saudi, especially after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, entered this realm of being almost part of a sort of evil — axis of evil. There was a real sense that this government, that the kingdom was doing terrible things.