Will Joe Biden regret his planned visit to Saudi Arabia?

For strategic, geo-political reasons, Joe Biden is probably right in his decision to pay a visit to Saudi Arabia, a longstanding ally and partner of the United States and buyer of US weapons. But in many people's minds, these reasons are outweighed by all the arguments for staying away from Saudi Arabia and its de facto leader Prince Mohammad bin Salman. The Crown Prince has certainly introduced a number of reforms to Saudi society, not least the decision to allow women to drive for the first time. But the appalling murder of Kamal Khashoggi, the Saudi dissident journalist, on October 2, 2018, by agents of the Saudi government, can never and should never be forgiven. Whoever gave the order for this assassination in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, there can be little doubt that it was authorised at a high level. Can Biden therefore shake the hands of any member of the Saudi royal family, however important for diplomatic reasons it might be to court Saudi Arabia once again. The country will always play a crucial role in the Middle East and stands as a balwark against Iran. But it's a very tricky one for Biden. I'm sure there were those in the US State Department who tried to persuade him to go and others who advised the opposite. In the end it was a decision made by Biden in consultation with his national security team. He IS going, in July, after a visit to Israel. But will he allow himself to be photographed shaking the hand of the crown prince known as MBS? To go to Riyadh and not shake his hand would be tantamout to an insult to the Saudi leader. Biden will have no choice and the photograph will appear in every newspaper around the world. It will be the moment when MBS, at least, will feel he has shaken off the pointing fingers over the Khashoggi assassination and is back in Washington's favour.