The Trump-MBS Summit: Another Huge Trump Foreign Policy Win

A former National Security Council Chief of Staff on the reset in U.S.-Saudi ties, pairing strategic military deals with economic investment to counter growing Russian and Chinese influence.

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NOTE: My friend Fred Fleitz is a former Trump National Security Council Chief of Staff, a former CIA analyst, and a former senior staffer with the House Intelligence Committee. His insight on this topic is better than most.

Saudi Arabia is a country with which we disagree on many things. But that certainly does not mean we can’t get along and do business together. And indeed, the Kingdom is essential to President Trump’s vision for peace in the Middle East. The Abraham Accords would have been impossible without it: though it did not immediately join itself, it blessed the deal and gave the go-ahead to those who did. Its tacit but growing alliance with Israel is essential to securing the region from Iran and its proxies, and perhaps to Gaza reconstruction. And as a counterweight to Turkey in Syria, it moderates the new regime in Damascus while containing the one in Ankara (which likewise counterbalances both Tehran…