Biden in Saudi Arabia: The strategy behind ‘making nice’
by Ned Temko
Jul 13, 2022
4 minutes
It’s a maxim coined by Joe Biden a dozen years ago, when he was still vice president. But it might just as well be emblazoned on Air Force One as he embarks on his first presidential visit to the Middle East: “Life is a matter of really tough choices.”
Back then, he was talking about a political trade-off on tax-cut legislation. Now, however, he’s had to face a much tougher choice on a larger stage: a world seismically jolted by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
The result: an even more difficult, and controversial, trade-off. It’s
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