1. Point 1: The goal of this paper is to allow you to analyze how “historiography” is an ongoing process largely influenced by the news media.
Michelle_Michy
20191118013911revising_.docxRunning head: PUTIN’S VISIT TO SAUDI ARABIA 1
PUTIN’S VISIT TO SAUDI ARABIA 2
Putin’s Visit to Saudi Arabia
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Summaries
Aljazeera News Article
Aljazeera’s article titled, “Putin Visits Saudi in Sign of Growing Ties” begins by indicating that it has been over ten years since Putin visited Saudi Arabia. It also mentions the purpose of Putin’s visit in the first paragraph. It proceeds to describe how Putin was received at the Saudi Palace. The article states, “Putin listened to a Saudi military band play Russia's national anthem. He then greeted officials before sitting with King Salman for a conversation captured by state television” ("Putin visits Saudi Arabia in sign of growing ties", 2019). According to the author, the meeting between the two heads of state portrayed the strengthening ties between Saudi Arabia, ostensibly an US strategic ally in the Middle East and Russia. Saudi Arabia and Russia have previously worked together to keep outputs of oil low in order to maintain high prices, but have the two sides have been on opposite sides in regards to regional conflicts.
Over the past few years, Moscow has been a close ally with Syria and has supported Bashar al-Assad in his nation’s civil war. However, Riyadh has always supported groups that want to overthrow President al-Assad. In addition, Russia has also increased its relations with Iran recently. Interestingly, Iran has been conflicting with the Saudis over influence in the Middle East region. Recently, conflicts between the two nations have soared ("Putin visits Saudi Arabia in sign of growing ties", 2019). Putin claims that he can ease tension between the two nations given Kremlin’s strong relations with the two sides.
Saudi Arabia and Russia signed twenty agreements during Putin’s visit, most MOUs in the energy, transport, artificial intelligence and petrochemicals’ fields ("Putin visits Saudi Arabia in sign of growing ties", 2019). The two heads of states discussed Syrian developments and the attacks by Turkey as well as the continuing war in Yemen, where Saudis have been at war with the Houthi rebels. Putin also offered to grant Saudi Arabia a Russian defense system to prevent itself from attacks such as the September 14 attack on a state-owned oil company. According to the author of this article, any deal regarding the defense system would cause tensions with Washington, which has sent 3000 troops and its defense systems to help the Saudis after the attack ("Putin visits Saudi Arabia in sign of growing ties", 2019). However, Adel al-Jubeir, an official in the foreign ministry of Saudi Arabia claimed that ties with Russia should not negatively impact the country’s relations with the US.
This article titled, “Putting Courts Investment in Trip to Saudi Arabia” also begins by highlighting the fact that it has been over a decade since the last time Putin visited Saudi Arabia. According to the author, Putin arrived in Saudi Arabia primarily for trade and investment relations in the area. UAE (United Arab Emirates) and Saudi Arabia are interested in Russian investment which could diversity their economies that have dependent on oil for a long time. Putin was also set to visit UAE after Saudi Arabia ("Putin courts investments in trip to Saudi Arabia | DW |", 2019).
According to the article, Russia needs to invest in other countries in order to stimulate its economy which has suffered greatly due to sanctions related to its military actions in Ukraine as well as its low prices of exported oil ("Putin courts investments in trip to Saudi Arabia | DW |", 2019). Russia is seeking to solicit deals worth around two billion dollars. Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, is after help with launching its satellite. Putin’s visit aimed at deepening cooperation on oil and energy and underline its growing interest and influence in Saudi Arabia and other parts of the Middle East.
This article also highlighted the fact that Putin also wanted to ease tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Moscow accrued influence in the Arab World by sending its troops to help President al-Assad in Syria. Putin also has close relationship with Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto Saudi leader ("Putin courts investments in trip to Saudi Arabia | DW |", 2019). Like the previous article, this one too, sums up by mentioning the possibility of Putin’s visit to create tensions between Saudi Arabia and Washington which has always viewed the nation as its strategic ally. However, it affirms that the Saudis are not worried about any negative impact on their US ties. Adel Al-Jubeir told reporters that, “We don't believe that having close ties with Russia has any negative impact on our relationship with the United States. We believe that we can have strategic and strong ties with the United States while we develop our ties with Russia” ("Putin courts investments in trip to Saudi Arabia | DW |", 2019). Saudi Arabia hopes to work with both the US and Russia to solve Middle East problems and end on the ongoing conflicts in Yemen and Syria.
The article titled, “Putin Arrives in Saudi Arabia as Middle East Kingmaker: ‘Something is Afoot’”, begins by describing how Putin was received in Saudi Arabia. According to the author, Putin, “was greeted in Riyadh by an honour guard of Arabian horses and royal soldiers. He was transported to the present, by electric buggy, for a grand reception inside King Salman’s palace” (Carroll, 2019). The article continues to emphasize that the visit underlined the growing ties between what the author refers to as “enfant terrible of international politics” (Carroll, 2019). The article also highlights that Saudi Arabia has been an ally of the United States but since 2018 when the country entered the OPEC plus oil agreement, its ties to Russia has been maturing. Russia and Saudi Arabia signed thirty agreements worth about two billion dollars. However, the wide significance of the visit according to the author was to expand Russia ties with the Middle East.
The article postulates that Moscow is in the middle of two crises in the Middle East. Firstly, the aftermath of Turkey’s attack on the Kurds in the northern parts of Syria after Trump withdraw US troops and abandoned the Kurds (Carroll, 2019). The clashes and chaos that followed compelled Moscow to broker a deal between Syria and the Kurds. Syrian military is currently in control of many towns which were previously under Kurdish troops. The author spoke with Dmistry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman who acknowledged that a deal was signed between the Kurdish forces and President Assad. However, he did not mention whether this deal involved the Kurdish surrender or whether the Kurds will still control the northern regions once President Assad’s forces establish their reign. Secondly, the Saudi oil fields’ cruise and drone missile attacks. The attacks came four weeks prior to President Putin’s visit and cut production of oil by half, leaving the region hovering on conflict. Riyadh and western nations are convinced that Syria was behind the attacks. However, Moscow has refrained from criticizing Tehran, a strategic and prominent ally of Russia’s Syrian campaign (Carroll, 2019). Putin insisted that he did not know who conducted those attacks.
Additionally, the article also accentuates the offer Putin made to provide Saudi Arabia with a surface-to-air defense system. However, the author notes that the offer may not have been realistic but it is possible that it will cause unease in the US, which has long provided Saudis with arms (Carroll, 2019). Russia has adopted a policy of talking and dealing with everyone in the Middle East. This policy is not without consequences as it has created tension in the region. For years, Iran has been a problem for both Russia and Saudi Arabia but the two nations agreed not to take any actions on the issue. However, recently, Iran’s actions have directly impacted the interest of Russia and oil production which lies at the core of the OPEC contract. Russia has the power to influence its ally and it is likely that it offered Saudis a deal to halt Iranian expansion in the northern parts of Syria (Carroll, 2019). The Saudis would also have been encouraged by promises of keeping Turkish military in check.
The clashes between the Kurds and Turkey in Syria created complications for Russia. Moscow wanted to disengaged and surrender the Syrian administration where possible. However, the recent developed does not reflect that. The visit to Saudi Arabia was aimed at creating regional stability as the local TV stations claimed. However, according to the author of this article, it is unlikely that this was the only reason Putin flew from Moscow to Saudi Arabia, something he has not done for over ten years (Carroll, 2019).
This article, titled, “Putin Makes First Visit to Saudi Arabia Since 2007” begins with a description of Putin grand reception. The author writes, “Russian President Vladimir Putin received a cordial welcome Monday in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, where his limousine was escorted from the airport to the royal palace by a royal horse guard” (Yeranian, 2019). King Salman and Putin spoke of enhancing their two nations’ trade ties, and emphasized that their links would not affect their partners and allies negatively. The article goes ahead to compare Putin’s reception with Trump reception when he visited in 2017. According to the author, Putin’s reception was not as elaborated as Donald Trump’s reception (Yeranian, 2019). Trump was treated to a pleasant and impressive display of folklore, including sword dances.
During the visit King Salman told President Putin that Moscow and Riyadh are enhancing trade relations according to the agreement made by the King during his visit to Russia in 2017 (Yeranian, 2019). He mentioned that around 30 joint projects were underway, and that Riyadh welcomed more investments from Russia. During the event, a commentator pointed out the Soviet Union which became Russia was the very first nation to recognized Saudi Kingdom around the 1926. Putin also stressed that bilateral trade agreements have increased between the two nations since 1990 (Yeranian, 2019). Last year trade between these two nations increased about 29 billion dollars.
Saudi Arabia and Iran have had thorny relations recently, often finding themselves involved in opposing sides during Yemen and Syria conflicts. The good relations between Tehran and Russia, positioned Putin as a good mediator between the two nations. Putin joked that Russia was ready to provide defense system to Saudi Arabia to help them fight any foreign attacks (Yeranian, 2019). Even though a Gulf analyst told VOA that Putin visits signals the intent of the Russian government to sell arms to Saudi Arabia including advanced technology weapons. Paul Sullivan, an experts and professor also told VOA that Putin is moving swiftly to gain leverage and influence in the Middle East. Putin has become the boss of Middle East, following a set of strategic measure, Russia has implemented in the region. These include, [building] nuclear plants in Egypt, military actions in Syria and deal-making in Saudi Arabia and the UAE" (Yeranian, 2019). Putin has taken advantage of a relatively unfocused, counter-strategic and chaotic actions of the US.
After reviewing the four articles it is clear that, although the authors are talking about the Putin’s visit to Saudi Arabia, they have taken different approaches. The first article from Aljazeera concentrates on the business side of the visit emphasizing on its importance to Saudi Arabia and the Middle East region. However, it also touches on the role of Putin in easing tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia. It begins by explaining how Putin was received in the country, possibly to show that he is a prominent figure in the Middle East region. Not surprisingly, given the Aljazeera has its headquarters in the Middle East and mostly covers issues related to the Arab World, the newspaper would most likely be more inclined to portray the benefits of the visit to the Arab World. Aljazeera does exactly that, accentuating the deals made between Russia and Saudi Arabia, the likelihood of Russia selling arms to Saudi Arabia and the benefits of Russia investment in Saudi Arabia. The article refrains from depicting Putin as a bad guy. In addition, it also mentions the age of King Salman, something that other articles ignore. Lastly, the article states that the two leaders signed twenty agreements while the other three articles talks of thirty agreement. It looks like the author’s sources may have mislead him or her.
The DW article concentrates more on the business side of the visit and the growing influence of Russia in the Middle East. This German Newspaper highlights the need for Russia to stimulate its economy through international investment. It does not focus more on Putin’s role to end conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia as well as the Syrian and Yemen civil conflicts. The article seems to only discuss issues that would interest the Germans. That is, the continued improvement of Russia international influence and the benefits it has on the Russian economy. In addition, it also mentions that the visit may intensify tension between Saudi Arabia and the US perhaps to its European readers about increasing rivalry between Moscow and Washington.
The third article from Independent, a British newspaper concentrates more on the Russia’ motives of the visit. The author presumes that Russia is planning something big. The author seems to concentrate more on the negative side and behaviors of the two nations evident in the fact that the article refers to them as enfants terribles of international politics (Carroll, 2019). The author discusses Russia’s role in the ongoing conflicts in Syria, Iran and Yemen. He also seems to insinuate that Putin new something about the Saudi oil fields’ attacks. Overall, the author views Russia’s improving influence in the Middle East as something the world should concerned about.
The last article from VOA (Voice of America) starts by comparing Putin’s reception with that of Donald Trump. According to the author, that of Donald Trump was better than Putin’s, insinuating that Saudi Arabia still considers the US it primary ally. The author continues to emphasize that the two leaders ensured that their relationship with each other did not affect that of their relations with their individual allies. The article also mentions that the offer Putin made to provide a defense system to Saudi Arabia would create tension between the US and the Saudis. He also mentions that Putin has been taking advantage of the chaotic Washington’s strategies to create relationships with US allies. The author sees the Putin’s visit to Saudi Arabia as a threat to United States.
References
Carroll, O. (2019). Putin Arrives in Saudi Arabia as Middle East Kingmaker: ‘Something is Afoot’. Retrieved 4 November 2019, from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/putin-saudi-arabia-visit-king-salman-riyadh-middle-east-trump-a9155771.html
Putin courts investments in trip to Saudi Arabia | DW | 14.10.2019. (2019). Retrieved 4 November 2019, from https://www.dw.com/en/putin-courts-investments-in-trip-to-saudi-arabia/a-50819277
Putin visits Saudi Arabia in sign of growing ties. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/putin-visits-saudi-arabia-sign-growing-ties-191014171206513.html
Yeranian, E. (2019). Putin Makes First Visit to Saudi Arabia Since 2007. Retrieved 4 November 2019, from https://www.voanews.com/europe/putin-makes-first-visit-saudi-arabia-2007
