The Meaning of a Presidential Fist Bump

Screenshot of Hudson Senior Fellow Mohammed Alyahya speaking with Fredricka Whitfield on CNN.

The photo of President Joe Biden fist bumping Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was an important image for the people of Saudi Arabia, says Hudson Senior Fellow Mohammed Alyahya in an interview on CNN. The visit to Saudi Arabia also marked the beginning of change in US-Saudi relations after years of turmoil. Alyahya points out that the region is undergoing a transformation—there is a model in Iran that utilizes reactionary Islamist forces, whereas a model in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries moves in the opposite direction.

US Policy in the Middle East Can Only Benefit from Biden Visit

Jeddah Security and Development Summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on July 16, 2022. (Photo by Royal Court of Saudi Arabia/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Biden should have learned three lessons during his trip to the Middle East, argues Hudson Senior Fellow Luke Coffey in Arab News: (1) his predecessor did a good job advancing stability and US national interests in the region; (2) Iran is the true threat to regional stability; and (3) the few, vocal commentators back home criticizing his trip to Saudi Arabia are wrong. Hopefully, the lessons that Biden learned on his trip will help form his thinking on US policy in the Middle East.  

Virtual Event: Dialogue with Robert Kagan on American Foreign Policy and World Affairs

A child wears a Ukrainian flag during a rally run by people and relatives of Azov battalion servicemen's currently engaged in defending Azovstal plant, in Kyiv on May 3, 2022. (Getty Images)

Please join Hudson Distinguished Fellow Walter Russell Mead for a conversation with Robert Kagan on the Russia-Ukraine War and its implications for European security, the future of US hegemony, and the liberal world order. 

How Strategic Japan Has Defined Today’s Indo-Pacific Order

(Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

Strategists have generally looked to the United States to develop an Indo-Pacific strategy. But they overlook the essential contributions and strategic foresight that Japan has provided, starting with the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, writes Hudson Senior Fellow James J. Przystup in Japan Forward.

A Feckless American Foreign Policy’s Legacy

President Joe Biden waves before boarding Air Force One on June 28, 2022, in Munich, Germany, after attending the G7 Summit hosted by the German chancellor. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images)

On his visit to the Middle East, President Biden described America's strategic pivot from the region as a “mistake.” Hudson Distinguished Fellow Walter Russell Mead argues in The Wall Street Journal that the important question now is whether the president and his administration understand how to get American foreign policy back on track. He warns that if the world continues on its current trajectory, “our current decade could fall into chaos and conflict as destructive as the 20th century’s world wars.”

BEFORE YOU GO...

The passing of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is a tragedy for Japan and the world. From promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific to collaborating with strategic partners, Abe “changed the dynamics of the government and also changed the way Japan and the world relate to each other,” Hudson Distinguished Fellow Kenneth R. Weinstein wrote in his tribute to his friend in Yomiuri Shimbun.