The appointment of Michael Ratney as new US ambassador to Saudi Arabia has been read by Riyadh as proof of Washington’s disinterest in the Saudi monarchy. Mr. Ratney is a civilian, when in fact the Quincy Pact – concluded in 1945 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the founder of the Saudi kingdom Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud – stipulates that the Saudi family will be guaranteed military protection in exchange for access to their oil.

In recent years, the Pentagon has failed to defend either Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates from attacks by the Yemeni Houthis. Yet it pressed these two countries to carry on their war in Yemen and to prevent the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait from falling into Iranian hands. To make his wishes absolutely clear, President Biden opened talks with Iran and removed the Houthis from the US list of terrorist organizations.

President Biden added more fuel to the fire by accusing Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman of being a murderer after the assassination of Muslim Brotherhood member and journalist Jamal Kashoggi, and denouncing Saudi Arabia as an outcast.

Saudi Arabia has refused to increase its oil production to offset the embargo on Russian hydrocarbons.

Former intelligence chief Prince Turki Al-Faisal admitted to Arab News that his country feels abandoned by its American ally.