Currently, the international community has a big problem with the concept of "strategic partnership" since it is used as a pretext as well as camouflage to hide the real intentions and plans of countries.
Let's take the strategic partnership between Turkey and the United States. The two parties are currently experiencing their biggest crisis ever. The crisis escalated with the U.S. backing and arming the PKK-affiliated Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing the People's Protection Units (YPG) in Syria, while also supporting the heinous secretive group damaging Turkey's peace and security – the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), making ties worse than ever before.
While the ties are in great turmoil between the two countries, there is another strategic partnership in the region worth mentioning for its peculiarity. It is of course between Saudi Arabia and the U.S.
The story of the Saudi journalist and critic Jamal Khashoggi, who was reportedly murdered in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul this month, has led to great discussion about U.S.-Saudi relations. This is because the killing of Khashoggi is directly related to the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), who has been a key friend of the U.S. administration since the very beginning.
It is well-known that many criticize the U.S. media and government for portraying MBS as a reformer rather than a fearless ruler. As a result, the best ally of the Trump government seems the most apparent culprit of the murder in Turkey.
Therefore, U.S. President Donald Trump, last week, sent Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to find a solution to the crisis regarding the killing of Khashoggi.
Pompeo warned the kingdom that if Saudi Arabia cannot come clean in this matter, the U.S. will have to. "There is very big pressure in the world," Pompeo said.
He added that President Trump needs to act during such difficult times. Pompeo told the crown prince that "even if you don't have any information [about] what happened, you need to accept it. Otherwise, it risks you becoming the king in the future. You have to understand."
As Pompeo's words show, anyone in Saudi Arabia cannot just become the king, you need to have a good reputation and image – even if you are a despot.
The partnership also means that the Saudis need to buy a sufficient numbers of U.S. weapons and contribute to closing the foreign trade gap of the U.S. What a partnership…!
Saudi Arabia, with the Khashoggi case, has once again shown what kind of strategic partnership it has with the U.S. and how Washington uses this strategic partnership as a pretext. In such a chaotic world, such a relationship and partnership is unacceptable and must be criticized by all.
