Biden and Saudi crown prince planning to meet later this month
Source: CNN
(CNN) President Joe Biden and Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, are planning to meet later this month after two key deals were reached on Thursday following months of diplomatic heavy lifting by the US. In a surprise announcement on Thursday, OPEC and allied oil-producing nations revealed that they plan to increase oil production by 200,000 barrels per day in July and August, leading to praise from the White House for Saudi Arabia's role in "achieving consensus" and facilitating the boost.
While a small amount in the grand scheme of things, the move is being viewed by Biden administration officials as a significant breakthrough in the diplomatic relationship. One official described it as a "huge shift" after nearly a year of the Saudis flatly refusing US requests to increase production, even when oil prices were at record highs last year. Biden separately announced on Thursday that a truce in Yemen had been extended, similarly heaping praise on the Saudis for demonstrating "courageous leadership by taking initiatives early on to endorse and implement terms of the UN-led truce."
The timing of the announcements is deliberate, the official said, and is laying the groundwork for a likely meeting this month between Biden and bin Salman. As CNN has previously reported, because Saudi Arabia currently holds the presidency of the Gulf Cooperation Council, any engagement between Biden and the crown prince would likely coincide with a meeting of the council in Riyadh later this month. A separate White House official told CNN that a meeting is not yet finalized but that if the President "determines that it's in the interests of the United States to engage with a foreign leader and that such an engagement can deliver results, then he'll do so."
A former senior intelligence official with knowledge of the planning told CNN that all sides are "still working" to finalize the meeting "but things are working out." "But any decisions on the trip will be determined in part with the security and logistics requirement that go with a presidential trip," the former official added. A meeting between American and Saudi leaders would have once been considered routine but now marks a significant shift due to the recent strain in the relationship. Biden has not engaged directly with bin Salman, considered the day-to-day ruler of Saudi Arabia, since taking office, opting instead to speak directly with the crown prince's father, King Salman, the ailing 86-year old monarch.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/02/politics/mohammed-bin-salman-joe-biden-meeting/index.html
Someone was working behind the scenes doing sumpin'.
= new reply since forum marked as read
He was on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for 33 years (and served as Chair during the latter part of that time before being tapped to be VP). 
He knows that family all the way back to the '70s.
The estimates of the supposed removal of Russian oil on the market (other than expected sales to China) is completely leaving out India, which has suddenly more than quadrupled its purchases of what is now cheap Russian oil (last I saw, it was selling for something like $45/bbl) after India barely used them as a source previously. I had posted that LBN here - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142923926
Previously -
