When it comes to Donald Trump, Saudi Arabia and nuclear energy, there’s a lot of unfortunate history, including allegations from the president’s first term that former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn wanted to transfer sensitive nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia.

But the trouble started in earnest even earlier. As a candidate more than a decade ago, Trump told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that he was opposed to nuclear proliferation in general, though he was open to the idea of Japan and South Korea developing nuclear weapons of their own. When the host asked what would happen if and when Saudi Arabia also asked to join the nuclear club, the future president replied, “Can I be honest with you? It’s going to happen, anyway. … It’s only a question of time.”

Evidently, 10 years later, he thinks that time is now. MS NOW has confirmed that the Trump administration on Monday transmitted the recently announced nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia to Congress for lawmakers’ review.

It’s important to emphasize that the deal comes with a key caveat: After U.S. and Saudi officials struck a deal last month, Trump decided to add a new condition — he expects Riyadh to join the so-called Abraham Accords — and the White House continues to insist that the policy will only move forward if the kingdom normalizes relations with Israel, which seems unlikely.

But that’s really just the start of the problems.

Indeed, from an American perspective, there’s very little to like about the policy. For example, it’s likely to set off a regional arms race in a part of the world that needs more stability, not less. As a recent New York Times analysis explained, the agreement left Trump with the challenge of convincing the world “that in loosening the nuclear standards for one close ally, he is not ushering in a new age of proliferation, especially in a region of the world already on fire.”

What’s more, the same policy is poised to make nuclear negotiations with Iran harder, not easier.

“Who wins from this deal?” Daniel Drezner, a political scientist at Tufts University, asked in a published analysis of the agreement. “Well, certainly Saudi Arabia, which is the rare ally the Trump administration has not alienated. As the U.S. firm that will provide a lot of nuclear technology, Westinghouse is also a big winner. And … that’s pretty much it.”

Joe Cirincione, the vice chair of the Center for International Policy and a longtime expert on nuclear policy, wrote an MS NOW analysis last month in which he argued that Trump’s Saudi pact “could be the worst nuclear deal in history.” His piece quoted Andrea Stricker, deputy director and research fellow of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ nonproliferation program, who argued that “Congress should block it. If it does not, one hopes the policy will be reversed by a subsequent administration before too much damage is done.”

To be sure, the deal will need congressional approval under the Atomic Energy Act. The question is whether lawmakers will bring themselves to do the right thing.

The agreement will certainly enjoy the backing of the American president, whose family business has significant private sector dealings with Saudi officials, and whose wishes tend to be honored by members of the Republican majority in the House and Senate.

Complicating matters further is the degree to which the process is already stacked in the White House’s favor: While some GOP lawmakers have expressed concern about the implications of the policy, the Times also reported, “Unlike treaties, [proposals submitted under Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act] do not require approval by two-thirds of the Senate. Instead, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee review the agreement during a period totaling 90 days that Congress is in continuous session. Unless Congress passes a joint resolution rejecting the agreement during that period, the accord can take effect without an affirmative vote by either chamber.”

In other words, derailing this agreement will be enormously challenging, leaving opponents to hope that Trump derails it himself over Saudi relations with Israel. Watch this space.

This post updates our related earlier coverage.

The post White House gives Congress the opportunity to kill a bad Saudi nuclear deal appeared first on MS NOW.

Author: Source Author

From MS Now.