Saudi newspapers celebrate Trump's visit
US President Trump kicks off highly publicized trip to the Middle East by visiting Saudi Arabia and striking a $110 billion arms deal with their king, while elated newspapers in the kingdom prints caricatures of Trump partnering with Saudi Arabia and ushering a new era in their relationship.
Newspapers in Saudi Arabia were jubilant on Sunday following the celebratory start of US President Donald Trump's visit to the Middle East, whic included dancing, lots of smiles and signing of—as Trump would say—huge deals.
The Saudi newspaper Okaz published a cartoon of a Saudi and an American holding hands with fingers laced and the sun rising in the background—a symbol of the dawn of new relationship between the two nations. This was all under the headline "Riyadh and Washington—a strategic vision and a lasting alliance."
Even though Riyadh gad good relations with Washington during the Obama administration, the Saudis often criticized Obama's flexibility towards Iran and his weak response to the war in Syria.
The famous Sadi-owned and London-based newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat published a caricature showing a wreath placed on a grave labeled "Obama Policy."
Meanwhile, Saudi newspaper Al-Madina published a cartoon of the US and Saudi Arabia shaking hands, crushing ISIS and Iran's ayatollah in their grasp.
It wasn't all positive though, as some criticized Trump and the welcome that Saudi officials gave him, showing Trump circling the Kaaba (the building at the center of Islam's most sacred mosque) with money spilling from it, and another showed him walking on a carpet being rolled open by a Saudi man, with the carpet looking like a cashier's check.
The message in these is clear: bribes are the driving force behind the Riyadh-Washington relations.
(Translated & edited by Lior Mor)
